The talk aimed to be in two parts the first was concerned with the British Grown Flower industry and the second part was to do with the commercial growing of alstroemeria. Ben was introduced by Jacqui Verrinder.
Ben started the talk by mentioning that he was a fourth- generation member of a family-run flower concern started by one his antecedents who took advantage of the creation of the Land Settlement Association (LSA).
The Land Settlement Association was a UK Government scheme set up in 1934, with help from thecharities the Plunkett Foundation and the Carnegie Trust to re-settle unemployed workers from depressed industrial areas, particularly from North-East England and Wales. Between 1934 and 1939 1,100 smallholdings were established within 20 settlements. A further five settlements of “Cottage Homesteads” of about half an acre were established from 1937 for unemployed men, who could continue to claim assistance.
Settlements were set up in rural areas where each successful applicant’s family would be given a smallholding of approximately 5 acres (0.020 km2), livestock and a newly built cottage. Smallholdings were grouped in communities which were expected to run agricultural production as cooperative market gardens, with materials bought and produced and sold exclusively through the Association. Applicants were vetted and given agricultural training before being assigned a property.
The allocation of settlements to the unemployed was suspended at the outbreak of the Second World War through the necessity of increasing food production; favour was given to those already with horticultural skills. After the war the Association continued, encouraging people who wanted to work in horticulture or agriculture. The scheme was wound-up, and all the properties privatised in 1983, by which time it was producing roughly 40% of English home- grown salad crops, contributing to food security. The residual assets of the scheme were constituted as the LSA Charitable Trust, for the benefit of former tenants and to promote horticultural education.
The nursery, Crosslands Flower Nursery, where Ben works is situated near Arundel in the south of England and the mild winter climate with few frosts is conducive to growing alstroemerias also called Peruvian Lilies that were brought over to Europe from South America in the mid 1700s by Swedish baron Clas Alstroemer. Dutch and British nurseries developed hybrids suited to European climates.
Ben showed a slide, showing beds of alstroemerias each about two metres wide and fifty metres long running in parallel with each other in a very large greenhouse. Each bed had a soil heating pipe. The heat was created by a boiler using wood pellets as its fuel and this was a sustainable situation because the pellets could come from woodland management companies. There were also two watering systems one overhead and one in the soil. The overhead one cooled the plants during the summer and the other one was used when damp conditions would cause the top of the root system to rot. No artificial lighting was used. Alstroemerias do not like winds or hot sun.
Each narrow bed cost £3000 to create and was initially planted in autumn so the roots of the plants could have the best chance of developing. The plant develops by producing new roots and is encouraged to do so when old flower stalks and other non-flowering material is pulled up. Some of this unwanted green material is sold to florists.
Part of the cost of cultivating the alstroemeria is obtaining a licence to grow them and this is payable to the supplier of the original plants. If a plant diverges from its expected looks i.e. petal colour etc. then the original supplier must be notified.
The number of growers is decreasing and Ben thought that the RHS and the National Association of Flower Arrangement Societies ( NAFAS ) should do more to help the British growers.
The beds of alstroemerias must be maintained and this consisted of checking the stems above soil level and checking that the soil quality is at its peak for the plants
The actions carried out above soil level were
Cutting
Tucking in the plants so they do not stick out onto the paths in the greenhouse
Thinning
Weeding. Hand- weeding is carried out
The checks on soil quality were biannual and consisted of
Calcium level
Potash level
Nitrogen level
Ph level (acidity alkalinity)
Biological
The soil checks were considered unskilled and Ben said that he thought that they should be skilled.
Pests were controlled by non-chemical means.
The flowers were sold to supermarkets and farm shops however 90% of UK consumption was imported from abroad. Ben pointed out the advantages of growing them locally one being that the flowers were fresher and another that the local economy was helped.
He concluded by saying that that a big effort was needed to grow the industry.
