Crop rotation is one of the spearheads in controlling pests and diseases in the Topsoil+ management system in Lisse. To achieve a sufficiently wide crop rotation we have developed a system with six crops. This crop rotation includes ornamental shrubs.
besides the crops that are common in the bulb district such as tulip, daffodil, hyacinth, perennial plants and summer flowers. Growth of ornamental shrubs on dune sand is different from growth in traditional centres such as Boskoop. Plants on dune sand show a stocky growth and a widely branched root system. An important additional advantage is that adhering sand can very easily by washed from the roots. These properties have drawn the interest of some exporters of ornamental shrubs to America.
The Topsoil+ project team has in collaboration with the Rabobank set up a network of ornamental shrub growers, bulb growers, researchers, Rabobank and exporters. This network performs technical cropping research of ornamental shrubs on dune sand but is also investigating the suitability of products for export.
Early June members of this network visited the Lisse experimental station to see how crops developed. At that moment the group was satisfied with the growth of Cotinus, Calicarpa as well as the grafted Corylus. The group certainly expects a marketable plant to have been produced in December.