Prestigious landscape project with biodegradable pots

The French city of Amiens has set itself a clear ambition. To turn the historic city into a sustainable and accessible metropolis, it has invested heavily in recent years in the construction of, among other things, an electric tramway and an extensive green zone around it. Several hundred thousand plants were provided for this purpose, but plastic pots were excluded as much as possible. An example that will be followed more and more often

_{Text Elise Noyez | Image Jiffy}

It was tree nursery Willaert from Roeselare that was allowed to supply the trees, shrubs and perennials for the prestigious landscape project. "In consultation with the local green services, a selection of over 50 different perennials was made," explains project manager Hendrik Vandorpe. "By the time the final decision on this was made, however, our stock was already largely exhausted. In other words, the plants still had to be grown up. In order to manage this within the predetermined time frame and at the same time honor the city's sustainability ambitions, we abandoned the classic plastic pots and everything was grown up in biodegradable Jiffy Pots." 

Active root system, rapid growth

Vandorpe is already enthusiastic about the biodegradable pots. Not only because of the environmentally friendly aspect, but even more so because of the qualitative result. "It is remarkable how well the plants have developed in the Jiffy Pots. Sometimes an environmentally friendly solution means you have to compromise on quality, but that is not the case at all here. The root system developed so well in the biodegradable pot that the through-growth and regrowth of the plants was also extremely fast. Although they were planted late in the season and also in a dry period, we already saw nicely mature plants at the end of September."

Huge time savings

The contractors who were responsible for the construction also look back on a positive experience. "A total of four different contractors were involved in the project," says Vandorpe, "but the verdict was unanimous. Because the plants can be placed directly into the ground with their Jiffy Pot, they save an enormous amount of time as well as eliminating a lot of waste."

For a sustainable future

That the demand for environmentally friendly and quality solutions such as the use of biodegradable pots will only increase in the coming years is self-evident, according to Vandorpe. "Sustainability and ecology are high on the agenda everywhere. In France, for example, we already have four new projects underway for which we are using Jiffy Pots. Among other things, it was a requirement for the landscaping around the Tours Duo by top architect Jean Nouvel."

At Jiffy itself, meanwhile, every effort is being made to provide professional growers with an arsenal of solutions with which to
Such sustainability ambitions can be met without sacrificing product quality or efficiency. Besides the versatile and increasingly iconic Jiffy Pot, which is also fully certified for organic cultivation, the range also includes, for example, ready-to-use growblocks and growbags, as well as a wide selection of substrate mixtures. 

In total, more than 30 standard mixtures are available. "Among these are solutions with less peat, and completely peat-free and organic certified solutions," says Jiffy account manager Wim Torfs. "All are developed according to the specific requirements of the crop and cultivation method and extensively tested to ensure the best possible and most uniform properties. Thus, with Jiffy we further contribute to an environmentally friendly cultivation with optimal yield, plant stability, nutrition, water conservation and, ultimately, plant quality."