Latest cropnews Tulip and Lilium

Tulips

The tulip bulbs planted in both Holland and France show an active growth image, also thanks to the very nice spring weather. The growers are busy selecting the bulbs to improve the quality and maintain the good quality level. The flower prices on the Dutch market have shown a decrease, but in the past week prices increase again towards Easter.

Lilium

The Dutch growers are busy planting under very favourable circumstances, without any doubt a good start! The flower prices remain stable and at a high level, especially the oriental varieties. The quality of the flowers is good.

Tulip 2011 - Short news

Tulips
The flower trade of tulips is at a very sharp price level already from the start of the season. Last week a small recovery could be observed because of the increasing demand in connection with Valentine’s Day. Due to the wintery conditions the so called street trading does not sell any flowers. The expectation is a price improvement in the period towards Women’s Day on 8 March. The quality of the tulips can be called good. Because of the early season, more flowers have been brought to the auction than in other years.

The final planting prognosis has not yet been published but last autumn probably less tulips have been planted for bulb production. Varieties such as Yokohama and Monte Carlo show a considerable shrinkage in area. The tulips have been planted under good circumstances, but the period after planting has been very warm and dry, so that some growers had been forced to irrigate their lots to obtain  well rooted bulbs.  At this moment most of the lots are covered with a layer of snow and Holland is suffering by a strong frost period, so we are not sure how the tulips will get through the winter.

Lilium 2011 - short news

Lilium 2011 - short news

The growers still have about 40 million lilies (Oriental, Asiatic, LA and OT) for which they are not able to find a buyer, because these bulbs are not suitable anymore for long term storage, the assortment no longer fits the demand or the bulbs have been infected with a high percentage of PLAMV virus. This will imply that a large part of the bulbs will be thrown away, because most growers do not want to take the risk to start packing the bulbs.

At this moment the growers are busy with the delivery of the last French grown bulbs and they have already begun preparing the plant material that will be planted again in March. A sifting in the assortment will take place because anyhow the growers will not or partially plant - only low % - PLAMV affected lots and varieties of crop 2011 for which a buyer could only be found with difficulty or not at all, will also only be partially planted.

Latest Cropnews Lilium 2011 / Tulip 2012 and new Mobile Flowerbulb APP

Lilium 2011

The nurseries are busy with harvesting and with the delivery of the Asiatic and LA varieties. The circumstances for harvesting are perfect.

The results look good, but there is a bit more harvest damage than last year. This as a result of the fairly warm weather of the past weeks: during harvest the bulbs have a higher temperature and this makes the slightly damaged spots “soil” more than they normally do. The temperature has dropped since early this week and you can see that there is less damage.

After the LA and Asiatic, the OT and Oriental are next. Not everywhere, but in different areas they will start harvesting next week. If the weather remains good (no frost) the breeders will be ready with harvesting and processing at the end of December.

Trade: Because of the world-wide insecurity, the foreign nurseries are very reserved and the flower prices are under pressure. This has also an influence on the flower trade which leads to low flower prices.

Tulip 2012The past weeks the growers have been busy with planting the tulips of crop 2012. At the beginning of October we have had a lot of rain and as a result of the wet weather the growers started planting a bit later this year. Fortunately we have had quite good weather the past weeks and most of the tulips have been planted now. They expect that the sown area will probably be the same as last year.

The sales of crop 2012 are starting slowly and large batches are sold to tulip breeders, mainly in size 10/11 and 11/12 at a sharp price. There is also some trade in relation-lots and varieties which were sold very quickly last year.

At this moment the flower prices of the tulips are sold for a fairly good price at the Dutch auction. This concerns mainly Southern Hemisphere bulbs and ice tulips.

Mobile Flowerbulb APP
The first Mobile Flower bulb App, which VWS has launched, is a great success. The first updates are allready done and twice a week new varieties will be added.

Also want to be up to date ? Download the App by scanning the code or click the download link.

The first installation will take a few minutes for downloading the complete data base. After that you will be updated in a split second.

(Android only at this moment)

Mechanisation Exhibit Lisse 2012From 10 till 13 January 2012 the 62nd edition of the Mechanisation Exhibit will be held in Lisse. VWS is also present at this exhibition like last year. If you would like to visit the exhibition please contact our sales department and plan your visit.

We also can provide you entrance tickets offered by us.

Our stand number is: 3A08

Latest news VWS Flowerbulbs

IFTF 2011

VWS has had a good show at the IFTF last week. Lots of visitors saw the new website and the Mobile App. Because of the well organized Hortiweek more visitors than before made the trip to Holland. The first Mobile Flower bulb App, which VWS has launched, is a great success. The first updates with the newest varieties will be done this week.

New website for VWS:

VWS has launched an entire new website. A modern look with an easy navigation to the right products. As every visitor knows, the website of VWS contains lots of variety information and this has remained the same. The website is also compatible with all mobile devices.

Take a look at our refreshed website and convince yourself that VWS is your partner in business!

Mechanisation Exhibit Lisse 2012

From 10 till 13 January 2012 the 62nd edition of the Mechanisation Exhibit will be held in Lisse. VWS is also present at this exhibition like last year. If you would like to visit the exhibition please contact our sales department and plan your visit. We also can provide you entrance tickets offered by us.

Our stand number is: 3A08

Iris cropnews 2011

Cropnews Iris 2011

The harvest of the irisbulbs is almost starting again. The growing season has been very unsteady. Shortly after planting there was a long period of early frost.

In spring a normal crop appeared, even though it has been very dry during the growing season. Therefore the growers irrigated a lot, a normal harvest is expected.

The French iris bulbs are being harvested and so far it looks like a fairly normal harvest. The trade of irises is a little behind compared to last year.

Lilium Statistics 2011

Lilium Statistics 2011

In the statistics you can see a extension in: LA (167Ha +21%) OT (23Ha +9%) and Asiatic (2Ha + 0,5%)
The Oriental shrinks with -2,3% to 33Ha.

The biggest extension in LA are the varieties: Serrada, Litouwen, Nashville, Indian Summerset, Golden Tycoon, Advantage and Eyeliner. You can find the total statistics below or download the PDF here.

Please see our earlier newsletter about the frost damage, which can be of influence on the numbers.