Cyclamen
Richard van Ruiten is a grower with real passion, his work is his hobby. He loves his profession and he wants to grow beautiful, exclusive products. Not mass cultivation, but Richard gets his satisfaction from small-scale cultivation for the higher segment. A few years ago we visited Richard for the beautiful Gloriosa Lime. Last year he started a new crop in addition to his Gloriosa cultivation; cut cyclamen. We went for another visit to his nursery.
Richard van Ruiten
Richard was a florist originally, and he actually got into the nursery business when his father was out of the running for a long time due to health problems. His mother had to keep the nursery running on her own, so Richard decided to assist his parents. He found a nice combination in traveling to New Zealand, Thailand, Africa and China and breeding Gloriosa at the same time. During his travels, Richard is always looking for beautiful Gloriosa tubers, with which he grows new varieties himself. Richard looks at his products with a different eye, he thinks from a florist's point of view. He is therefore always looking for new, exclusive products that have added value for the market.
Richard does not have permanent staff at the moment, he would like to stay in touch with his crop himself. Only his parents occasionally help in the company.
Cyclamen
The cyclamen is a root vegetable and grows in various places in the world. The largest numbers are found in the Mediterranean region. In ancient times, the cyclamen was mainly known for its medicinal properties and was used in various medicines.
Cyclamen can be divided into two groups. The garden varieties that are reasonably hardy and the well-known flowering houseplants, from mini to large and everything in between. For the cut flower industry Richard grows a number of cultivar varieties of the Cyclamen persicum from the Curly series.
Niche product
The cut cyclamen is already a very old product, but it was never really put on the market as a cut flower in the past. In 2009 the company Van der Does from Woubrugge started this specialist cultivation. Unfortunately, this grower passed away at a young age and the cut cyclamen also disappeared. Richard was made aware of this niche cultivation by Patrick Dobbe, of the wholesaler Dobbe Flowers. He missed the cut cyclamen in his range for florists and designers. In March 2021, Richard was allowed to take a look at the former nursery of the Van der Does company, but there wasn’t really a lot of cultivation information left. Still, Richard saw opportunities in the cyclamen, but above all a challenge in cultivation. In the end he had to reinvent it himself. In May 2021 he started on a small scale with 250 mixed plants to see which species were most suitable.
After a reasonably successful trial cultivation, Richard scaled up the numbers to 3000 plants.
Cyclaam Zalm
Cyclaam Wit
Cyclaam Magenta
Cyclaam Gemengd
Cultivation of the cyclamen
Cyclamen grow from seed. This happens at the propagator. When the plants are four months old, they come to Richard's garden. After that It takes about 3,5 months before the first flowers can be harvested. Cyclamen do not need to be picked every day. In a cycle, each table is harvested once every three days. He can pick about 1200 stems per day.
This season, which runs from August to Christmas, Richard delivers four colours; salmon, white, magenta and mixed. These mixed varieties are not only great fun for the florist to work with, but also a good test for Richard to see which varieties are the most suitable.
If the cultivation technique and the entire learning process are successful, Richard hopes to expand the acreage with more varieties based on colour. This largely depends on the energy crisis.
Wedding and Event
Cyclamen have a sweet, soft and chic appearance. They have a length of about 20 cm, which makes them not necessarily suitable for very large flower arrangements, but all the more suitable for table arrangements, a reception table, in a bridal bouquet or corsages or as decoration at home. And with the right care, they also have a very good vase life.
How do you best care for cut cyclamen?
With the right care you can enjoy these delicate flowers for at least two weeks. It is important that the cyclamen are in a clean vase, with clean water. Cyclamen do not need cut flower food. Cyclamen are real divas and prefer to shine alone in the vase. Combined with other flowers, the vase life is decreases.
Cutting the flowers also requires a special technique. It is best to make a small cut vertically in the stem, this will increase the absorption of water.
Cyclamen lose shelf life if they are processed in oasis. Also on wire, for example in bridal work, the shelf life is less.
Cyclamen may be kept in cold storage, but not below 7 degrees Celsius.
FloraPodium, 13 October 2022
