Impressive peat-free exotic foliage plants

Having started their peat-reduction journey a decade ago, in 2020 Hills Plants took the decision to commit to peat-free growing media when diversifying into exotic foliage plants.

Founded in 1920 by George Hill, the business is now run by the fourth generation of the family.  Originally a market gardening business, it has transformed into an impressive forward-thinking, high-tech ornamental plant nursery, employing innovative growing techniques. Operating from two sites totalling 2.8ha at Runcton and Stanley, near Chichester in West Sussex, Hills produce around 3million plants annually, supplying truly quality products.

From its traditional flowering plant market, best sellers include Hydrangea, Betulia and Poinsettia.  Never compromising on quality, Hills sets out to deliver unique, seasonally focussed, British grown products.  Committed to reducing its impact on the environment, the company is Sedex approved for its ethical and responsible business practices.

A stakeholder in the ground-breaking AHDB project ‘Transition to responsibly sourced growing media use within UK Horticulture’, Hills is now part of the RHS transition to peat-free fellowship.  Bringing together growers, governments, and growing media producers, it’s the largest global collaborative peat-free project. Initially contributing to research around peat-free propagation, Hills is now focussing on peat-free production in 9 to 21cm pots.

Exotic foliage plants

In 2019, as demand for its traditional flowering products showed signs of levelling off, the company began production trials of exotic foliage plants and now grows a stunning range in peat-free Levington Advance Sustain growing media.

“When we diversified in foliage varieties, we didn’t want to spend time working with peat-reduced mixes, only to have to relearn in peat-free,” explains senior production manager Luke Lloyd.  “Most are exotic varieties originating from Costa Rica, Guatemala and Sri Lanka. Our initial order was for 400 rooted Crotons, an extensive genus with multicoloured foliage. Over the next six months we experimented trialling various Dracaena and rooted Scindapsus cuttings. With confidence we could make it work, we threw ourselves in to it.”

While supplying several national supermarkets and high-end retail chains, Hills launched its Little Botanical brand – selling exotic foliage houseplants direct to customers.  The exceptional range includes Yuccas, Sansevieria, Zamioculcas, Schefflera, Calathea, ferns, Peperomia, Ficus and Scindapsus.

Mark Cox is the production manager at the Stanley site, where the propagation unit is sited.  “We work with unrooted cuttings – air freighted in from central America – these are rooted directly in our first Levington Advance Sustain mix,’ he says. “Rooted cuttings, plugs and liners from European propagators are potted in to our second bespoke peat-free mix, which has been designed to be slightly more open – mimicking the plants natural environments.

“The two bespoke mixes contain different ratios of buffered coir, pine bark and Fibagro Advance Fine woodfibre,” explains ICL Technical Area Sales Manager Steve Chapman. “To aid water management, they contain our H2Gro wetting and water conservation agent. In addition to a base fertiliser, both mixes contain Osmoform, a granular slow release fertiliser releasing Nitrogen over an 8-10 week period, together with Micromax Premium – our granular fertiliser that delivers all vital trace elements for up to 16 months.”

Water soluble fertilisers

“Year-round, Hills now rely on our water soluble fertiliser Universol 312 for Soft Water,” says Steve. “Before recommending a feeding regime, we took samples from the nurseries’ water supplies and had them analysed. Using Angelaweb 3.0 precision nutrition platform, we could demonstrate that the crops needed a high Nitrogen and low Potassium formulation – supplied by Universol 312 for Soft Water (NPK 18-7-12) – supplemented with additional Calcium Nitrate from a separate tank.”

“We aim to keep our feeding programmes as simple as possible,” says Luke. “In the past we mixed our own straights. However, as it has become more challenging to recruit experienced staff, with a ready mixed product there is less room for errors.  And, during the pandemic we struggled to obtain some of the straights.  Switching to Universol saves a lot of time and effort.

“When switching to peat-free we were concerned the plants would need extra feeding, but that hasn’t happened.  Foliage plants aren’t hungry.  In their native environment, the jungle, feeding levels are low.”

Watering – little and often

“With peat-free you do need to be more mindful of watering – in particular not over watering,” says Mark.  “Over a 24-hour period with peat-free you need to reduce the volume applied.  We’ve reducing the flood time from 4 to 2.5 minutes – the key is little and often.

“Peat-free can be less forgiving regarding water management. The inclusion of H2Gro makes water management easier, the peat-free media doesn’t dry out as quickly and isn’t as hydrophobic.  In our ICL peat-free mixes we incorporate H2Gro at the highest rate.”

Positive mindset

“Ten years ago, we experimented with various peat-free mixes, and it was a disaster,” says Luke. “A decade on, we’ve worked in partnership with ICL to develop peat-free Levington Advance Sustain mixes to suit our operation – it is still work in progress.

“Our mindset is very much that we want peat-free to work.  We decided we were going to grow our unrooted foliage plant cuttings in peat-free and we have made it work.  We view peat-free as very much part of our whole approach to sustainable horticulture.

“Rooted cuttings from European propagators are still largely supplied in a small volume of peat. These operations are currently reliant on peat-based growing media and are not set up to facilitate a relatively small order for peat-free cuttings. However, the tide is beginning to turn with EU peat phase out targets being set.”

Impressive peat-free foliage range 

“To establish a new foliage plant range, initially we grew as wide a range as possible to gain experience – to find out which varieties worked,” says Luke.  “Sometimes where we’ve struggled with a variety, we’ve found buying it in as a larger plant has resolved the issues.  These are exotic plants and winter production can be very challenging.

“As our knowledge has grown, we’ve reached a position where we can tailor our production schedule to what fits and works best.  We’ve created a peat-free foliage range that hits the different price points – entry level products sold in plastic pots, entry level with a ceramic pot and an aspirational range.

“Having trialled many peat-free mixes we’ve found Levington Advance Sustain to consistently be the best.  We’re continuing to work closely with Steve and his colleagues and find them receptive to any issues, which are then resolved quickly.  We find it helpful to deal with a growing media supplier that has all the necessary technologies and, there is no doubt, the advice comes from a good technical base.”