ROSEFRUITS
I was almost born in between the roses, that’s how I got involved in this business. In 1936 my grandfather started cultivating roses in Aalsmeer (the Netherlands). My father developed and improved the Bacarra rose, which gave ‘Stokman Rozen’ the opportunity to grow into an international plant breeding center with branches in Ecuador and Kenya (Stokman Rozen Kenya Ltd), followed by the establishment of rose nursery Nini Ltd. But, at a certain point I was ready for a new challenge: I wanted to develop a product myself! I decided on the rose hips, at the time this was a thorny byproduct. The knowledge I gained over the years in product development, multiplying, selection and marketing were very easily applicable on this new product. So it was the perfect fit for me.
The trade name ‘Rosefruits’ was chosen because this describes the rose hip perfectly in many languages, because there is no international word for ‘rose hip’. In many languages this word is completely different. By simply calling it ‘Rosefruits’ everyone knows what we are talking about. We notice that customers are already asking when the ‘Rosefruits’ are for sale again. They call it ‘Rosefruits’ instead of rose hips, we love to hear this!
ROSE HIPS FROM SERBIA
I work with two nurseries in Serbia. One nursery is being led by a Dutchman and the other nursery is led by a family that has a lot of experience in roses. The climate, soil and the low labour costs are excellent to produce beautiful rose hips without having to use a lot of herbicides. The most important thing during my adventures abroad is to find good local partners, and fortunately I have been very lucky with that. During the harvesting season we have about 80 employees working at the nurseries. Every year we can expand and at the moment we have about 20 hectares in production. In the coming 2 years we are going to add about 10 hectares on top of that. As for myself, I’m working on the development and selection of new species, cultivation development and general business.
CULTIVATION
The rose hip branch grows for about half a year before its being harvested. After the branch has been cut down, a new branch starts to grow around March. By doing this, a rose plant can produce up to 10 years. But, it only gives fruit once a year. At the beginning of june the crop starts to blossom. Bees and bumble bees pollinate the flowers. When the pollination has gone right, the green fruit starts to grow, after august the fruit turns to orange or red.
Some varieties have to grow for two years after they are being cut down, this is the Corallo-Vertakt for example. The branches of this variety can reach a height of two meters tall. This is a very exclusive and decorative, mostly used for store or event decoration.
