We are proud to announce that on April 4th, 2022, the tulip “Maitri“ was baptised by the Hon’ble President of India H.E. Mr Ram Nath Kovind and the first lady Mrs Savita Kovind. The name-giving ceremony was held at Keukenhof in honour of 75 years of friendship and collaboration between India and the Netherlands. “Maitri” means friendship in Sanskrit. Mr Jan de Wit (son of Rinus) hybridised this variety back in 2001 and we are proud that after 21 years of Jan’s careful dedication our tulip was given such a wonderful name. We hope that the friendship between our countries will be as strong and dependable as “Maitri”.

An impression of the Tulip Event 2021 at our company.

We are busy counting the bulbs that are all shipped in this period. The entire process is controlled by an app. This solution allows us to set every process in motion and to have control over the modifications that are made for each lot. Our customers can check which bulbs are ready for them in our online customer portal, which shows real-time information.

Each lot of tulip bulbs that leaves our company on its way to our customers is sampled to check the intended result. In this clip, you can see how a sample is planted in the potting soil. The bulbs are planted in potting soil as well as water, in order to simulate the situation at our customers for as much as possible. Each sample number is recorded and the results are checked at our company as well as at the customer. This way, we are continually supplying our products to our customers with the best possible treatment.

The lily season has started a while ago, and this clip gives you an overview of the packing of lily bulbs. After they have been rinsed with water, the bulbs are packed in a plastic bag with peat moss that is placed in the cases. It is important that it is well mixed, so that all of the bulbs are protected by the peat moss. It is also important that the case is covered with a good covering layer. This helps to prevent the bulbs from drying out, and keeps the quality as consistent as possible. Finally, the cases are closed with a lid and are placed on pallets in a temperature of approximately -1.5°C. As soon as this process is finished, our customers can see that their bulbs are ready for shipment in our online customer portal, and then they can send us their shipping instructions.

We are glad to show you footage of the selecting of planting material and the planting of the tulips on grassland, as part of the new company film that is currently being made. The planting material is annually sorted out, selected, and sorted by size before it can be planted. It is then planted in nets: the so-called “double net” method. The bulbs are placed on a net in the soil and are also covered with a net. After this, soil is placed on top of this net. This procedure makes the harvest activities during the summer easier, so that we do not have to use much soil for harvesting. The soil is first dug over before the planting machine can do its work.

A lot of bulbs are shipped across the world during the months of August, September, and October. A controlled process takes place from the storage to the assembly of the orders. Everybody works with scanners, and you can see how our staff works with an app on the tablets. This app supplies our staff with information about the quantities that are supposed to be packed. It is even possible for our customers to follow the process through our online customer portal. This process ensures a proper handling of the orders.

This clip shows the peeling of tulip bulbs. During this process, the bulbs are first made wet with water. After they have been moistened, they will be stored for a couple of hours, and then they move on to the peeling machine. Before they arrive at the peeling machine, the bulbs will go through two beds of rubber that both spin at a different speed. This separates the bulbs by size. After the bulbs come out of the machine, they are peeled again by hand, during which the last pieces of root are removed manually. After this, they are counted. When this process has been completed, the cases will go to the drying wall again to dry for 24 hours.

This is an impression of the harvesting of hyacinth and tulip bulbs, as well as the rinsing of tulip bulbs. We check in advance if the tulip bulbs are mature enough to harvest. The red machine is a net harvester that lifts the tulip bulbs that have been planted in nets from the clay soil. The bulbs and nets are separated, and afterwards the nets are put on a roll, and the bulbs in cubic crates. The blue machine is busy harvesting hyacinth bulbs in sandy soil. There is no need to use nets in this kind of soil, because sand easily comes off the bulb. Furthermore, you can also see that the tulip bulbs are rinsed after they arrive at our company, after which the biggest bulb sizes are separated from the smaller ones, and then collected in a cubic crate again. After this, the cubic crates are placed in front of a drying wall to make the bulbs dry again. This ‘drying back’ process is very important in order to prevent fusarium.

We have been growing hyacinths in Anna Paulowna for a very long time. A part of our cultivation is located here. You can see how the many hyacinth varieties are flowering at our company that is situated at the Boermansweg.

This is a short impression of the Keukenhof, which is a flower park that exhibits more than 7 million tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, crocuses, lilies and other bulbous flowers in beautifully landscaped fields. It is open every year from the middle of March until the middle of May, and annually attracts a lot of visitors of many different nationalities, who can all enjoy the beauty this park has to offer. We have been an official exhibitor of the Keukenhof since 2008, and of course our contribution can be viewed again in 2017.

We have had a test garden next to our company buildings since 2015, in which all of the sold varieties have been planted. This allows us to see the results per lot. This information is recorded in our administrative system, and can be compared to the results at our customers.

This is a short impression of how we cut off the tops of the tulips. After they have been selected on the basis of possible abnormalities, the tops of the tulips are cut off. This allows the tulip to send its nutrition to the new bulb instead of to the flower, so that the bulb starts to grow. In doing so, a start on the new growing season is made.

This is a short video of our selection truck. The crops are selected with this truck, during which the plants that show an abnormality are destroyed. This way, we keep the quality of the lots at a high level, and keep them suitable for worldwide shipment.