We have been checking the fields in different growing areas in the eastern part of Holland recently. The growing conditions seem to be irregular and not as good as usual. In many fields the plants are dying much earlier than usual. The plants are badly affected by botrytis. This happens every year, but this year it seems to be almost one month earlier averagely. It always depends on the area, variety, planting density and grower. We see big differences sometimes. However, the general situation is the early dying of the fields.

 

The weather conditions in 2010 were as follows:

• March /April: rainy, the planting was started around March 21. After that the rain started and then the planting was stopped and could be restarted in the middle of April. Some growers had to change the fields suddenly because the fields in which they intended to plant the lilies were too wet and could not be used anymore.
• May: very cold, night frost damage in certain fields / areas.
• June and July: rather hot and dry, a lot of irrigation had to be done.
• August and September: very wet with a lot of rainfall again. In certain areas there were even flooding problems.
• October: Nice, dry weather, normal temperature.

The planting was rather late this spring. Then the weather in April and especially May was very cold. This caused a delay in the growing. In June and July the weather was very hot and dry. And in August and September the weather has been rather cool and rainy. All together the growing season has been rather difficult for the lilies.

 

The sales of lilies for the most popular varieties of basically all types of lilies, including LA, Asiatic, Orientals and OT, has been very early this year. The total acreage has increased a little in 2010 compared with 2009. However, for most of the popular varieties the maximum licence acreage has been fully planted for several years already and did not increase. The increase in Orientals was mainly in Santander, Lake Carey, Siberia, Montezuma and Universe.

 

The lily bulbs of crop 2009 were completely sold out and the final small number of bulbs was sold at high prices on the market in Holland. The flower price in Holland has recovered this year so far, the number of stems sold on the Dutch flower auctions has reduced with approximately 7%.

 

Due to the less growing expectations in the fields, most lily bulb growers do not offer any bulbs at this moment. The bulbs remain scarce. Maybe some additional bulbs will be offered during the harvesting season in November and December. There are always some growers who sell their bulbs late in the season. However, this quantity will be limited. We are afraid that we have to wait until that date before we can make some offer.

We would like to invite you to contact us if you have any questions and of course your inquiries are most welcome