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 Many European countries have embraced the Green City concept. In Germany, it’s Die grüne Stadt, in France it’s Cité Verte and de Groene Stad in The Netherlands. Whatever the name however, the Green City concept is similar from country to country and promotes the numerous environmental, financial and societal benefits to be realized through the planting of more trees, shrubs and flowers in our urban environments.
Nursery managers are starting to notice that the growing Green City concept is definitely good for business. Notes nursery grower Jan: “ Sales from municipalities are definitely on the increase. And it’s not just an increase in tree plantings. More and more, citizens are calling for their towns and cities to provide them with more color. Aesthetics is becoming increasingly important.” Acknowledging that the 20 percent increase in sales from municipalities was not likely to continue into the near future given the state of the global economy, Jan also noted that “We deal with today’s realities today, but we always have our eye on the future and right now, we’re focused on the post-recession situation. And the Green City," he adds, "will definitely play a large role." |
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Production advice — of interest to Growers
In The Netherlands, allowable nitrogen levels for nursery production are relatively low. It is therefore important to use the allowed quantities as efficiently as possible. As well as type of fertilizer, quantity, timing, application method, and soil type must all be taken into consideration.
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Biological Control — of interest to Growers
The use of predatory mites is not only environmentally friendly, it also has production advantages. Mites can travel into areas that sprayed pest control products cannot reach. In addition, many growers prefer working with predatory mites rather than spraying. The cost should not be a deterrent. A demonstration project by two European growers clearly showed that the cost of an integrated pest management approach to spider mite control varies very little from a chemical approach. |
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Driven partly by a growing social trend to corporate responsibility and partly through marketplace demand, many European nurseries have embraced ISO and other certification programs as a means of proving their accountability in areas ranging from the environment to labor management. These certifications generally help the nursery management to verify that they are meeting high standards relating to plants, people and all facets of the production cycle. |
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 Production Advice – of Interest to Growers
Companies that use drip irrigation are advised to thoroughly clean their system prior to the next irrigation season. In practice many systems, headers, lines and drippers are often dirty and sometimes plugged.
For many years now we have known about the importance of irrigating and fertilizing no more than the plant or tree requires. With the increase in the production of nursery crops in large containers, bags and other above ground containers, the usage of drip and micro irrigation has grown tremendously. Not every user appreciates the need for regular maintenance of both inline and spaghetti style drip irrigation. This has been noted in the European nursery industry where it was not unusual find irrigation systems clogged with iron, calcium and/or fine sand deposits. |
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