Zealandia Nursery grows in Chch

Press, 29 February 1984, Page 29

Zealandia Nursery grows in Chch

By

NEVIN TOPP

Zealandia Nursery Company, Ltd, has begun work on expanding its nurseries in Avoca Valley, Christchurch, to meet the steadily increasing demand for house plants.' Zealandia, part of the Horticultural Industries, Ltd, group which issued its prospectus for a public float earlier this month, is constructing an additional 3000 sq m in greenhouse space in Christchurch to cut down on freight costs from its Auckland nurseries. Mr Bill Cairns, Zealandia’s Christchurch assistant manager, says that besides reducing freight costs the new greenhouse will allow it to present flowering plants in better condition because they will not need to be shipped from Auckland.

At the same time, it will mean that the Auckland nurseries will be able to concentrate fully on the North Island market and for export. Nursery production has developed into big business, according to Mr Cairns. Last October, Zealandia introduced computer numbering for each of its plants from the spore stage. Each plant’s development is plotted until it leaves the nursery, allowing the cost of producing it to be worked out and assessment to be made of the most economic rate to grow plants. The Christchurch nursery does better than Auckland’s on a dollar rate per square metre because it does not have to retain mother stock, Mr Cairns says. Another development has been the “clumping” of plants, or growing more than one plant in the same pot. This began as an experiment last year, but Zealandia has found that the growth rates of plants have improved when planted together. Other benefits include avoidance of the need to pick some varieties of plants individually when they are young and savings in freight costs since more plants can be transported in each tray. Growing plants requires planning. The stock to go into the new greenhouse area at Avoca Valley is already being grown in the

Auckland nurseries. The new area is expected to open in the first week of June. Besides seasons, holidays also have to be taken into account. Mother’s Day and Christmas are the two best times for demand in house plants. Valentine’s Day is also becoming popular for giving plants, Mr Cairns says. In order to meet the demand for Mother’s Day, the plants are developed in November. And shortly after Mother’s Day is over, planting begins for Christmas. The general manager of Zealandia, Mr Rod Naish. says that the company’s Christchurch nurseries account for 30 per cent of the total turnover, in what is a multi-million dollar industry. Zealandia’s nurseries at Alfriston, 29km south-east of

central Auckland, have drawn much comment because of the shocking pink colour of the fibreglass cladding of the glasshouses (the Avoca Valley nurseries have the same colour and material). Mr Naish says the pink colour is favoured as a landing mark by pilots heading for Auckland airport, and it screens out ultraviolet light in the glasshouses and as a paint it sticks better. The shocking pink nurseries have even attracted enquiries from Japan and Israel as to the “secret” behind the colour choice. However, the main reason for the pink-coloured greenhouses is to reduce glare in the interior. The greater the number of coats of the pink mixture used on the outside, the less light gets in. The pink mixture can also easily be removed.

In addition, the greenhouses are insulated with polythene in the interiors, and some of them also have black-out equipment to prevent light reaching plants during crucial times in the growing cycle. A new development at the Alfriston nurseries has been the use of natural gas. There is a direct link to the Natural Gas Corporation’s main North Island pipeline through a breakdown station at the nursery, and according to Mr Naish, this has cut heating costs by 50 per cent, putting the energy bill for the building behind that of wages, for what is a labour-intensive industry. The Avoca Valley nursery uses coal from the West Coast. Zealandia specialises in house plants, and it grows 70 crops, or varieties, on an annual basis for the New Zealand market and export. Among the plant varieties grown by Zealandia are 12 different ferns, including two native varieties. Alfriston sends 20,000 plants a fortnight to the Netherlands,

including the native fern, pellaea, or rotundifolia, in what is considered to be a coup in export marketing for the European market is difficult to break into. The Auckland nurseries also send plants to Hong Kong, and Mr Naish says that market research is continuing to be carried out to ensure that these countries get only, the best. Zealandia is hoping to export to the United States, despite rigorous quarantine regulations there. These include inspections of the nurseries in the country of origin and the imposition of building requirements, such as double doors, for each greenhouse. “The American market would swallow up in one promotion what we send to the Netherlands in a year,” he says. Another area that Zealandia has an eye on is Australia, but although New Zealand can export horticultural products like kiwifruit, persimmons, and avocados, plants are not covered by the closer economic rela-

tions agreement, which is a sore point among New Zealand growers. Quarantine restrictions on importing plants, introduced by Australia in the early 19505, have remained under the C.E.R. agreement, which means that only about five plants of one variety can be imported at one time. But there have been moves at a high level within the governments on both sides of the Tasman to have the quarantine terms changed. According to Dr Alec Rainbow, who is in charge of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries’ plant health and diagnostic station at Levin, talks are being held in Australia at the moment on the Australian nursery stock quarantine policy. But the potential for exports of house plants from New Zealand to the northern hemisphere is viewed with excitement because plants come to maturity in this country when the other side of the world is having its off-season for growing.