Flower-growing is in Peter Rensen’s DNA.
The Netherlands-born owner of Utopia Nurseries west of Pukekohe in South Auckland said he has never considered doing anything else.
“[I am] a Dutchman, I come from a growing area and that’s all they did – grow vegetables in glasshouses or flowers. Over there, it’s the done thing.”
Rensen brought that passion to New Zealand, where he has run his flower export business since 1991, growing orchids, chrysanthemums and ruscus mainly for the export market.
His business was the supreme winner for the Auckland region in this year’s Ballance Farm Environment Awards.
When Rensen bought the land west of Pukekohe it was a market garden, growing fruit and vegetables. He owns just under 32 hectares with 2.5ha used for his Utopia Nurseries flower business.
He rents much of the land to growers for horticulture production and 6ha has been put aside for riparian and wetland development.
Utopia Nurseries has a packhouse connected to the three large greenhouses that are all connected to each other.
Separate from the greenhouse is a shade house dedicated to growing Italian ruscus, a leafy plant whose branches are cut and sold for bouquets.
He has 12 staff with around 10 kept on all year round. It’s a labour-intensive industry with technology yet to catch up and automate it, he said.
Around 65% of his flowers are exported, mainly to China, Japan, the United States, Australia and Canada.
The rest are sold in New Zealand supermarkets.
Rensen exports the flowers either through a third party, or by dealing directly with the customer in the market.
The orchids are sold on a per-stem basis with a good stem selling for $7-$8. On the retail market, that price can be as high as $20-$25. Each stem has around 12-20 flowers, depending on the flower size.
He estimates Utopia exports 10,000-12,000 boxes of orchids with each box containing 10-15 stems carefully wrapped in plastic by the packers.
“And that’s just the orchids. We probably do 150,000 stems of the ruscus plus 130,000 pot plants of chrysanthemums.”
Overall, he has around 15,000 ruscas plants, 23,000 orchids and 40,000 chrysanthemums in the greenhouses.
The chrysanthemum pots are relatively new for Rensen, who started selling them just over a year ago.
The biggest challenge with exporting flowers is that they have to not only look perfect but be free of bugs. The exchange rate can also be an issue, especially in the Japanese market, but the US dollar has been fairly stable for a while, he said.
It takes about five years for an orchid plant to grow from a seedling to produce flowers and it can last for 25-30 years.
“You have to be very patient in this game. After that they produce more and more every year as the plant grows bigger, so there’s a big outlay at the beginning and then you have a yearly income.”
He grows white, pink and reddish-orange orchids. Every year, the plant grows shoots that grow into flower-producing stems. One the shoot has finished flowering in this year-long process, it will create another shoot to flower the following year.
“You work a year ahead of yourself, trying to grow a good shoot for next year’s flowering.”
The orchid comes from cold, high country in Vietnam and is a winter-flowering plant, making April to October Rensen’s harvesting months.
He installed a rail conveyer system on the greenhouse ceiling to transport cut orchid stems from the glasshouses to the packhouse with minimal handling.
This innovation is a long metal holder that is attached to the conveyer with rubber holders on the bottom that are flexible enough to safely hold and transport the stems from the greenhouse to the packhouse where they are checked and packed.
Fine string is attached to the stem to help the plant grow the stem as vertical as possible.
Off season, the staff are potting and crop monitoring and doing maintenance.
In contrast, the chrysanthemums are a year-round flower, allowing Rensen to plan exactly when they will be produced.
It is a more technical crop to grow, but a lot faster, taking 12-13 weeks from planting to when it flowers and is sold.
“It’s quicker than orchids, but more challenging and logistically different. Orchids are more of a conservative crop, everything is the same and if you wanted to change varieties, it will take you a long time.”
The ruscus plant is planted straight into the ground in the shaded greenhouse and, like the orchid, has a long life. Branch cuttings are taken from this plant once it is mature.
Water is supplied for the greenhouses via a bore and Rensen uses an automated hose system to irrigate the plants three to four times a day.
With so many market gardens in the district, insect pests are a major concern and Rensen uses insect predators to keep them under control.
These predator bugs are bought in and released to live and feed on insects among the orchids. This reduces the need for sprays, although they are still required for the chrysanthemums.
Regular soil testing is completed with crop-specific recommendations implemented, resulting in healthy plants.
Heating in the greenhouses is controlled by a computer that keeps the temperature at 12degC for the orchids and 15degC for the chrysanthemums.
Over the summer, the greenhouse roof is painted with a white chalk shading paint to keep it from getting too hot.
Rensen uses waste oil collected from garages and power stations to power the greenhouse and keep electricity costs down.
Labour is his biggest cost because of the nature of flower growing and cutting. It is something Rensen would like to change by using more technology, but it is not quite available and cost effective yet.
Looking ahead, Rensen has plans to build another greenhouse next to the existing one that would be fully automated and take advantage of some of the new technology on offer.
“That will be an interesting next step for us.”
