Hydroponic

tulips succeed
at second
attempt Lessons learnt from the past coupled to
continuous research means that tulips can
now be cultivated successfully on water.

By Helen Armstrong

Available land in the Netherlands is
becoming increasing scarce. Nevertheless
bulbs are still propagated on over 20,000
ha of land of which 50% is down to
tulips. It is not surprising therefore that
tulips are still a Dutch national symbol.
Of the total number of bulbs grown in
Holland some 76% - or 7 billion bulbs –
are exported every year. Of this, just over
half will be sold to home gardeners while
the remainder are sold to professional
growers. The remainder stay in Holland
and nearly all will be cultivated by flower
growers.
So how do they produce cut flower
tulips in Holland? At the beginning of
the 1990s the government began encour-
aging a reduction in the amount of
chemical emissions into the environment
so more and more producers switched to
closed systems. However, problems with
rooting media arose on grounds of avail-
ability, susceptibility to disease and dis-
posal. Different substrates were investi-
gated as well as hydroponic production.
The advantage of this method is that
water is cheap and readily available.
The only problem was how to keep the
bulbs in place but this was solved by a
number of tray manufacturers. The
Triflor Company produced a tray from
Tempex which held the bulbs in place
with tooth pick like projections. Then
the Curtec company produced a similar
tray made of plastic. Kenn also intro-
duced the Kenn tray which has a row of
pins at the bottom to anchor the bulbs.
A further problem arose due to bacterial
growth on the roots which made them
slimy. In fact it made many growers give
up on hydroponics but research, in par-
ticular by the Dutch Bulb Research
Council continued. The slime was shown
to be due to lack of oxygen in the water
and it was found that the problem could
be completely avoided by planting the
bulbs three to one week before adding
the water. The success has meant that
hydroponic production of tulip bulbs has
grown from virtually nil in 1997 to over
40% last year and the expectation is that
this will rise to 90% within the next five
years.
Challenge
The brothers Mark and Meindert-Jan de
Wit, of Andijk, previously grew bulbs on
peat and sand but switched, two years
ago, to forcing them in water. This was
mainly because they wanted a challenge
and because it did not require any invest-
ment. It also freed up some cooling
space. They now produce about 1.9 mil-
lion tulips per year of seven cultivars of
which about 95% come from their own
nine hectares of fields.

The cool room. The

temperature is about 5°C.

Tulip bulbs are secured on the pins of the Hydro Tray. One tray will
take about 100 bulbs.

8 FlowerTECH 2002, vol. 5/no. 1 www.HortiWorld.nl


Bulbs are secured by pins in Hydro-
Trays, about 100 bulbs per tray of bulbs
size 12+. Then, before any water is
added, the trays are put in the cold store
to break dormancy – the temperature
must be under 9°C. The water is added
later. The boxes are then returned to the
cold store where the temperature is about
5°C. It then takes three weeks, some-
times only 10 days later in the season,
before the bulbs are ready to transfer to
the greenhouse. No further water is
added during this period. Previously,
with the peat and sand system, bulbs
needed to stay up to 18 weeks in the cold
The stacked trays are automatically filled with water.
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BULBS
Tulip bulbs ready for
planting.
store because the rooting system needed
to be much more extensive in order to
anchor the bulb.
“They only require about 4cm of
roots,” said Mark de Wit “because the
roots are only necessary to take up water,
not to anchor the bulb.”
As well as the time saving, the advan-
tage of the water system is that is it not
necessary to buy in the sand and peat,
the boxes with water are lighter (10 kg
per box, compared wit 18kg), less room
is required in the cold store and less ener-
gy is required to bring the temperature of When the tulip bulbs have about 4cm of root they can be transferred
the boxes down. Also harvesting is much to the greenhouse.
Tulips in the greenhouse, ready for harvesting.
FlowerTECH 2002, vol. 5/no. 1 9
 faster and the flowers are cleaner, says
Mark. All together, it is one euro cent
cheaper per stem to produce tulips on
water than on soil.
The only problem is that some cultivars
are not suitable for hydroponic produc-
tion.
And during dull weather the bulbs still
take up water but they cannot transpire
so readily so sometimes in winter it is
necessary to increase the EC of the water
in an attempt to slow down water
uptake. This they do by adding a solu-
Forcing hyacinths for
winter cut flowers
Given the right treatment, hyacinths
make very fragrant cut flowers in
winter and can bring a splash of blue
to bouquets, a difficult colour to find
during this period of the year.
by Helen Armstrong
Hyacinths are usually sold as pot plants,
either in soil or with the bulb just float-
ing on a vase of water. But the same
bulbs, given a slightly different treatment
so that they produce longer stems, can be
used to produce cut flowers. The majori-
ty of these will be forced in soil but one
Dutch grower has almost perfected the
hydroponic production of cut hyacinths.
Peter Knijnenburg and his wife Lenie,
of Noordwijk, first started forcing cut
flower hyacinths in 1974, firstly on soil
and since 1994, on water. It took them
about three years to master water cultiva-
tion and still they are the only people in
the Netherlands using this technique.
Currently they produce 400,000 cut
10 FlowerTECH 2002, vol. 5/no. 1
tion of nitrogen, nitrate oxide and calci-
um oxide.
Greenhouse
After the cold store, bulbs are moved to
the greenhouse which in total covers
1,200 m2. In the beginning the tempera-
ture is set at 21°C which s gradually
reduced to 18°C and then 16°C. The
house is heated by hot water pipes which
are suspended above the crop – tulips
like to have “cold feet” – and watering is
via hoses which lie over the boxes.
flower hyacinths between December and
March, half on water, half on soil from
seven cultivars: White Giant; Blue Giant,
Mulberry Rose, Delft’s Blue; Prinses
Marie Christina, Prins Hendrik and
Nereus.
Many growers buy bulbs from specialist
growers or via a bulb auction while others
propagate their own lifting them at the
end of May, early June. The bulbs are
then stored at 25°C, followed by a period
at 23°C and then 13°C. And then to
force them, the temperature in the cold
Irrigating from above can lead to Botrytis
and if the cultivar is susceptible to calci-
um deficiency then overhead watering
can cause the stems to fall over and
break.
The boxes are sterilised between batches
by steam cleaning at 60°C for a couple of
hours. ❙
More information on hydroponic produc-
tion of tulips is available from the
International Flower Bulb Centre. Email:
info@bulbsonline.org
Hyacinths make a
fragrant, short cut flower
in the winter.
store will be reduced to 9°C.
In order to produce cut flowers from
late November Mr. Knijnenburg plants
the bulbs in wooden boxes, previously
used to grow chicory, at the end of
August. The difference between pot
plants and cut flowers is that cut flowers
require longer cold treatment in order to
produce longer stems.
There is quite a difference between
those bulbs being grown on peat and
sand and those being forced on water.
Bulbs in peat require 13 weeks at 9°C
www.HortiWorld.nl

