Kwekerreportage: Geest Potplanten

When you visit Geest Potplanten Nursery, you’re immediately surrounded by a refreshing dose of greenery. You’ll walk through greenhouses filled with Strelitzias, Monsteras, and Arecas. My guide through this lush jungle is Patrick. He’s more than just a salesperson at the nursery; I’d actually call him an ambassador, given his passion. The funny thing is, years ago, he was my colleague at Javado!

Hi Patrick, great to see you again. Tell us a bit about yourself.

I’m 31 years old, and it’s been 11 years since I left Javado to work at Geest Potplanten. I enjoyed my time in the purchasing department at Javado, but I felt that sales was my true calling, so I took the leap to this nursery, and I’ve never regretted it. The great thing is that my time at Javado gave me a solid understanding of what an exporter needs from a grower.

How would you describe Geest Potplanten?

We’re a close-knit team. Together, we manage to grow and sell a lot of plants. We have a motto: ‘You and me in a green world.’ This is printed on the labels we attach to our plants. It’s about being good to people and the environment. This mindset starts internally—we work hard together and celebrate our successes together. And we want to make the world greener. Our plants are grown with care for the environment. Plants are emotional items; they make people happy and help them connect with nature.

Dick van Geest started in 1975 with vegetable farming. Cucumbers, lettuce and tomatoes. In the early 80s, he switched to growing green houseplants. During those early years, he imported various plants, and the Areca was already part of the range. The nursery kept growing, and the assortment changed slightly over time, but the Areca has always remained. This air-purifying houseplant has outlasted trends and has been popular for over four decades. Pretty remarkable, right?

Nowadays, his son Dirk and daughter Esther have taken over the business. Besides Arecas, we also grow Phalaenopsis, Strelitzia, Monstera, Calathea, and Musa in the spring and summer. You might wonder why these plants? We keep a close eye on consumer demand. Areca and Phalaenopsis have been staples for years, besides that we’re always on the lookout for plants that people find cool and use to style their homes or offices. Essentially, we’re growing furniture with feelings.

Strelitzia is a particularly cool plant?

You could say that! Its lush green leaves and beautiful fan shape—no other plant gives you that green home feeling as quickly as the Strelitzia. There are many growers producing Strelitzia now, but the trade knows they can count on us for strong, pure plants, so our sales continue to do well.

Growing a good Strelitzia starts with the number of cuttings per pot. You don’t want to skimp here, but too many cuttings can also be a problem, as they can crowd each other during growth. We grow in harmony with nature, meaning the plant gets the time it needs to grow with the available daylight. This means it takes a bit longer for the plant to be ready for shipping, but you end up with sturdy, resilient plants. The entire process, from potting to growing, happens in our greenhouse, sheltered from the elements. This prevents the leaves from tearing in the wind, resulting in the pure, pristine plants we offer.

What would I find at this nursery that I wouldn’t see at many other nurseries?

Do you see those large installations above the plants? Those are DryGair units. You probably haven’t encountered them much at plant nurseries. They’re fantastic. Here’s how it works: plants constantly evaporate water, which creates a humid climate in the greenhouse that can quickly lead to plant diseases. Growers know they can remove moisture by regularly opening windows and heating the greenhouse, but this uses a lot of unnecessary energy.

With the DryGair units, we can keep our greenhouses closed. These units remove moisture from the air and return the desired humidity level at the right temperature, which not only saves a lot of energy but also creates an optimal and uniform growing climate. Combined with our 4,000 solar panels, this system works incredibly well.

How do you view Javado?

Even during quieter periods, we receive orders from Javado every day, all year round! We often discuss this among ourselves. How is it that Javado is always there? That’s not the case with our other customers. We hold you in high regard. We always want to be there for Javado too. Something really unusual would have to happen for us not to fulfill your order.

Geest Potplanten on Areca:

This air-purifying and easy-to-care-for houseplant is a staple in our range.

The plants are grown from seeds in Honduras, where we’ve worked with the same supply chain for over 40 years. There are multiple growing locations in different parts of Central America, and the quality varies significantly due to climate and origin. We have specific preferences for certain suppliers. Thanks to our long-standing relationship, they know exactly what we need and consistently deliver the quality we expect.

The plants are shipped to the Netherlands in iron crates via sea containers. After spending three weeks in the dark, we pot them in large nursery pots with fresh peat-free soil and acclimatize them in our greenhouses, ready to eventually grace European living rooms.

Dypsis, Chrysalidocarpus, or Areca—which is correct?

There are three botanical-sounding names for this plant. That can’t be right, can it?

Let’s start with Areca. The name Areca is well-known in trade and garden centres. However, it’s not the correct name. The plant somewhat resembles Areca catechu, and since the name Areca was easier to remember than Chrysalidocarpus, it was used for both plants.

The correct botanical name used to be Chrysalidocarpus lutescens, but as our understanding of plant genetics has increased, it was decided that this plant belongs to the Dypsis genus. Therefore, Dypsis lutescens is the correct botanical name.

In our webshop, we use the name:

Areca (Dypsis lutescens)

Tips from the grower:

Strelitzia loves plenty of light, so place the plant in a spot with lots of daylight. In the summer, the large leaves make the plant thirsty, so be sure to water it sufficiently. But be careful not to let excess water stand in the pot, as the plant doesn’t handle that well.

If you really want to pamper your Strelitzia, use a plant sprayer from time to time. A good tip is to mist a new leaf that’s still rolled up. This helps the plant unfurl.

Peat-free

Our entire range is grown peat-free, and to prevent and control diseases and pests, we use biological crop protection.

At Geest Potplanten, the cuttings are potted, and the plants are given plenty of time to grow.

Published on: 11 November 2024