He's having a hard time getting out of the garden these days. Garden centers follow the pattern of 'Christmas tree out, green houseplant in'. At the same time, the holes have to be filled again and plenty of new plant material comes in at the front that needs to be potted up. In short, Ron van den Bosch does not have to get bored, but fortunately there is always time for a trip through the gardens.
Ron between the Ficus Trésor plants
With a nice assortment of ficus, dracena, clusia and sanseveria, Ron's nursery is an address not to be missed for the plant trade. He combines so-called 'import crops', i.e. plants that he obtains mainly from Central America (especially sanseveria and dracena, as well as a few smaller products such as the pencil plant), with plants that are propagated in our region, especially the ficus. Every week a container is brought in, although the frequency varies with the season.
A deep look into the greenhouse
It sounds like a cliché, that Christmas tree and houseplant story, but that's really how it works. "Before Christmas, we're running some big orders. Those are for the larger distributors and have been discussed a long time in advance. Even though Christmas is yet to pass, the garden center is already overflowing with plants. After Christmas the hustle and bustle continues for a while but then moves more to the day trade.
The shoots are coming in from Costa Rica
The majority goes on order, about 30% is auctioned. The nursery itself covers approximately 18,000 metres and is in fact made up of two parts. The somewhat older garden, in which Ron's father in a gray past grew all sorts of things, and a piece of new construction, which Ron, after taking over the company in 2006, had built. This greenhouse is higher and brighter, and has been equipped with a new climate computer since last year. The new greenhouse is mainly intended for slower crops, especially ficus and clusia, which benefit from a little more light. "With this we really made a quality leap," says Ron, "it yielded stronger and thicker plants. The old glasshouse is primarily reserved for the dracena (6 different varieties in 4 pot sizes), which takes an average of three months to root and get a good head on it, and for the sanseveria (in 3 varieties), which can be delivered after about 6 to 8 weeks. That sanseveria is by far the easiest. The plant can actually stand anything and is supposedly lout proof."
Anniversaries
Ron uses a truck with a loading capacity of 31 Danish trolleys to take care of the transport to the various auctions. He manages the garden with a small group of employees, five men in total, and in case of great bustle as now with two temporary workers. "In January we have an anniversary, then one of our employees will be employed for 40 years. Another has been with us for 43 years. We're not a very large nursery and if we need extra hands, there are not dozens at a time. But well-trained horticultural staff is hard to find. I've been looking for an assistant manager for a while now, but as of yet I haven't found one."
GRASP
For the plant trade and also Ron, 2019 was not a bad year. The hope is of course to hold on to that in the new year as well, but apart from that Ron has no spectacular plans for the new year. Although, it would be nice if that assistant manager would present himself, that would adjust the workload a bit downwards. "And we hope to put ourselves in the spotlight a bit more with the GRASP certificate. We are already MPS GAP certified and a member of the FloraBiezz label, which shows our commitment to green and sustainable production in addition to a bit of marketing. However, you have to continue to stand out and with the GRASP certificate, which is another example of corporate social responsibility, we hope to be in the spotlight with new customers.
For more information:
Ron van den Bosch
A.H. Verweijweg 13
2651LX Berkel en Rodenrijs
Tel: +3110-5113874
E-mail: ron@boschberkel.nl
www.boschberkel.nl