These Swiss tulips grow without soil
3.3.2019
Translation: Eva Francis
Gone are the days when it was only the Dutch who could grow tulips. In fact, it’s tulip season right now in a sleepy village of 1,000 inhabitants in eastern Switzerland. It’s just that the flowers are in a modern greenhouse.
Let me set the scene. There’s a green rug at my feet. The sun is beating down on the roof and giving the plants all around me the light they need. But it’s still quite cool in the greenhouse I find myself in. While I mentally pull at my shoulder for that extra jumper, something moves at the back corner of the building. It turns out to be a robot gliding across the tulips. And it’s not the only one. The two levels below me are a hive of activity with machines floating around the flowers. There are hardly any people to be seen. But that’s because it’s break time at Rutishauser’s greenhouse.
A modern family business
Rutishauser AG nursery has been family-run since it opened in 1912. And the company’s showpiece? Tulips in every colour imaginable. There’s no one else in Switzerland producing this spring flower at a comparable volume. A good five million stalks leave the production site in Züberwangen each season, which lasts about 16 weeks. And harvest time is from the end of December to the middle of April. After that it gets too warm for the tulips. But before you can even think about picking the flowers, you have to leave them seven weeks to cultivate. To help me understand the process, Jasmin and Andrea from Rutishauser have taken the time out to show me the ropes and explain a bit about the nursery. And they know what they’re talking about: Jasmin is responsible for sales and marketing, while Andrea is a manager and in charge of quality.
They make sure to start by telling me about the most unusual thing about Rutishauser tulips. You see, the main difference with these flowers is that they sit in water and don’t come into contact with soil. «Four years ago the family took this decision because they thought the future was in hydroponics (growing without using soil),» says Jasmin. She explains that it’s not better than using soil but that it uses fewer resources and it makes it easier for moving them about within the nursery. «If the sheets were filled with heavy soil, our transport lifts would be struggling,» adds Andrea.
Speaking of lifts, I’ve seen a lot of machinery but still not come across many people in the nursery. That’s because robots are in charge of moving the flowers about the greenhouse and watering them. You’ll see one of them skimming across the tulip meadow five times a day and spraying them with water for 40 seconds. «Most stages in the harvesting process are carried out by machines but they’re overseen by members of staff,» clarifies Andrea. That’ll be why she doesn’t let her tablet out of her sight for even a second. After all, it’s the device that gives her access to all areas of tulip production. It can also control lighting and temperature.
Bulbs with a Dutch passport
But before staff at Rutishauser can contemplate using water, they need good bulbs. These come from the Netherlands, the undisputed home of tulips. But why does Rutishauser import bulbs at all? «The soil in the Netherlands is perfect for tulips. Besides, in Switzerland we don’t have enough space for those kinds of crops,» concludes Jasmin. Here’s where the distinction lies: the bulbs don’t come from a greenhouse. They hail from huge fields under open skies. In the flat landscape of Holland, that’s no problem. But in mountainous Switzerland, that would be a different story altogether.
Once the imported bulbs arrive at Rutishauser, staff plant them by hand into a black plastic tray. In the process, little spikey bits end up puncturing the bulb. «This isn’t a problem as long as the root isn’t damaged. Picking the bulb properly also helps to minimise any issues with the root,» explains Andrea. Once the tray is full, it stays in a dark room for three weeks at 5℃ where it gets watered. It’s only when the bulbs are kept in conditions like this that they can grow into tulips. So really, it’s no different to growing in a more traditional, open-air-and-soil environment.
Who knew you’d need a swimming cossie?
The minute you walk into the cold area the first thing that hits you is the swimming pool smell. It’s not exactly something I’d associate with plants. «To keep the bacteria and mould at bay, we add chlorine and fertiliser to the water,» explains Jasmin. That surprises me, as Rutishauser dubs their greenhouse an «ecofarm». «We operate in a closed system, where the water is used again and again,» clarifies Andrea. Apart from which, the amount of chlorine used is too insignificant to pose a threat to nature. And Rutishauser doesn’t have to worry about crop protection.
Game of lights
As soon as the plants have established their roots, they head from the cold into artificial light. «The light colour is adapted to the tulips to make sure they get an extra growth spurt,» says Andrea. They remain under artificial light for three to four days before they get taken up a level to natural light. The flowers then spend three to four weeks in this final cultivation phase. But with the kind of weather we’ve been having recently it’s nearer to three weeks than four. «While we can alter the temperature slightly with ventilation and heating, weather conditions still play their part – we can’t remove them from the equation completely,» explains Jasmin. And that’s why they can’t plan the harvest to the day. «Once the petals start to take on a colour, we know it’s time to pick the tulips.»
Yellow is the tulip Pantone of spring
In the next stage of the process, the flowers get taken on a lift to a level lower. So that’s where all the people are hiding. The staff bunch the tulips together and sort them with the help of machines. On a good day, up to 75,000 stalks cross the conveyor belt and are then bound into bunches and bouquets. I’m interested to know what the most popular colour is. «Yellow was and still is our bestseller, although we also have striped and flame tulips,» says Jasmin. Despite the popularity of yellow, 2020 is meant to see the arrival of even more special colours to add to their range. With all these options, the company inevitably has to drop varieties and colours from their range that don’t sell as well or that don’t grow so well in water.
The tulip bouquets usually contain 15 flowers and are put together without robotic help. Staff also add a Swiss quality label so it’s easy for shoppers to tell these flowers apart. «We can’t compete with Dutch tulips on price. But what we can do is offer our customers robust flowers that continue to grow in the vase. And shorter transportation distances from harvest to vase. That’s exactly what we want to raise awareness of with our Swiss quality label,» explains Jasmin.
My life in a nutshell? On a quest to broaden my horizon. I love discovering and learning new skills and I see a chance to experience something new in everything – be it travelling, reading, cooking, movies or DIY.
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