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Production in Greenhouses.
A part of the seeds that were harvested from wild Brighamia insignis was distributed to universities and botanical gardens all over the world. Plant Planet obtained a few of these seeds from the University of Bonn in Germany and started a breeding programme.
This has resulted in the indentification of a variety that is suitable for production in greenhouses. Following germination, seedlings are cultivated under specialized conditions over a period of approximately 8 weeks by an intermediate company. The plants are then brought to a marketable size by the W. van Diemen nursery.
The whole process takes about 30 weeks.
Young plant production
The seeds of teh Hawaiian Palm are rather small and need a special climate to germinate and grow successfully. A specialized company sows the seeds in trays in which small holes are made. A particular soil is used during this process that stimulates germination.
Because the seeds do not germinate all at the same time, seedlings are removed individually following germination. The selected seedlings, together with their soil "plugs", are taken out of the trays and selected for uniformity. After the selection the young plants are replaced in new trays, always with the same soil plug, this time grouped according to size.
After about 8 weeks of growth the trays of uniformed size plants are transferred to the final stage to grower W. van Diemen.
The production of marketable plants.
When the young plants arrive at the nursery of W. van Diemen they are transplanted into pots with a diameter of 13 cm (5 inch).These pots then are placed into containers in which they will stay until they are fully grown. Through an ingenious transport system, these containers can be moved throughout the whole greenhouse.
During their cultivation the plants are watered with nutrient-containing solution by an ingenious system which allows recuperation of unused solution and reduces waste to a minimum. This is just one example of the environmentally friendly methods employed by the nurseries of W. van Diemen. Due to its efforts in implementing environmentally sound practices the company has been ranked as
one of the top in this respect in Holland and is currently applying for the certificate MPS-GAP , which is the hightest environmental standard recognized by the international horticultural industry.
Seed production
The Hawaiian Palm produces flowers in wintertime. Although flowers are often produced on quite young plants, the production of seeds requires plants to be a few years old. Pollination is done by hand. Pollen is gathered when it is mature and then applied to the pistillate with a small brush. When the seeds are ripe they are harvested by hand and cleaned.
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