Transforming a pepper to hydrangea nursery

With a festive day, the new Pico Bello Hortensia location in Bleiswijk was opened on May 3rd. The nursery of 6.1 hectares has been converted from a pepper nursery to a hydrangea nursery over the past few months. Entrepreneur Paul Kouwenhoven manages the company together with his sons Richard and Bob.

From pepper to hydrangea nursery

What used to be a pepper nursery, has been converted to a nursery for cut hydrangeas over the last few months. The 6.1 hectare nursery is one of the largest hydrangea nurseries in the Netherlands.

Stolze started the project in November 2017 and completed it this month. "We were responsible for the water and electrical installations. Compared to the previous nursery in Kwintsheul, the installations in the new nursery are more modern and more sustainable. In an early stage we discussed how we could further automate and modernize this nursery, taking the environment into account."

Family business

Pico Bello Hortensia is a real family business. Father Paul Kouwenhoven started in 1988 in De Lier with the cultivation of amaryllis. A few years later he took over a nursery in Nootdorp and started with the cultivation of cut hydrangeas. In 2012 he started a company in Kwintsheul together with his son Richard. Eventually they wanted to grow further and son Bob also wanted to join the company.

In 2017, the three of them took over a pepper nursery in Bleiswijk. Third son Danny is still studying, but also works at the nursery during his free time. Father and sons all have a clear division of tasks, yet they are all well aware of what is going on within the company.

Water technical installation

Most adjustments have taken place in the water technology sector. The existing installation is still in use, but has been largely adapted and modernized. Pico Bello Hortensia is an environmentally friendly company and therefore the installation has been converted to a sustainable installation where all the water is reused. Thus Pico Bello Hortensia is the only hydrangea nursery in the Netherlands that completely recycles the water they use.

What is rarely done in hydrangea cultivation, is the separate irrigation of the different colors of flowers. Pico Bello Hortensia has three different options for irrigation: nutrient water for the pink hydrangeas, nutrient water for the blue hydrangeas with aluminum sulphate (which provides the blue color of hydrangeas) and the third option of nutrient water for the blue hydrangeas without aluminum sulphate.

In order to be able to make the desired nutrient water, the fertilizer installation has been expanded with a second A and B tank. The liquid fertilizer plant has also been expanded with additional valves and piping for filling these tanks with the desired fertilizer composition.

They still use the existing drip installation. The drip hoses are flushed with the existing semi-pipe along the middle walkway. This pipe can also be used to apply dosages. For the drip irrigation, three new main pipes have been installed for the three different irrigation options.

The old sand filters, which are now used as planter boxes at the entrance of the company, have been replaced by a SAF filter. SAF filters, in contrast to sand filters, are self-cleaning. The rinse water is collected and purified by means of a cloth filter, and the clean water is then reused.

There was no misting installation in the nursery. They have opted for a low pressure misting installation for better control of the temperature in the greenhouse. This low pressure misting installation consists of two 8-meter beams with a 'Super Fogger' every 2.5 meters, which has a capacity of 2 x 6.5 l/h. This works out to be an installation capacity of 215 cc/m²/hour.

For more information:
Stolze
Bandijkweg 2
2676 LJ Maasdijk

Netherlands

T +31 174 513 779
info@stolze.nl
www.stolze.nl