Farmer’s Weekly – 23 August 2019

F

rieda Duckitt says the

orchid bug bit her after she

bought four of the plants

at the South African Orchid

Council Show in Cape Town.

Venturing into orchid

production came naturally to her,

as she has green fingers and was

already growing Anthurium and

vegetables, and raising poultry on

a small commercial scale on the

Duckitts’ family farm, Oudepost,

near Darling in the Western Cape.

Initially, they grew the flowers

in a wooden slatted house with a

glass roof that Frieda’s husband,

Wilferd ‘Junior’ Duckitt, built.

“Since orchids were highly

exclusive at the time, my mother

used the money generated

from Anthurium cut flower

sales to gradually replace the

Anthurium with orchids,” says

her son, also Wilferd, who

today runs the business along

with his brother, Nicolas.

Frieda mainly supplied florists

with cut flowers. She, however,

quickly gained popularity in the

cut flower industry, thanks to her

excellent eye for quality, which

helped her upgrade and improve

her stock collection during

the first year of production.

“Instead of keeping plants

for up to four years before

eliminating them, we reduced

production costs by culling

up to 90% of seedlings that

showed weakness, and selling

orchids that were unsuited

for cut flower production as

pot plants,” says Wilferd.

“Plants that did not make that

grade were fed to the cattle.”

Frieda’s nursery was open to

the public 24/7, resulting in orchid

fanatics from all over the country

flocking to the farm, especially

over weekends. By 1971, she

had grown her orchid business

to such an extent that she was

appointed the sole importing

agent for UK company McBean’s.

McBean’s supplied her

with new orchid varieties,

which she offered for sale

by catalogue until 1979.

After this, she, her husband and

some business partners registered

thebusinessasDuckittNurseries.

Inthe1980s,sheentered

anotheragentpartnershipwith

RayBilton,whocamefromthe

UKtosupplyherwithtissue

culturesofnewvarieties.

“Thesepartnershipsnotonly

allowedDuckittNurseriestoget

holdofsomeofthebestplanting

materialavailableonthemarket,

butalsoledtovaluablemarket

introductions,”Wilferdsays.

A newgenerAtion

Nicolasjoinedoperationsin1983,

afterproductiongrewtoobigfor

hisparentstocopewith.Wilferd

followedsuitin1990,after

completinga degreeinbotany

attheUniversityofCapeTown.

“Botanydidnotreallyprepare

mefororchidbreedingor

production,butgavemevaluable

decision-makingskillsanda solid

knowledgefoundation,”hesays.

“Nicolaslearntonthejobin

HollandwithJoopMeeuwissen,

oneoftheworld’stoproseand

Cymbidium[orchid]growers,

somethingthatwouldbe

recommendedtoanyaspiring

flowerentrepreneur.”

Thebusinessenvironment

haschangedgreatly.“Twenty

yearsago,about90%ofour

businesswasbuiltoncutflower

exports.Competitionsincethen

hasgreatlyincreasedduetothe

growingnumberofEuropean

growerswhouseheating

toextendtheirproduction

season,”Wilferdsays.

Toovercomethischallenge,

theyhavediversifiedtheirmarket

sothatlocalpotplantsaleshave

overtakencutflowerexports.

Mostoftheplantsaresold

viaWoolworths,garden

storesandwholesalers.

Thenurseryis

alsoopenforsales

tothepubliconthe

firstSaturdayof

eachmonth,whentheorchids

arebloomingfromMayto

November,andviaa website

operatedbyNicolas’sson,Robert.

Wilferdsaysthewebsiteis run

independentlyfromthenursery.

“Robertbuystheplantsfromthe

nursery.Saleshavebeengrowing

sowellsincethewebsitewas

starteda yearagothatRoberthas

beenabletoemployanassistant.”

Cutflowerexportshave

becomemorefocusedand

concentratedtobenefitfroma

periodoflowerproductionin

Holland,fromthestartofJuly

tothethirdweekofAugust.

Thebulkoftheflowersis sold

towholesalersviaAalsmeer,

andsmallervolumesare

exportedtotheUS,theUK,

EuropeandtheMiddleEast.

Airfreightcostscanbecut

bysharingcontainerspace

withfynbosproducts.

“Theonlyproblemwiththe

arrangementis thatorchids

arehighlydelicateandmuch

moresensitivetotemperature

fluctuations.Extracareshould

thereforebetakentoensure

everybodydownthelogistics

andsupplychainis awareof

storageprotocols,”Wilferdsays.

ConsumerdemAnd

Orchidvarietiesarecarefully

selectedtoensurethenursery

is abletomeetconsumer

preferences.SouthAfricans

generallypreferorchids

withintensecolours,suchas

burgundy,maroon,yellow,

orange,green,redand

white,whereastheoverseas

FastFacts

• DuckittNurseriesproducesa hugevarietyofhigh-qualityorchids.


• Produceis soldthroughvariouschannelstoreducemarketrisks.


• Beingabletogrowplantswithoutusingheating
  significantlyreducesproductioncosts.

pot plant

sales have

overtaken cut

flower exports

1: Orchids usually

only start to

produce good

cut flowers after

their fourth year

of production.

Pictured here

are Cymbidium

John Duckitt

‘Darling Beauty’.

2: Cymbidium

Waylands ‘Wilferd’.

3: Cymbidium Hot

Stuff ‘Snowcastle’.

4: Cymbidium

Copper Darling

‘Tricia’s birthday’.

5: Duckitt Nurseries

employs 40

permanent

workers.

6: Wilferd Duckitt

learnt most of his

production skills

from his mother

and on the job.

photos: Glenneis Kriel

23 august 2019 farmer’sweekly 29