Dutch tech helps South African seedling company grow

Many years ago a man made his own seedlings and sold them to people in the neighbourhood because he had too many. He found out that there was a high demand for seedlings and started his own firm. This was the beginning of Multiplant. The last couple of years Multiplant has been successfully working together with the Dutch Grow Group.

The Dutch connection
Partnering with Dutch Grow Group, Multiplant now is the biggest seedling nursery for vegetables in South Africa. Grow Group is a Dutch seedling company. They are the front runner and specialist in raising and grafting vegetable plants.

MultiGrow (the joint venture of Multiplant and MultiGrow) received funding from the Dutch RVO via the PSI (Private Sector Investment) programme for introducing modern crafting technique. To boost the production they also introduced their innovative block press system. They use machinery from Flier systems from the Netherlands.

Multiplant takes good care of their employees. They have a daycare for the children of their workers and they prefer to give their employees a job during the full year and not just for the season.

The business
MultiGrow is the biggest supplier of cucumber plants, one of the biggest in tomato and they also sell watermelon, pumpkins and butternut plants. Multiplant uses pressed blocks instead of polystyrene trays for their seedlings. They are the first to ever use this system for grafting and growing.

Multiplant’s block press system

The blocks are made of compost, vermiculite, black or white peat and the seedlings. The compost that is used for the blocks is made out of vegetable waste from Johannesburg and treated at the Multiplant nursery farm. An excellent example of the real circular economy! The seedlings are added to the mix of peat (very little), compost and vermiculite and then the final mixture is pressed into a block.

These blocks are a lot more effective than the polystyrene trays because it is not necessary for the small plants to be pulled out of the tray for the grafting for example.

The climate is also easier to regulate in the blocks which makes the chance of surviving for the plants bigger.

Multiplant’s nursery

Multiplant sells their produce also to flower growers who put their own seeds in the blocks. But their main operation is to sell their finished product: the blocks with seedlings which are already grafted and have been in the greenhouse for a couple of days, to farmers. This final product can be planted into the full soil directly.

Source: Agroberichten Buitenland