Keeping Orchid Production Resilient Under Energy Pressure

At a glance

Challenge:
Reduce exposure to volatile energy costs without compromising Phalaenopsis quality or production timing.

Approach:
Combine energy-efficient technology with continuous monitoring and adjustments to lighting, heating, production planning and specific crop needs.

Impact:
The switch from SON-T lighting to LEDs was projected to reduce electricity use for lighting by around 45%, while supporting Ter Laak’s ambition to become fossil fuel-free by 2030.

Plant nutrition:
Ter Laak Orchids uses ICL products as part of its nutrition strategy.

Perspective from:
Richard ter Laak, Business owner at Ter Laak Orchids, Wateringen, the Netherlands.

Reduce energy where the crop allows it

Sharp increases in energy prices in 2021–22 forced Ter Laak Orchids to reconsider how energy was used across its 17.5-hectare Phalaenopsis operation. At the same time, the outbreak of war in Ukraine suddenly affected an important part of its customer base.

“Our market vanished practically overnight,” Richard says.

The challenge was not simply to reduce energy consumption. Phalaenopsis still needs the right light and temperature to reach the required quality and be ready for important sales periods. Ter Laak had already invested in heat pumps, solar panels and its daylight greenhouse, which captures solar energy for heating. The energy crisis accelerated another step: replacing SON-T lighting with LEDs. The switch was projected to reduce electricity use for lighting by around 45%. But technology only creates value when it is matched to what the crop actually needs. How much light is necessary at a particular stage? When is heating essential? Where can settings be adjusted without delaying development or affecting quality? Richard describes production planning as “a thousand-piece puzzle.”

Monitor before you adjust

Ter Laak’s approach is built around continuous observation rather than fixed settings. “Observe, take actions, monitor and adjust.” Crop development, outside temperatures, energy prices, customer demand and production timing can all change. That means yesterday’s settings are not automatically the right settings today.

Build flexibility into the whole production system

The changes made during the energy crisis were not intended as temporary measures. LED lighting lowers long-term electricity demand. Flexible production planning makes it easier to respond when energy prices or market conditions change. Together, these steps support Ter Laak’s wider sustainability ambitions. “We want to be completely fossil fuel-free by 2030,” Richard says.

The wider lesson is that energy cannot be optimized in isolation. Light, temperature, water, nutrition, crop protection, labor and crop timing all interact. Ter Laak’s experience points to three practical principles:

• Know what the crop needs: identify where conditions are essential for quality and where there is room to adjust.
• Keep monitoring: crop and market conditions change, so production settings need to change with them.
• Optimize the system, not one input: reducing one input only works if the consequences elsewhere in production are understood.

For Richard, flexibility is therefore not an emergency response. It has become part of how the nursery manages both efficiency and long-term resilience.

About Ter Laak Orchids

Ter Laak Orchids is a specialist Phalaenopsis nursery based in Wateringen, the Netherlands. The company grows orchids across 17.5 hectares and has invested extensively in technologies aimed at improving energy efficiency and making production more sustainable.

Phalaenopsis grower Richard ter Laak.