Islandplant B.V.

Islandplant B.V. was founded in 2009 by the brothers Peter and Martin van den Bos. Islandplant grows its products at three locations on the island of Voorne Putten in the province of Zuid-Holland.

Respect for the planet is important. It is important that the environment is treated properly. It is therefore logical that Islandplant also does everything in its power to grow the entire range of plants in as environmentally friendly a way as possible.

The biggest challenge in environmentally friendly cultivation is to keep the plants vital with as few crop protection agents as possible and free of bugs.

Islandplant cultivates:

room and garden hydrangeas in various pot sizes,
hanging plants such as Petunia, Calibrachoa mix pot (Trixi®), Lobelia, Fuchsia,
Potted chrysanthemum as houseplants which are popular in the autumn period thanks to their different colour mixes.
Red Poinsettia’s for the English market are grown annually with high quality requirements under contract of their customers.

The majority of these plants go to German and Dutch supermarkets. But in many cases, poinsettia’s are grown specifically for British consumers and must be of particularly high quality.

Sustainability

Water

All the rainwater that falls on the roofs of the greenhouses and buildings is collected in a water basin. This water is used to water the plants. The basins are large enough to meet our water requirements for the plants all year round.

Geothermal energy

In anticipation of the current developments of the Dutch government’s natural gas reduction plan, the greenhouse has been heated by geothermal heat at the main location in Vierpolders since 2016. With this system, no CO2 is emitted to the outside air at the nursery. Hot water, approximately 90 degrees Celsius, is supplied via a pipeline route through the horticultural area in Vierpolders, where the source is drilled to a depth of 2.3 km. This project (Geothermal energy Vierpolders) was set up by a total of 8 growers with 9 cultivation locations and realised with highly professional engineers. The affiliated growers each have their own heat requirements in view of the variety of crops; pot plants, young vegetable plants, tomatoes, aubergines, etc… The geothermal heat project heats a total of 50 hectares of glass.

Waste

All plastic foil and cardboard waste is separated at Islandplant and then collected by a recycling company.

The plastic flower pots and trays used for cuttings, left over after re-potting, are collected by the potting factory and processed into new pots.

Greenhouses

The greenhouses in which the plants are grown are equipped with modern, fully computer-controlled systems. Examples of this are: watering with ebb and flow systems, saving energy with movable screens, lighting with assimilation lamps in the winter months and, of course, heating.

People

Islandplant employs a lot of people during peak periods to get all the production and packing done. There are permanent employees and temporary employees with various positions.

In 2017 Islandplant was nominated Entrepreneur of the Year on the theme of Human Capital and was one of the top 3 of 68 companies on Voorne Putten.

Health

Did you know that flowers and plants have a healthy effect on people?

Plants provide air purification..
People breathe in air, take out oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. In the case of plants it is the other way around. During photosynthesis, plants remove carbon dioxide from the air and convert it back into oxygen. The amount of oxygen in the air is increased by the presence of plants, which makes breathing easier.
Air-purifying plants can absorb harmful substances from the air through their leaves. These harmful substances are then stored and broken down in the plant’s roots. These plants can also break down dirty odours, so they are actually natural air fresheners.
For the sake of clarity, every (indoor) plant produces oxygen, but not every plant also purifies the air. Air-purifying plants are e.g. the Spathiphyllum, Calathea, Hedera helix (ivy), Areca palm and the Ficus. For many plants we do not yet know to what extent they have an air purifying effect since they have not yet been tested.
Plants ensure a better concentration and a reduction of stress.
Plants create a relaxed and better atmosphere, also at work.. Plants make the workplace a more pleasant place to work.
Apparently there is even a relationship between the presence of plants and the productivity of employees.
Moreover, the presence of plants has a positive effect on the creativity and concentration of people.
Plants reduce the dryness of the air
The dust content and humidity in the house are strongly related with each other. The dryer the air, the more dust. This can cause symptoms such as a tickling cough, dry skin, headaches and irritated eyes. By watering plants, it finally evaporates again through the stomata in the leaves. Plants can thus increase the humidity of the air, which therefore benefits the air quality.
Plants provide a pleasant and warm feeling
Research has shown that plants are good for people in various (subtle) ways. They play an essential role in creating a pleasant, natural and quiet environment in which to move, work and/or relax.
Did you know that flowers too have a healthy effect on people?
Flowers can brighten up any room in a magical way. They give meaning to our emotions such as love, joy, comfort, compassion and sorrow. Flowers provide a relaxing effect on our constitution. They provide positive energy in the home and a warm feeling. In short, everyone is just very happy about that!

