54 | While the strawberry operation is growing, it remains a smaller part of Annton Nursery’s overall operations. Tabletop growing booms for Annton Nursery Kim Bowden Annton Nursery has supplied ornamental plants to New Zealand retailers since 1980, but a request from an existing customer six years ago has opened the door to a new branch of the business: disease-free strawberry plug plants for the country’s expanding tabletop growing sector. The shift began in 2020 when a commercial blueberry client asked managing director Stephen Burton whether the Waikato nursery could produce young strawberry plants. At the time, most young strawberry plants were grown in open fields - a traditional method vulnerable to disease, weather events, and variable plant quality. “They wanted to move to plug plants,” Stephen says. “Field production can give you variability of size and grade and quality. There’s also the risk of disease spread and weather events affecting production.” To reduce those risks, Annton Nursery adopted a clean propagation process using virus-tested mother plants supplied by specialist tissueculture labs. The mother plants are grown in bags suspended two-and-a-half metres above the ground inside a greenhouse. Runners hang downward and are harvested into specialised paper-pot plugs before they touch the soil, giving growers clean, hygienic young plants. What began as a trial batch of 30,000 plants quickly expanded as growers asked for larger volumes. The business soon outgrew its original Cambridge facility. In 2023, Annton Nursery leased a 1,600- RURAL PEOPLE » Annton Nursery square-metre greenhouse in Tamahere, investing close to $1 million in hanging gutters, fertigation systems, and outdoor beds. Now completing its third harvest, the dedicated Tamahere facility produces roughly 700,000 plug plants annually for commercial growers stretching from Kerikeri to Nelson. Tabletop systems allow growers to plant and harvest earlier while reducing the impact of poor weather during key sales periods, like the lead-up to Christmas. Stephen describes the shift as “almost an insurance policy” for the growers. “The new systems of growing strawberries on tabletops under cover is the way forward,” he says. “It’s what you see overseas, and it’s going to continue expanding in New Zealand.” Looking ahead, Stephen says the strawberry sector will be increasingly shaped by new genetics bred for improved flavour, disease resistance and larger fruit, helping growers reduce picking time by filling punnets with fewer picks. While the strawberry operation is growing, it remains a smaller part of Annton Nursery’s overall operations, accounting for approximately 10 percent of the business. The nursery continues to supply one million ornamental plants a year to retailers nationwide. The strawberry facility operates with one permanent manager for most of the year, but the six-to-eight-week harvest period requires a significant seasonal increase in staffing. Annton Nursery brings in 30 to 35 additional workers during that period to harvest, grade and pack the plants, with total staff across both sites reaching as many as 75 at peak times. Managing seasonal labour is one reason automation has become increasingly important across the business. 07 2806561 sales@pgohort.co.nz www.pgohort.co.nz CustomFertiliser&Nutrient Specialists Custom machines already form paper pots from coir media, replacing manual tray filling, while robotic transplanters are expected to become the next step. “With what’s happened with labour rates, there’s just more and more necessity now to automate and get machinery to do the work,” Stephen says.
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