Vivai De Filippo has been working in the vegetable plant market for over a century and the business has been handed down four generations. Its keywords are high-quality, progress and state-of-the-art technologies that safeguard tradition.
Tomato plantlets
Vivai De Filippo is located in Sarno among the Picentini mountains, the Vesuvius plain and the Lattari mountains. The company owns over three hectares of greenhouses employing the most advanced crop techniques. Every year, it produces 50 million fennel plants and 40 million tomato plants as well as 150 million cauliflower, lettuce, pepper, aubergine and endive plants.
Antonio De Filippo
"We can meet all kinds of needs. We employ automated sowing lines that guarantee a high-quality precise outcome: from the hopper to load substrates to europallet packagers, human intervention is limited to managing the electronic control unit," explains Antonio De Filippo."
Penumatic sower
"Pneumatic sowers that can adapt to all types of containers guarantee precise sowing. Certified seeds have a high percentage of germinability, made easier by units at a controlled temperature and humidity. Perfect microclimates are created made to measure for all different kinds of seeds and crops."
One of the sowing phases: the substrate is irrigated after a seed is placed in each cell
All plants delivered by Vivai De Filippo are obtained from certified GMO-free and environmentally friendly seeds. "We protect all plants with integrated pest management techniques and we are trying to progressively reduce the use of chemicals in favor of organic products."
Fennel plants. When they reach the last growth growth stage, they will be prepared for packaging and transfer to open fields.
FreshPlaza asked Francesco De Filippo (right in the photo below), father of Antonio, how the work of the nursery gardener has changed over the years. "We selected seeds directly, tested them and assessed which ones would be the most suitable for each soil. It took a long time and particular attention was paid to local varieties in the Sarno area, which is exceptionally fertile."
Ever since Greek-Roman times, in fact, the Sarno river has had a beneficial effect on the territory. "The river originates from the springs at the foothills of the Sarno-Avella mountain range."
Antonio and Francesco De Filippo.
"But now we need to keep up with the times not to be left behind. Things move quicker and the market requires productions that are increasingly early or late so that companies can be competitive on the domestic and international markets."
Each seed has its own history
"Every time we process an order, we create a sowing sheet with a specific progressive number identifying the client, species and variety, seed batch, seed quantity, sowing date, expected delivery date, greenhouse number and even the pallet number," adds Antonio.
One of the greenhouses holding tomato plants.
Each batch is also identified on the vegetable material register. All sowings are certified by Sinal authorized and certifies laboratories, which analyze plantlets part of a batch not long before they are delivered."
"We are proud of what we do, because we do it with love. We are happy when we see the fields filled with our products because we are certain those fields will produce good fruits," concludes Antonio.
Contacts:
Antonio De Filippo
Vivai De Filippo
Via Provinciale Amendola, 187
84087 Sarno (SA)
Tel./Fax: +39 081 945182
Email: [email protected]