On January 1, 2019 Peet van Kester and JK Plant will officially continue together under the name Kester Kuijvenhoven. The merger is intended to further streamline their production and marketing of araucaria. Peet will focus more on propagating young plants, and JK Plant will take on an extra part of the production.
Peet van Kester. Photo: OZ Plants
Kester Kuijvenhoven nursery will have two locations with a total surface area of 5.5 hectares. The growers have been working together for a long time, as JK Plant produces young plants for Peet van Kester. Their main challenge was a logistical one, due to using a lot of different plots of rented land. "We can now get rid of those, and at the same time increase production for the future," says Peet.
Young plants Photo: OZ Plants
Peet, now 63, also sees this collaboration as a great opportunity to pass on his knowledge and expertise to the next generation - the Kuijvenhoven are in their thirties.
The acaucaria is a real niche market with only one or two growers active other than JK Plant and Peet van Kester, and is imported by a couple others. "However, Peet is the only one who propagates himself," says Joram Kuijvenhoven, "and with this collaboration we can further strengthen our market position."
Photo: OZ Plants
Araucaria
Peet van Kester started his nursery in 1976 and has been growing potted plants since 1982. Through the years 35 different plant species passed through his company, but today only araucaria is cultivated. Cultivation takes a long time, averaging 1.5 years, and has its main sales period in the weeks leading up to Christmas. In the weeks before Christmas, 95 percent of the plants leave the garden. You can read more about the cultivation of araucaria on the OZ Planten website, where Peet is the grower of the month.
Araucariakwekerij Peet van Kwester
De Strijp 1
2685 SH Poeldijk
M: +31 610701160
T: +31 174-440375
phvankester@hetnet.nl
JK Plant
Plaats 14
2675 CK Honselersdijk
M: +31 624244900
T: +31 174-241824
verkoop@jkplant.nl
www.jkplant.nl