Blog #12 Grower Daling
Grower Eduard Daling specializes in the cultivation of various seasonal flowers. Together with his son Martijn, he grows both in the Netherlands and in Spain on a large scale. Daling is great at large scale production, but always with a sense of exclusivity.
Eduard Daling started about 35 years ago (with dried flowers) in a small shed where the playpen and the pram were in the corner, because his wife helped processing the flowers. Little by little, Daling was able to buy more land and expand further. Father and son now own 160 hectares of land and Daling has been able to expand part of his cultivation in Spain for a number of years. Some crops grow better there than in the Netherlands and in this way they can also prolong their production season.
Daling is best known for the cultivation of Brassica, Delphinium, Peonies, Phlox and various grasses. Despite Daling's focus on mass production, he has a sense of trend and exclusivity. Now that his son has been in the company for a number of years and has taken over a lot of the daily workload, Daling can focus more on new products and breeding.
He showed us a number of new grasses, including the beautiful Stipha gigantea. The name says it all; this one is long and big. Not only fresh, but also dry, this is a fantastic eye-catcher!
New varieties of Sanguisorba are being tested and selected. As commercial and large-scale as he usually likes to work, in breeding it is still a matter of pioneering. Daling has a large network of people with whom he works in the field of breeding. He breeds the Sanguisorba together with a hobbyist. Together they are always looking for something new, beautiful and exclusive. The selection of Daling is therefore very strict!
But… if a variety meets all the requirements, it will also be distributed and marketed on a large scale. Daling currently has two beautiful new Phlox varieties in production, which he has bred in collaboration with Goos Bartels. The first variety is the 'Pink Eyes'; a Phlox with a special color, of which the eye of the flower really stands out. A nice length, dark green pointed leaf and a heavy branch. The second variety is the 'Brave Eyes'; it has a very nice warm color, heavy branch structure and the crop is nicely uniform.
Daling is someone who adapts easily and that is what makes the company so strong. “If they want certificates, we supply certificates. If you want sustainable, then we will become more sustainable. You should not go against it, but calculate the probabilities and then go along with the demand.”
And he always invests in these trends and consumer demand. One of the tractors, for example, runs on a GPS system, which is built in such a way that the tractor can hoe at 2 cm from the crop. For example, less and less chemicals are used and Daling can grow with as little environmental impact as possible. Diseases and pests are of course a part of the breeding process. But if a crop is too vulnerable, he lets it go and moves on to another variety. And so he searches until he has found the perfect variety that meets all requirements.
FloraPodium, 05 August 2021
