Dutch flower growers aim to keep pace with the times

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=inDepthNews&storyid=2007-04-23T002625Z_01_L20204655_RTRUKOC_0_US-DUTCH-FLOWERS.xml&src=rss&rpc=22

Dutch flower growers aim to keep pace with the times
Sun Apr 22, 2007 8:26pm ET27


By Foo Yun Chee

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Jaap Leenen, a 60-year old flower grower and the biggest daffodil breeder in the Netherlands, says seashells from the North Sea are the best thing that has ever happened to his daffodils.

Next to a yellow sea of swaying flowers, a mountain of tiny seashells stands on his farm in Sassenheim, a village in traditional bulb-growing territory half an hour's drive from Amsterdam.

Leenen started growing daffodils in trays of seashells only two years ago to increase production to meet growing demand.

Pinkish white and the size of a child's fingers, the shells are thoroughly washed before they are strewn onto the 2 meter (6 ft 6 in) square trays in a 5 cm (2 inch) thick layer as a base to anchor the flower bulbs.

Unlike soil, this helps keep bacteria, fungi and worms at bay, producing cleaner bulbs for pharmaceutical use and longer-lasting blooms, said Leenen.

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made from small marine animals that had decomposed over the years. A friend told me that it protects many plants from disease.