Hedera Plant, part of Vireo, from de Kwakel, the Netherlands has recently built a new greenhouse. The acreage of Vireo thus comes to about 33 hectares spread over 9 locations. At the moment there are around 250 people working at Vireo. In the article below growers Patrick and Cas Hogenboom (father and son) talk about the expansion and screens.
Family business
“About 55 years ago the company was founded by my father Cees Hogenboom. Initially, chrysanthemums were grown. About 40 years ago there was a switch to green plants. Hedera Plants is a real family business. About 30 years ago I joined the company together with my brother Martin and now my sons Luc and Cas are also working in the company. Cas has now been working for two years as a facility manager for all locations. He also supervised the new facilities very well.
Son Luc works as the General Manager at Vireo. Patrick’s brother Martin Hogenboom is the Sales Director at Vireo Plant Sales.
Vireo Plant Sales is the umbrella name for a number of nurseries that have joined forces in the areas of purchasing and sales activities, concepts and order processing. Hedera Plant is one of those nurseries.
Double screen
“We prefer to build a very solid 12.80-meter wide greenhouse roof. With regard to the screen installations, we wanted to save more energy. That is why for the first time we have opted for a double screen-energy installation. In other words, we have opted for a sun protection screen cloth and an energy cloth. We had the installations carried out in a ‘tent shape’ with a pull-push system. Just like we have at all our nurseries."
Peter Dekker Installaties BV
Patrick and Cas: “PDI was not completely unknown to us. We had never had an installation fixed by them before, but one of the greenhouses that we took over a few years ago is equipped with installations by Peter Dekker Installaties.”
For this new building, Hedera Plant devoted a great deal of time to look into which installations they would need and what the added value of the screen installations has to be.
"I found the conversations with Jeroen de Jonge from PDI very pleasant," according to Patrick. “They bring in a lot of practical knowledge, which meant that we got increasingly more insight into our wishes and associated solutions. What really appealed to me, among other things, was one of their innovations; they have developed Spring blocks for their PDI Pull-Push system. I feel very confident knowing that the installations with this system will always close properly now. This was sometimes difficult with a pull-push system without Spring blocks. And yes, if you want to save more energy, then the optimally closing of your installation is a must.”
Satisfied
“I was promised by PDI that they were really going to make something beautiful out of it. And I must honestly say: they certainly delivered!
For more information:
Hedera / Vireo Plant Sales
Hoofdweg 13
1424 PC De Kwakel
The Netherlands
www.vireoplantsales.com
Peter Dekker Installaties BV 
Industriestraat 40
2671 CT Naaldwijk
The Netherlands
www.pdinl.com