FLOWER BULB GROWING IN DENMARK

Necessity is the spur to action and during the first world war a Danish seed firm, Daehnfeldt, Odense, started bulb growing and had in 1920 an area of 30 ha, but 24. October 1920 it came to an end, as the whole area was flooded. Holland had again the monopoly.

In 1932 the free trade in Europe came to an end and import to our country was cut down to 50% and import licences were issued in the same periods, as the Dutch growers had their "teeltvergunnings" = cultivation permit.

As bulbous flowers became a scarcity, the nurserymen and market growers started on a small scale using the once forced bulbs for planting. Not a very good basis for start, but the Dutch were unwilling to sell bulbs for planting. Close to the nurseries around the glasshouses small areas started to develop, but soon the areas were used and the successful growers rented or bought farmland in the country and then a development took place. A Dutch firm, Konynenburg and Mark (KOMA) started here on the island Amager and by this valuable Dutch expertise came to Denmark.

As we have plenty of agricultural areas in Denmark, the growing technique changed drastically and the practice in potato growing was more taken as a model. The Dutch intensive way became history. As our bulbs moved out to open areas with no water table, irrigation became a must.

Table 1 - Bulb areas in Denmark.

	Area ha	Tulip bulbs million
1940	247 ha
1950	316 -
1955	492 -
1960	719 -	143
1965	506 -
1970	540 -	87
1978	417 -	57

The 1978 area consists of 354 ha tulips, 56 ha narcissus, 7 ha others on approx. 200 holdings.

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