Welcome back to Part Two of our “Lily Talk Lilies” post. When you enter the Dutch glass greenhouses you notice how tall they are, certain varieties of our lilies grow upwards of five feet, but the height of the greenhouse seems like overkill. What’s the deal? The reason the greenhouses are so tall is to have plenty of air in the lilies atmosphere. More air equals a more stable environment, meaning less temperature swings and more consistent humidity levels. Oriental lilies like stability, they are creatures of habit. They like 16 hours of light every day and they like the temperature to stay at a constant 60 degrees Fahrenheit. This is in sharp contrast our LA Hybrid lilies that we grow out in hoop houses; they like hot days and cool nights.
A big factor that differentiates our lilies from all others is the abundant availability of crystal clear water. As much of the nation simmers under drought conditions, Humboldt County is blessed with plenty of water…this is a nice way of saying that it rains a lot here. Our farm has several wells on it from which we draw the water for our crops. In tests we have found that the electro-conductivity of the water on our farm is very low compared to other flower growing regions of the world. I know, what’s electro-conductivity? It is the amount of salt in the water, salt conducts electricity and according to our head lily grower, Tim Crockenberg, lilies and most other plant don’t like salt and history shows this is true.
So our lilies grow tall and the blooms reach epic size, then our great picking teams harvest them at just the right time. They are bunched by variety, then put in buckets, here they have a special post-harvest drink. I asked what it was, and suddenly the usually very chatty growers clammed right up. We do have proprietary information of the farm, so this will remain a secret to our success.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: Sun Valley Group's Flower Talk