How Targeted Nutrition Keeps Plants Greener with Less Labor

At a glance

Challenge:
Meet the different nutritional needs of more than 80 crops while maintaining compact growth, plant quality and an efficient production process.

Approach:
Adapt the nutrition strategy to the crop and production period, combining water-soluble and controlled-release fertilizers where they add most value.

Impact:
Since switching to Peters Professional, M. Loeffen reports fewer yellow leaves, less manual leaf removal, good plant development and greener plants.

Plant nutrition:
Peters Professional Combi-Sol, combined with Osmocote Exact 3–4M, 5–6M and 8–9M for selected crops and production cycles.

Perspective from:
Mathieu Loeffen, Owner at Plant nursery M. Loeffen, Someren, the Netherlands.

Since we started using Peters Professional fertilizers, our plants have much less yellow leaves… my plants are more beautiful, greener and I have less work.

Match nutrition to the crop

Loeffen produces around 1.5 million plants per year across more than 80 varieties. With crops ranging from Fuchsia and Begonia to Geranium, sunflower, Chrysanthemum and Viola, one standard nutrition programme is not enough. For Mathieu, fertilization is also a way to manage plant development. “We regulate the development of the plant with our fertilization plan.”

The aim is to produce compact, strong plants that continue to perform at the customer’s home. This means looking at the nutritional needs of each crop rather than applying the same programme throughout the nursery. Peters Professional Combi-Sol provides the nursery’s water-soluble nutrition. Osmocote Exact complements this where controlled-release nutrition better fits the crop and production cycle.

Different crops, different nutrition strategies

For sunflowers, M. Loeffen uses Osmocote Exact 5–6M. Hanging pots combine Osmocote Exact 3–4M and 8–9M, providing nutrition for a quick start as well as continued release after the plant reaches the customer. Other crops need a different approach. Tuberous Begonia, for example, requires lower nutrient levels. As Mathieu explains: “We really have to focus on targeted fertilization.”

For growers managing a diverse assortment, the takeaway is straightforward: the fertilizer strategy needs to follow the crop, its growth requirements and the production period.

Greener plants with less corrective work

The impact of the switch to Peters Professional is visible both in crop quality and daily nursery work. Mathieu reports considerably fewer yellow leaves, which means employees spend less time manually removing them. He also sees good plant development and an overall improvement in plant appearance. That makes the result practical as well as visual: better-looking plants with less corrective labor.

Loeffen’s experience shows that plant nutrition should not only be assessed by how the crop grows. Plant color, quality and the amount of corrective work required are also important measures of whether a fertilizer strategy is delivering what the nursery needs.

Key learnings for mixed-crop nurseries

• Match nutrition to individual crop needs rather than using one standard programme.
• Combine water-soluble and controlled-release fertilizers where they serve different purposes.
• Consider how nutrition influences compactness, plant quality and performance after sale.
• Look at the operational result too: less corrective work can be just as valuable as visible crop improvement.

For a nursery with more than 80 crops, the result is not one universal fertilizer recipe. It is a nutrition strategy flexible enough to deliver the right result across a very diverse assortment.

About Plant nursery M. Loeffen

Plant nursery M. Loeffen is based in Someren, the Netherlands. The nursery produces around 1.5 million plants annually across more than 80 varieties, with 1.5 hectares of indoor production and 1,000 m² outdoors.