The Poinsettia Growers Group Open Day

The Poinsettia Growers Group Open Day, which followed last year’s successful inaugural Open Day, took place in Bridge Farm Group’s Spalding headquarters on November 23. With its colourful poinsettia displays and informative presentations, it has quickly become a must-attend event in the horticulture sector’s festive calendar. Rachel Anderson reports. 

The run-up to the festive season (which nowadays begins on November 1 quicker than you can say pumpkin) often feels a bit overwhelming. The way I deal with this yearly sensory overload is to stay cocooned in my office – much like The Grinch (namely, that fictitious, furry, green creature who hates Christmas and lives in a secluded mountain cave). 

So it was, in fact, a rare occasion when – on November 23 – I ventured out of my cave to travel to Bridge Farm Group in Spalding, Lincolnshire, to attend the British Protected Ornamentals Association (BPOA) Poinsettia Growers Group Open Day. As the Grinch once said: “I could use a little social interaction.”  

There, members of the ICL Professional Horticulture team were busily promoting ICL’s Levington Advance range. Meanwhile, as I ditched my green fur, I was reminded of the enormous effort that poinsettia growers put in to make it possible for us all to buy these cheerful (but not-so-easy-to-grow) plants.  

Bearing plants from afar

As Andy Abbey of Beekenkamp Plants pointed out, it’s been particularly challenging for growers in the UK to get the height on their poinsettia crops this year – largely due to the “awful” low light levels experienced from June until August. In fact, he reported that one of his customers had “March levels of light in August.” He added: “People were having to heat their glasshouses in August, which is unheard of.”  

Andy also observed that the plants’ establishment tends to be a bit slower in peat-free growing media. “We are all learning when it comes to the compost side of things – it’s throwing us a few curveballs and we just have to learn how to handle it. But it’s perfectly achievable.” Andy suggested perhaps potting the plants a week earlier and keeping temperatures at a minimum of 14°C. Happily, some of fairly new poinsettia varieties that he presented to growers at the Open Day are “good at dealing with cooler temperatures.” These include Leona Red, a larger poinsettia plant that Andy reported has been “absolutely fantastic” this year. It also includes the Robyn series, a fairly compact variety that comes in four colours (red, white, marble, and pink) and Astro, which has “nice bracts”. 

Andy was one of several representatives from the world’s main poinsettia breeders who joined the event to highlight their new and bestselling varieties to the group.  

Henrik Nielson, representing Dümmen Orange, noted that Freya is the firm’s bestseller in the UK. Currently, it comes in red, white, and pink – and next year it will be available in a marble. He also noted that an increasing number of plants from Dümmen’s Mini series are now being grown in the UK – as are pink and white varieties from the increasingly-popular J’Adore Series. 

Julian Wilson from Florensis, which last year took over Syngenta’s poinsettia assortment, informed growers that Gloriette Brilliant Red remains Florensis’ main variety. Julian admitted that it is better suited to a smaller (6-10cm) pot although next year, he said, “we will have a new variety, with the same characteristics, that could also be used in a 13cm.”  

The Snow Queen

Given its snowy name, it was fitting to see Alaska White crowned the recipient of this year’s Best Choice Poinsettia Award. As Graeme Edwards (managing director for Woodlark Nurseries in Surrey) explained, nine growers raised poinsettias kindly sent to them by the breeders and then scored the plants according to their vigour, plant shape, colour, breaking, bract size, and uniformity. He revealed that Alaska White, supplied by Florensis, gained first place in the trials because it scored highly in all categories. 

Walking around the colourful display of poinsettias in the trial, delegates also voted for their favourite. This time, Dümmen’s Freya Red was declared the winner.  

A Stronger Voice

Growers at the open day also voted on an arguably more serious topic – that of the Government’s review of future policy options for Bemisia tabaci (BT), which is currently under official control in the UK. As growers may remember, BT caused a delay in poinsettias being imported from the Netherlands to the UK last year (2022).  

The consultation (which closes on December 19) notes this whitefly poses the most significant threat as a vector of plant viruses in protected edible plants, including tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers. 

In its consultation, Defra has presented growers with four different options for future policy:  

Option 1 – Status quo 

Options 2 and 2A – Strengthening of current requirements 

Option 3 – Re-designate BT as a Regulated Non-Quarantine Pest 

Option 4 – Stop taking action against BT, but maintain measures relating to the viruses it vectors. 

The Poinsettia Growers Group’ vote was used to help BPOA gain a general consensus so that it can submit its response to Defra with “a stronger voice”. 

Prior to the vote, director of Pinetops Nursery Rory Paton led a discussion on the consultation. Then, he asserted that: “The main reason that they [the Government] are concerned is because of the fruit growers.”  

Rory pointed out that, if growers of ornamental plants get BT, they cannot send their plants out to customers; however, if fruit growers get BT then – provided no higher than 5% of their crop is affected – they can continue to sell their fruit.  

Option Four received the majority (21) votes, which, as Rory highlighted, would include no eradication requirement for ornamental growers. It would also enable them to use more biological controls and fewer chemicals. This option would also save the Government money and cause less disruption to retailers, as there will be no more in-store notices about BT on ornamental plants. 

Certainly, it will be interesting to see the outcome of the consultation. 

A Peat Ban? Oh No It Isn’t!

Another policy-related topic discussed at the event was the forthcoming “peat ban”. As you will all now know, the Government has set a retail target of 2024 and a professional grower target of 2026 (with exemptions). 

But, as growing media expert and horticulture industry stalwart Neil Bragg pointed out, the Government hasn’t created an official vehicle upon which legislation can be taken through. A peat ban wasn’t mentioned in the King’s speech, for example. This means that “there isn’t any way that they can enforce the ban by 2024,” said Neil. “I don’t know how they would police it, or who would police it on their behalf.” He also informed the group that the Government has yet to finalise a template for the proposed exemptions. 

Given all the pests, diseases, government targets, customer demands, and crazy weather that’s thrown at them, I wouldn’t blame growers for wanting to join the Grinch in his cave. Yet, as ever, growers are taking the lead and are, for example, already successfully raising their plants in peat-free growing media. And Neil offered them some handy advice on how best to do this. He noted, for instance, that after two or three weeks there is a depression in the availability of nitrogen in peat-free compost. He therefore advised poinsettia growers to learn from what soft fruit growers, which is to feed through this nitrogen depression. “You wet up from day one with calcium nitrate at a low level, 0.5gper litre… If you don’t do it, once you get yellow leaves on the plant you can’t paint them green.”  

But Neil warned growers to be careful if using urea-based fertilisers because these can lead to an increased pH. He also reminded the group that peat-free materials are natural high in available potassium. So, something like a 2.1.1. fertilisers is therefore ideal after, say, the first ten days as your main feed, he noted. 

Stars of Europe

Hannah Dunne, from the international, industry- and EU-backed marketing campaign Stars for Europe, noted that the organisation recently surveyed 1,000 consumers in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Austria, and the Netherlands. Happily, it found that overall – during Advent and the Christmas season – the poinsettia remains in the number one market position because “consumers said that it was the plant they buy most often.”  

Hannah noted that this trend is likely to be very similar in the UK and so, evidently, all of the hard work that goes into producing these firm festive favourites is worth it. Whether they are white, pink, red, marble (and everything else in between), they can brighten up even the dreariest of Grinch-caves.