‘GreenTech’s timing is not ideal’
How would you describe your company?
‘We produce a wide range of potted and bedding plants in many different pot sizes (6, 7, 9, 10, 10.5, 12, and 13 cm). A large proportion of our cuttings and young plants come from our mother plant stock. Every year, we sell 7.5 to 10 million potted plants to wholesalers in Germany and the Netherlands. Sustainability is paramount for our company: more than 95% of the heat is from renewable energy sources. We use the residual heat of our biogas installation and biomass power plant to heat our greenhouses.’
What are you doing at the moment?
‘The month of May is always very busy, with the sale and delivery of our bedding plants. The season started slowly this year because of the bad weather. Sales didn’t get going until April, and it’s always very busy around Mother’s Day. A lot of enquiries are coming in for 2017, and these have to be answered. Apart from the work in the nursery, I’ve been busy with the Internet company that I run; our news website about German horticulture, www.gabot.de, which is currently being updated. This attracts about 60,000 visitors per month.’
Will you visit FlowerTrials?
‘We always visit FlowerTrials with a couple of people from our company. Because we’re going to rebuild, expand our assortment, and start growing fewer Saintpaulias, we will be looking for new products this year. We will visit various FlowerTrial locations in Germany, as well as some in Aalsmeer and the Westland area.’
What do you think of the FlowerTrials?
‘FlowerTrials are a great event for quick and extensive information about new products and improved varieties. The assortment, in particular, is much wider than you’ll find at a regular convention and you’ll get more time to talk to people.’
Will you be visiting GreenTech?
‘No, I won’t. The GreenTech exhibition is relatively unknown here in Germany. I don’t think the timing in the middle of June, or the overlap with FlowerTrials is ideal. If I visit FlowerTrials extensively, there will be little time left to visit GreenTech, and I’d rather spend my time visiting our Dutch customers.’
Lars Dehne
Company: Dehne Topfpflanzen
Town: Wiesmoor (Germany)
Products: A wide assortment of potted and bedding plants (e.g. campanula, chrysanthemum, daisies, dianthus, geranium, viola, begonia, poinsettia, and osteospermum)
Size: 7.5 hectares greenhouses