Care

Hydrangea:

poinsettia :

chrysanthemum:

Hanging plants:

Innovation

The Dutch greenhouse horticulture sector is worldwide renowned for its innovative power. In order to be one step ahead of the competition from other parts of the world, people are constantly looking for better efficiency in the use of raw materials and space. This, of course, without compromising the (top) quality of the Dutch product.

The glasshouse horticulture sector in the Netherlands can cope with this rapid pace of innovation thanks to a strong relationship between research and practice. In addition, a great deal of knowledge is exchanged between the entrepreneurs in order to make progress together. The flower auctions are a good example of this as one of the largest cooperatives in the world.
Below we describe a few examples of this innovative power.

Biological control and integrated pest management
In order to minimise the use of pesticides and to find a better balance between parasites and their natural enemies, natural enemies of the parasites are used in the greenhouses. Thanks to the intensive exchange of knowledge between the growers and their suppliers, growers are increasingly able to produce a top quality product with organic solutions.

Combined heat and power (CHP)
Combined heat and power (CHP) is a large engine, originating from the shipping industry. Only it has been converted to run on natural gas. The efficiency of this motor is higher than traditional gas boilers. These engines drive a generator that generates electricity. This electricity is used in the company’s own nursery or is supplied back to the public electricity grid. The ‘residual heat’ produced by the engine is used to heat the greenhouses. After cleaning, the exhaust gases can be used to provide the plants with CO2. All in all, these motors provide an efficiency that can be up to 20% higher than the traditional method of heating (gas boilers).

Geothermal energy
Geothermal energy is used for this type of energy. A drilling tower is used to drill a well to a depth of 2-3 km. At this depth, water of more than 80 degrees can be ‘collected’. This heat is used to heat the greenhouses and then the cooled water is returned to the soil via a second source. It is expected that these sources will be able to continue to produce sufficient heat, even longer than the life of a greenhouse.

Drilling the well is an enormously expensive investment. In addition, there is a great risk that the drilling will ‘fail’. By working together with each other and with governments, in the Netherlands we are able to gain experience with this way of heating greenhouses sustainably.

Water purification
Plants need water and nutrients to grow. More and more nurseries are making use of the reuse of drainage water. This is water that is collected before it disappears into the subsoil. This ‘drainage water’ still contains many nutrients that can be used by the plants.
By reusing this water and mixing it with clean water, less fertilizer is used.
However, the drainage water also contains some ‘wrong substances’. The content of these wrong substances determines how much water can be reused. The application of new techniques creates opportunities to filter these ‘wrong substances’ out of the water.

Diffuse glass
In new constructions, more and more growers are opting to cover their greenhouses with diffuse glass. Diffuse glass ensures that light is distributed much more evenly across the crop without any shade or light spots. This leads to a more even greenhouse climate.
Temperature and humidity can thus be controlled more accurately, which means, for example, that the opening of the air windows can be limited, which leads to lower CO2 emissions.

LED lighting in greenhouse horticulture
A new innovation in horticulture is the use of LED lighting. This lighting is not comparable with LED lighting used in consumer use. In the horticultural sector, the lighting is produced by ‘power LEDs’ and therefore much higher. The major advantage of these ‘power LEDs’ is related to sustainable business practices: energy savings compared to high-pressure sodium lamps (orange-coloured lighting). This saves more than half of the energy.
Another major advantage is that when using LEDs, crops can be better controlled using the different colours in the light. This is in favour of a better growth and a higher quality of the product.