Earlier this year, plant nursery Gitzels missed out on the Horticultural Entrepreneur Award — but that doesn't change the fact that in Wervershoof, you'll find a greenhouse operation that could easily serve as a showcase for the Dutch horticultural sector.
So it's no surprise that Cultivators brought a group of (inter)national growers and suppliers for a tour led by William and Mike Gitzels, just a day after GreenTech Amsterdam.
William Gitzels addresses the (inter)national visitors
Learning from the organic sector
Father and son were happy to make time — even in the middle of peak season. By mid-June, most of their greenhouses are filled with cabbage plants ready for delivery. Early July marks the moment when these cabbage plants leave the greenhouse in large volumes. By then, the various greenhouses are filled with strong, resilient plants — and that's crucial, since 95% of the nursery's customers plant their crops on Dutch clay soils. And for that, you need a robust young plant.
The majority of the plants Gitzels grows are for the conventional market, but they also maintain an organic cultivation line. This is partly to meet market demand, but also very much to gain experience with growing without crop protection products. "That's the direction we're heading anyway," says William, "especially in conventional cultivation, now that so many products are being phased out."
He admits to being concerned at times about the rapid pace at which growers are losing access to crop protection tools. Still, the company remains fully committed to delivering the best possible plants to its customers.
During the tour, we also came across pepper plants. This is part of a grow-out, because in addition to producing its own young plants, Gitzels also offers breeding services, particularly for warm-season vegetables. Most of this work is done in a separate greenhouse, fully compliant with GSPP regulations.
Automating the placement of trays on Danish carts is still a wish.
Automation
During the tour, where colleagues from both young plant production and (vertical farm) leafy crops were encouraged to ask questions, the familiar topics came up. Besides crop protection, which is always top of mind (Gitzels focuses on fostering a strong soil microbiome, though challenges like mildew remain in organic cultivation), labor was another key point of discussion.
Gitzels is working to automate processes wherever possible. However, due to the large number of varieties and the smaller batch sizes they often work with, a fully automated container system isn't yet in place. Instead, on Tuesday morning, we saw employees manually setting up tables using bamboo stakes. "They're sturdy, reusable, and hygienic," William explains, though he adds that the company is exploring alternative options.
Transplanting is done directly in the field by the growers themselves, using fully automatic planting machines like those from Ferrari or TTS. Currently, about 60% of the plants can be transplanted this way, and within a few years, the goal is to increase that to 80%.
Another step in automation that Gitzels is exploring is the automatic loading of freshly sown trays onto Danish trolleys, a move aimed at improving efficiency during the earliest stages of production.
William and Mike Gitzels
For more information:
Plant Nursery Gitzels
Kerkeland 4
1693 NP Wervershoof
0228 - 58 73 00 (Cabbage plants)
0228 - 58 73 02 (Breeding services)
[email protected]
www.gitzels.nl