46 www.FloraCultureInternational.com | December 2012

A large part of the 1,300 ha Senhe nursery is devoted to container growing.

ChinaSenhe, one of

China’s leading large scale plant growers,

wholesalers and contract growers

wished to modernise its production

equipment and selected the Danish

manufacturer Ellegaard to be its

supplier/equipment partner for the

company’s first Ellepot propagation

system which dramatically

increased the speed and efficiency of

production.

by Ron van der Ploeg

by the many impressive benefits. He vowed that one day he would return to the Horti Fair to buy the machine but not before having evaluated a series of horticultural equipment suppliers for years. Different trials with different growing pots followed. Danish manufactu rer, Ellegaard really stood out from the crowd by offer-ing top notch service.“They have acquired a wealth of ex-perience in advanced horticultural technology. We were impressed with the high level of customer service, the one-on-one attentive-ness and the utmost professionalism of the Ellegaard team”, said Senhe’s Julienne Zhu. Finally Senhe decid-ed to acquire a high volume NGL machine with a hands free opera-tion at rates up to 35,000 pots/hr. The substrate machine vacuum-fills the air, water, root permeable, eco-friendly degradable Ellepot sleeve, preventing damage to the media while assuring uniformity from top to bottom. The ‘moves’ of the ma-chine are slow treating the media in a gentle way, safeguarding the airy structure and resulting in Ellepots which are bathed in oxygen.

japonica, Hydrangea, Berberis thunbergii, Ligustrum sinense, Photinia, Nandina, Pyracantha fortuneana, Viburnum opulus in 1, 2 or 5 gallon pot sizes.

Multiple goalsNestled in China’s horticultural epicenter, Hangzhou, also dubbed as China’s Little Boskoop, Senhe finds itself in a fiercely competitive marketplace with a countless num-ber of local growers and a constant pressure on pricing. “Competition but also production efficiency, plant quality, sustainability, customer de-mands and innovation are the key challenges over the coming years and Senhe has sought to address these issues as outlined in its strat-egy and action plan”, said Senhe’s spokeswoman, Julienne Zhu.A fundamental step in the right di-rection has been the implementation of the Ellepot system; a single tool that can help achieve multiple goals.

Impressive benefitsSenhe’s chairman, Mr Zheng Yong-ping spotted the Ellepot system for the first time at the 2006 Horti Fair and was instantly swept away

Senhe was founded in 2000 by Mr Zheng Yongping, one of the shareholders and

current chairman of the company. The name “Senhe” literally means “many trees and plants’; the com-pany truly lives up to its name as it annually produces over 100 million plants, including the propagation and production of trees, shrubs, perennials and flowering and foliage house plants, available as plugs, liners or finished items. Among their specialties rank a wide range of ground covers and shrubs such as Azalea, Rosa, Spiraea

China goes green

Heuchera in Jumbo Ellepot.

December 2012 | www.FloraCultureInternational.com 47

A quick and easy conversion of the machine into other diameters, is merely a question of changing the adjacent ”towers” to cater for 40mm (young plants), 60mm or a 80mm (shrubs) pot sizes.

With more than 20 nurseries encompassing 1,300ha across mainland China, Senhe remains the country’s visionary leader in ornamental horticulture. With its commitment to pacesetting innovation, human resources and environment-focused growing techniques, top service and strong customer loyalty, Senhe continues to demonstrate just how rewarding the horticultural business can be. Zhejiang Senhe Seed Co., Ltd. engages in the breeding, development, and application of ornamental horticultural products in China. It produces and sells pot-fl owers, containers, shrubs and trees, seedlings, plug plants, and horticultural supplies worldwide. The company also provides landscape design and construction services. It offers its products through stock nurseries and distribution networks.

Nurseries

Easy conversionTh e setup Senhe opted for, consists of a main unit which automati-cally places the Ellepots in trays of any confi guration. A quick and easy conversion of the machine into other diameters, is merely a question of changing the adjacent “towers” to cater for 40mm (young plants) , 60mm or a 80mm (shrubs) pot sizes.

Jumbo EllepotsTh e 80 mm Jumbo Ellepot is ide-ally suited for landscape plantings at city parks, hotels and airports. Th ere are no pots or cell packs to collect or throwaway at the job site making for a quick and effi cient planting process. An extra benefi t is the 2 in 1 propagation & transport tray which can be easily refi lled with Jumbo Ellepots. But there’s more. Th e pots are made of a bio-degradable non-woven paper which facilitates a perfect root penetration and allows for a natural root form. When trans-planting there is no root shock and plants exhibit a continued growth. Th is also makes the Jumbo Ellepot interesting for growing pre fi nished shrubs and mini trees which are usually swapped over into 120 to 200 mm pots.

Cost savingsTh e switch from plastic to paper pots allows for important cost savings, especially when it comes to freight charges. Careful calculation

reveals that one pallet of Ellepot paper (40x40mm) contains 64 rolls and holds about the same as a full truck load of 2, 240,000 plastic pots. Speaking of cost savings, as it is now, jobs have been moving out of China to Vietnam and elsewhere in Asia due to the high price of labour expenditures. In Europe it is believed that with the Ellepot system horticulturists can save up to 50% of labour costs per year. When asked if this is an achiev-able target or impossible dream, Zhu comments, “It’s diffi cult to say, labour costs in our ornamen-tal horticulture and gardening industry continue to rise. We aim at a 20 to 30% savings on labour costs. Th anks to the Ellepot we can increase our productivity while using only 1 or 2 employees.”Employees of Senhe needn't be alarmed. “When machines become more sophisticated, human beings can be transferred to do new kinds of work,” said Zhu.

Total controlSummarizing the overall benefi t of the world patented Ellepot system Zhu said, ”It is unique and gives us total control of the production. We can not only decide the growth media, the type of paper or the size and density of the pot, but also the type of tray. Moreover, Senhe is happy to have a quality and experienced supplier like Ellegaard. Both companies working together

can meet the growing demands for high end growing pots and build a mutually benefi cial relationship.” She added, “Eco friendly biode-gradable pots dramatically reduce plastic use and are perfectly in line with our sustainable certifi cation programmes and are appealing to consumers as well. Th eir pertinent question is why buy pots if you don’t need them? Th e choice for Ellepots was clearly instigated by our ongoing commitment to run-ning a green business adopting our ‘Go Green’ logo."Ellegaard’s export manager, Brian Damkjær Schmidt concluded, “We are pleased to partner with Senhe to meet the industry’s need for high quality propagation and produc-tion pots with enhanced effi ciency, increased reliability and longer lifespan.” |||