Gilgil, Kenya, January 2020 – From January onwards, Kenyan producer Blooming Innovations introduces the new cut flower hydrangea Ice Age. This snow-white cut flower hydrangea has an excellent shelf life and shows no transport damage. “Customers are very satisfied with the quality,” says owner Harry Rooijakkers of Blooming Innovations.
Ice Age was discovered in 2016 as a mutant of Force, a variety from HBA’s tropical breeding program, in the greenhouses of Blooming Innovations in Gilgil (Kenya). “We have spent a few years selecting and conducted tests for shelf life after transport, “says Rooijakkers. After convincing ourselves the selection had to be bulked up.
High Packrate
The tests showed that Ice Age has a good shelf life and a high pack rate. Rooijakkers: “To give an example: Ice Cube’s optimal packrate at 50 stems per box, is doubled to 100 stems for Ice Age. Even if you fold Ice Age, the flowers do not show packing damage. If properly retreated and conditioned after being airshipped, Ice Age will fully recover. ”
Ice Age flowers are packed in a sleeve in the flowerbox. This prevents packaging damage (direct contact with cardboard) during transport.
“Customers we have shown Ice Age are very positive,” says Rooijakkers. “The flowers stays good for a long time, are easy to process and the quality that we supply year-round is just as good, sometimes even better compared to the white cut flower hydrangeas that come from elsewhere. The great advantages of Ice Age over other varieties are its shelf life after dry shipping and lack of transport damage.
Year round availability
From January 2020 onwards Blooming Innovations is the sole supplier, producing 5,000 to 6,000 stems a week. Ice Age will be produced yearround at Blooming Innovations. The formerly produced Ice Cube has been replaced entirely . Rooijakkers regularly travels to Kenya to visit the company he runs together with his partner Bert Louwerse. Of course he also saw the movie Ice Age during such a flight. “But I have never seen it completely,” he must admit. “It’s a nice movie, but most of the time I fall asleep as soon as the engines start.”
More information:
Blooming Innovations
Harry Rooijakkers, harry@blooming-innovations.com
Bert Louwerse, bert@blooming-innovations.com