I would like to show you how the bunch of tulips that you see everywhere in the supermarkets during the winter months is made.

We take a look at Dutch Flora, a modern tulip nursery in nearby Warmenhuizen in North Holland.

Normally a Tulip blooms in April or May. To force the Tulip to bloom in the winter months you have to fool her a bit. A Tulip forcer puts his Tulip bulbs in the cold store at the end of the summer, when he knows that the flower has been formed in the bulb.

Now the Tulip thinks it is winter and the bulb starts to convert its starch into sugars that are needed later to be able to grow quickly. The bulbs are still in the crates, they have not yet been planted. After 13 weeks in the cold store at 5 degrees Celsius, the Tulips are planted. Not in the ground, but on so-called pricking trays.

A layer of water is placed at the bottom of the pricking tray, after which the tulips are returned to the cold store for another two weeks.

These last two weeks the tulips are standing with their bottoms in the water and they are starting to make roots very quickly. When these two weeks are over the tulips have had a total of 15 cold weeks and it is time to bring them into the greenhouse.

The trays are placed on roller tables that are brought to the very back of the greenhouse via a roller conveyor system.

Before they go into the greenhouse they get a good dose of water. Now the Tulip is fooled again. In the greenhouse it is around 18 degrees Celsius and the Tulips think; 'Hey, winter is over, this feels like spring... we are going to grow.'

Now it is a 3 week wait for the Tulip forcing before the flowers appear. During these three weeks the Tulips move more and more to the front. The Tulips that are ready are removed from the front of the greenhouse. At the same time new Tulips are brought in at the back of the greenhouse that come from the cold store.

Once they arrive in the greenhouse, the tulips are put back on a roller track and rolled to the picking greenhouse. Here, the tulips whose buds are starting to colour are picked out and placed on a conveyor belt.

At the end of the conveyor belt, the tulips are clamped between 2 rubber cords at the bulb. Now comes the painful part for the tulip. Between the two rubber cords, they are hung upside down and brought to a machine where the bulb is cut off.

The Tulips are put back on a conveyor belt where they are neatly straightened. The flower of the Tulip must be exactly at the green laser line.

The tulips then go to a machine that counts exactly 10 tulips in a container. Two rubber bands are neatly tied around the tulips with a device. At the end of the line, the bunches are rolled in a piece of paper per 5 and placed in auction tubs.

The auction tubs are placed on an auction cart and driven back into the cold store. During the night, the Tulips are picked up by the truck driver who drives them to the auction in Aalsmeer. The auction starts at 6 in the morning and the buyer of the supermarket or flower shop can buy the Tulips.

This is how the bunch of tulips that you can enjoy during the winter months is made.

Kind regards,

Carlos van der Veek