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What conditions are necessary to keep roses healthy naturally?
As opposed to, ‘I want to get rid of the aphids so I'll start spraying,’
we think there’s a different way to look at it.
We look at it from another perspective and ask ourselves:
‘What methods has nature developed to control these aphids?’
It’s not that we have to apply these methods directly;
we just let them happen by creating the right conditions.
Roses and aphids belong together.
A rose will always attract aphids.
And the purpose of aphids is actually...
to serve as food for a number of other insects and also birds.
So when you create an environment that is attractive to predators,
i.e., attractive to insects that normally eat aphids,
they’ll just start eating up the plague of aphids till they’re no longer a plague.
If you kill all the aphids early in spring by spraying chemicals,
you’ll have emptied the ‘restaurant’ for the natural predators of aphids. They’ll stop coming.
A hoverfly appears. The mother fly looks around and takes some nectar herself.
She knows, ‘Pollen is good for Dad and aphis are good for my children.’
So she lays her eggs close to those aphis...
and all the necessary conditions are present.
We just use natural systems.
In spring the roses will attract aphids. They always will. That's normal.
But at the same time other insects, that feed on aphids will also come.
So when you create a nice environment for the animals that eat aphids...
then these ladybirds, e.g., or hoverflies lacewings or predatory wasps...
will naturally lay their eggs in the roses next to the aphids.
And when the larvae appear in early spring they’ll start eating the small aphids.
Then these larvae will produce the next generation, e.g., of hoverflies.
These hoverflies will lay eggs again...
and when the next generation of larvae hatches the aphids will be too big for them.
By then thrips could have become a problem, so they start eating the much smaller thrips.
So if you use pesticides on the aphids early in spring...
you often will have problems with trips later.
Seeing the ecologic system as a whole, you try to disturb it as little as possible...
or actually try to set things up in a way...
that the natural system ensures that the lice will be eaten.
We started this rose nursery 14 years ago...
because we simply wanted to do something outdoors.
As we all have a background in nature and the environment...
we decided that we had to find a method...
that contributes to the environment and doesn’t destroy it.
So we just started to grow organic roses by trial and error.
Europe just banned some products containing neonicotinoids and then...
some people in the plantation business thought: ‘Gosh! They’ve been prohibited.’
But my message is clear: more restrictions will follow.
Are you ready for this?
We’re trying to be. We can still think ahead now.
The advantages of organic cultivation are in fact great.
The weaker plant varieties are not useful for us.
There is a number of rose varieties that are too weak to grow in pots.
and don't make it to market.
Actually we should see things in a broader perspective.
Of course it's great not to use neonicotinoids...
but it’s more important to take a closer look at the crop itself:
How sensitive is it to mold, insects or soil degradation and wilting?
If it's too sensitive...
then you’ll have to apply spray for a while,
but there are various species that don’t need it.