As a young-plant company, nothing is as essential as sufficient, high-quality water. And rainwater cannot be nurtured enough, especially with an eye to water quality, according to René Denis of Denis Plants from Beervelde (Lochristi). “We can continue operating for 128 days without any rainfall. But I’d still like additional water storage capacity.”
Writer: Ivan De Clercq, AVBS, on behalf of VLAM
“Enough water, but we’re still considering additional storage capacity”
Every year, Denis Plants sells just under 10 million hardened young plants, propagated using tissue culture. The catalogue lists some 700 different plants, including around 150 types of Heuchera, but Cordyline and geranium Rosanne are also young plants that are produced in large numbers. “We prefer to work with niche products, exclusive plants, plants that require a lot of professional know-how or commissioned plants”, explains manager René Denis.
The company employs approximately 25 people at its home base, supplemented by around 30 temps in peak periods. Propagation using tissue culture occurs in the company’s own labs in Vietnam and Botswana. The preparatory R&D takes place in Beervelde. The company has 3 hectares of greenhouses in total. The water storage capacity comes to just under 4.5 million litres.
Re-use and dilution
"I would recommend that everyone, who has the space to do so, invests in additional water storage capacity, because the day will come that water will be very expensive”, René Denis is firmly convinced of this. All water has been re-used at the current site for over thirty years already.
The combination of a sieve, paper filter, sand filter and UV filter guarantees the water quality. Even the EC as an indicator of the fertilizer content is never a problem. Fortunately, young plants do not require a high concentration of fertilizers. “We furthermore always dilute the re-used water with fresh rainwater. In that way we can easily adjust the fertiliser content to the perfect level.”
Followed closely
Denis Plants is not worried about reintroducing all kinds of fungi and pathogens together with the water. “We are able to keep the risk of infection with fungi very much under control. And the use of other plant protection products is at a low level. But it doesn’t come naturally. Plant health has to be followed up very closely. We work with a large number of sticky traps so we can see early on if there is a problem. And if we feel it’s necessary to treat with chemicals, against spider mite for example, we prefer to do so fast and locally rather than later but more broadly.”
Being demanding starts with the client
Making an inventory of all the plant protection products is a very important part of any certification. When the then VMS – now MPS – environmental certification was founded, Denis Plants was one of the first companies to be certified. “We are proud of that label, but at the same time I’d like to put it in perspective. As a company, you first have to take stock of everything and improve it for your own operations, not for someone else.”
In the pursuit of sustainability, the goal put forward is to use no or only organic crop protection. “Of course we’re in favour of organic plant protection, who isn’t. And we are achieving results with this for the mother plants. But only organic plant protection is not possible for us at present. We have the young plants at our company for just 12 weeks, whilst organic plant protection takes longer than that. And our clients have zero tolerance for disease or pests. We don’t reproach our clients for that, since being demanding starts with the client. The consumer wants perfect plants, especially with regard to tropical plants that are kept indoors. That’s less of an issue with perennials that are planted in the garden.”
Almost every company that claims to work in a sustainable way has solar panels. But they are nowhere to be seen yet at Denis Plants. “Every year I consider it at some point, but I’ve never been completely convinced yet. It would be possible for our research lab, but lighting uses the most electricity in our greenhouses. And the lights aren’t on when the panels are producing electricity. When an affordable battery with sufficient capacity hits the market I’ll go for it.” LED lights are not an option for the time being in view of the wide variety of plants.
Economic sustainability
Economic sustainability is an important cornerstone of sustainability. According to René Denis, the choice to outsource their own lab to Vietnam and Botswana was necessary. “It’s simple: if we hadn’t done it, we would no longer exist today and we wouldn’t employ anyone here. The same goes for the automatic sorting line. In time, we will create jobs here instead of losing them.”
To plan
Trade relations within the chain came under pressure due to the corona crisis. The problems for the young-plant company were initially above all of a logistical nature. Clients first cancelled orders and later cancelled their cancellations. For a company that works so strictly to plan that led to a lot of practical problems. “We don’t produce any plants that have not yet been sold. Thanks to the strict planning, on 1 January I can already draw up the balance sheet for 31 December. We sell first and produce afterwards. I’m convinced that the entire agricultural and horticultural sectors will and must evolve in this way. The capital required and risks involved have become too great.”
Pull together
The corona crisis was a major shock for the entire sector. Growers panicked and in a number of cases pointed to the contracts with breeders. “Commercially speaking, these problems have been resolved and smoothed out. But what a waste of energy. In crisis situations like these, it’s better for the chain to all pull together rather than have everyone retreating to their own positions. It’s the only way to achieve something positive.”
Denis Plants sees its own future positively. The aim is still to double the turnover in five years’ time. “Corona means that there is less growth than expected, but our goal is still realistic.” The company hopes to achieve its goal by further expanding its range of available plants. In addition, René likes to experiment with new ideas, such as developing a vertical green wall.
René sees the future for the entire sector positively too. “Corona turned out to be a nightmare for certain companies and crops. But for the sector it might even turn out to be a godsend. People stayed at home more and plants are the ideal way to make your surroundings more beautiful at little cost. Young people are now also buying plants and flowers. If only 10% of those new consumers continue to buy greenery, we can look forward to great times ahead as a sector.”
Denis Plants in figures
- Employees:
- 1 manager(s)
- 7 (parttime) permanent employees
- 30 occasional workers
- 17 contractual workers
- Company surface area:
- 1 ha heated greenhouses
- 2 ha unheated greenhouses
- Export: 85% of the turnover
Share of export destinations- 60% The Netherlands
- 8% UK
- 4% France
- 3% Germany
- Most important export products
- Hardened young plants from tissue culture of tropical plants: Calathea, Marantaceae, Cordyline, …
- Hardened young plants from tissue culture of perennials: Agapanthus, Agastache, Bergenia, Brunera, Geranium, Hakonochlea, Helleborus, Heuchera, Hosta, Kniphofia, Panicum, Percicaria, Salvia,…