while those grown on water require just
nine weeks of cold treatment. This is
because the peat takes longer to reach
9°C and, because the bulbs are respiring
and producing heat, it is possible that the
peat around the bulbs never reaches 9°C.
On the other hand, the bulbs growing
hydroponically are in direct contact with
the water and it is easier for this to be
maintained at a constant 9°C.
Despite the saving of four weeks,
Knijnenburg says that he will continue to
grow some hyacinths in soil because not
all varieties are suitable for water culture.
“Not all varieties are possible, because,
the roots, although thicker become too
brittle and break easily,” he says. This is
Peter Knijnenburg.
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BULBS
Bulbs being forced in
chicory boxes.
Plastic covered mesh hold the bulbs in place while the roots are
growing
the main reason why it is also not possi- touch it, rather than growing between
ble to transfer water grown plants to soil the holes, they stop growing. Therefore,
and vice versa. he is currently experimenting with a hon-
Bulbs for cut flowers required after 1 eycomb type plastic which is usually lain
January are planted at regular intervals under gravel paths to hold the stones in
from the end of September onwards. place. The bulbs are placed on the plastic
Again they will be forced at 9°C and
require 8-12 weeks dormancy break
depending on the variety. If during this
period the stems become too long too
quickly, the temperature will be dropped
to 2°C.
Knijnenburg tops up the water in the
boxes during the forcing period but he
no longer feels it necessary to change it.
He used to renew it for fear of the fun-
gus Penicillium building up, but even if
this does occur it is not harmful to the
bulbs, he says.
The bulbs grown on peat have a layer
of sand poured over them which is neces-
sary to weigh them down and prevent
them being forced upward by the grow-
ing roots.
Greenhouse
After the forcing period Knijnenburg
transfers the boxes to his greenhouse,
which covers an area of 110m2, and
where the temperature is 18°C. The
bulbs grown on water are held in place
by two layers of plastic-covered mesh (see
photo). He used to use metal wire to
secure the bulbs but this lead to zinc tox-
icity. Unfortunately, the plastic wire also Mr. Knijenburg is experimenting by putting the bulbs on a
presents problems because when they honeycomb type of plastic mat.
FlowerTECH 2002, vol. 5/no. 1 11

Hyacinths in the greenhouse where the temperature is maintained at
18°C.
which also has the advantage that it
remains much flatter than the plastic
wire.
Flowers from the bulbs raised on water
are ready for cutting after one week in
the greenhouse while those grown on soil
take about ten days. And as the season
progresses it becomes possible to harvest
two consecutive water crops for every
peat crop. Another benefit of the hydro-
ponic hyacinth is that harvesting is three
times faster and the flower is cleaner.
Those on water are grabbed at the base
12 FlowerTECH 2002, vol. 5/no. 1
BULBS
of the stem while those in the peat have
to be worked loose by putting a finger in
into the soil and under the bulb.
Post harvest
After harvesting, the bulbs are removed
from the stems by a machine invented by
Knijnenburg himself. It first cuts the
roots off the bulb and then pushes the
stem out of the bulb so that some of the
bulb remains on the stem. This allows the
leaves to remain attached to the stem. If
the stem is cut above the bulb the leaves
have no point of contact and fall off.
The stems are bunched in fives and are The machine (pictured open) removes the roots and
put in water for about five minutes pushed the stems out of the bulb.
before being packed ready for transport
to the nearby auction. At the moment
there is no difference in price between a increase they might, in future, receive a
hyacinth grown in peat or on water but if premium because they are cleaner, hopes
supplies of hydroponic hyacinths were to Knijnenburg. ❙
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