Fine-Tuning Plant Nutrition for Consistent Quality

At a glance

Challenge
Maintain consistently high plant quality across a 42-hectare ornamental nursery while staying flexible when crop growth or shelf-life issues arise.

Approach
Combine Universol and Osmocote with direct technical support, using crop observations and expert input to adjust the nutrition strategy when needed.

Impact
Faster response to cultivation challenges, more precise nutritional steering and continued improvements in plant quality.

Plant nutrition
Most used products are Osmocote Exact High K, Micromax Premium en H2Gro ED. Universol and Osmocote are established parts of Van Woudenberg Tuinplanten’s cultivation strategy. Universol is used to steer nutrition precisely and respond flexibly to changing plant needs.

Perspective
Rick van Woudenberg, Nursery Owner at Van Woudenberg Tuinplanten, The Netherlands

Nursery owner Rick van Woudenberg.

Steer nutrition as plant needs change

Van Woudenberg Tuinplanten has grown into a 42-hectare ornamental plant business, but owner Rick van Woudenberg wants the nursery to remain agile. Plant growth, crop quality and shelf life can all create situations where the growing strategy needs to be adjusted quickly. Universol gives the nursery that flexibility. “Universol allows us to steer precisely and respond flexibly to the plants’ needs.”

Together with Osmocote, Universol forms an established part of the nursery’s nutrition strategy. The value for Rick is not simply having fertilizer available, but being able to adjust nutrition when the plant requires it. For other growers, the takeaway is practical: a nutrition strategy needs enough flexibility to respond when plant development or quality starts to move away from the target.

Combine products with direct technical support

According to Rick, the product is only part of the solution. When the nursery encounters challenges with crop growth or plant shelf life, Rick discusses them directly with ICL specialists: “Their technical expertise helps us respond quickly and implement improvements. We make each other better.”

That exchange of knowledge allows the nursery to move from identifying a problem to adjusting the cultivation strategy more quickly. Rick sees that continuous improvement as part of the value of the relationship: “There’s always room to improve, but because we tackle those improvements together with ICL, quality keeps moving upward.”

For growers, this highlights an important distinction: technical support adds most value when it helps translate a crop issue into a practical change in the growing strategy.

Keep plant quality performing beyond the nursery

Looking ahead, Rick sees sustainability as more than reducing inputs. He also wants plants to last longer and perform better for consumers. That requires attention throughout the value chain: crop nutrition, plant quality, shelf life and how the plant performs after it leaves the nursery. For Van Woudenberg, three principles stand out:

• Keep nutrition flexible: adjust the strategy when crop needs change.
• Use technical expertise to solve practical crop problems: especially where growth or shelf life is affected.
• Judge quality beyond the nursery gate: a successful crop should continue to perform for the customer.

The combination of products, technical knowledge and long-term cooperation helps Van Woudenberg keep improving that result.

About Van Woudenberg Tuinplanten

Van Woudenberg Tuinplanten is a family-owned ornamental plant nursery covering 42 hectares. The company operates with a core team of fifteen employees, supported by seasonal workers, and places strong emphasis on quality, responsibility and short lines of communication.