Regional Round Up: Reports from Northern New Zealand Flower Growers

From the Bay of Plenty Vania Allen [Eastoveden] Reports on behalf of the ‘Outdoor Flower & Foliage Growers Association’

A few early frosts in May helped to get the Autumnal process started and hopefully there have been sufficient cooler temperatures to get the woody ornamentals back to their usual season rather than the 2-3 week delay experienced last year. As with most of the country the odd storm over the past few months has caused some damage with some growers reporting slips and shade damage.  This winter has so far been drier than last which has made for good hydrangea pruning conditions.

Growers have been happy with the prices and demand both locally & export with some growers picking out of foliage crops a month or two earlier than usual due to high demand.

Regards,     Vania

From Kumeu West of Auckland, Joanne Hurley [Van Lier Nurseries] Provided the Following: -

Overall, we have enjoyed a good growing season for all our product lines despite encountering some difficulties related to weather extremes. Last January, our 5 million litre dam was bone dry and it stayed that way for at least a month. We had to rely on bore water, which plays havoc with PH levels. The heavy rain during the first week of March then caused the dam to overflow by the end of the week!   The lunchroom and the shed were flooded and it seems that it has not stopped since! Certainly it has been overcast and humid and creating delightful conditions for botrytis-- which is great if you grow grapes but difficult & damaging for roses.

Direct sales to both wholesalers and florists continue to be a successful path to market for the company. It is our assessment that the acquisition of Floramax by UFG has impacted our distribution positively, as we have more customers coming to us directly. We introduced two new David Austin Roses this season – Tess and Edith – and they have been immensely popular particularly for weddings. We now have 5 David Austin varieties in our range. We also released a number of new standards (5) and sprays (5) between week 8 and 13. Camille, a newcomer to our staff in February, created an effective promotion scheme for the release of these roses. Florists have given us positive feedback about being asked what they wanted in the range and being acquainted at the “get go” with what was selected.

 A big event for Van Lier in November 2016 was taking part in the NZ Flower Week. We had a “first” and opened the nursery to the general public. It was a huge success and we estimate at least 400 people visited the nursery, giving very positive feedback on the tour and finding out just what was involved in growing a commercial cut rose. Being featured as the industry’s Alstroemeria grower was novel too – people now know about another product we grow beside the trademark roses and we got to feature the new spray Alstroemeria, Florinca, at UFG wholesale during the NZ Flower week.

Kind Regards       Joanne

On Behalf of NZEGO Peter Renson [Utopia Orchids]  Reports for the Cymbidium Orchid growers, located mainly North of Auckland: -

2017 Cymbidium season update.

This Cymbidium season is shaping up to be an unusual one, for several reasons. Firstly, the production seems to be later by 2-4 weeks for most growers.  We expected this as the summer was cool but we thought once production started there would be a catch up in numbers to make up for lower supply in the early season. However, that does not seem to be the case, perhaps the mid and late season crops will come on as normal in time and numbers. Prices so far are holding up nicely for the most part which is helping to offset the low production numbers.

We have seen a few more growers exit our industry due to the lack of profitability in the Cymbidium cut flower industry. This has been the case for quite a few years now, unfortunately. The 2016 season was better than the years before but still not good, I suspect growers did break even last year for a change but it is desirable for us to be profitable as we have large long-term investments in our land, greenhouses, packing sheds, equipment and plants.

I think with greenhouse growing we need to have an operation that has a minimum size for the crops we grow. As producers, we need to make better utilization of our land’s value, greenhouse computers, machinery, equipment and management; this infrastructure can often cope with larger areas of greenhouses and bring down the cost of producing the items we grow¼¼ more importantly we must be a certain size as individual growers and as an industry as a whole in order to maintain our market share and have enough product (volume as well as cultivar availability) to stay interesting and worthwhile for wholesalers, exporters and overseas customers.

I believe we are often afraid of over supplying but it just as easy to lose customers because we under supply. A buyer wants to be supplied on a regular basis with a consistent quality of product. When a buyer cannot get what they want, they will look for a different product. If they are then happy with the alternative product and they can get this on a regular basis in the quantities they require, it will be hard to convince these customers to start using your products again.

This is true for Cymbidium orchids as well as for other flowers.

This is more than enough from me, as this is the time of year when I am at my busiest. I wish you all happy and prosperous growing, remember to take breaks, relax, look after your friends and families and get out seeing new things to expand your mind. You will be able to do better business if you do those things.

Greetings, Peter Rensen