Okidland Biotechnologies Ltd, producer of « Fleurs de France » labelled Orchids

Orchids « Fleurs de France » ? How can that be ? Everyone knows that orchids come from Asia and the tropics. Well the company OKIDLAND BIOTECHNOLOGIES has been successfully growing high quality Phalaenopsis Orchids in France since 2012 and selling them on the French market in the south of France as well as at the International Market of Rungis near Paris and also abroad to the middle eastern countries.

Mister Yang, our CEO (photo), is passionate about orchids and wanted to make available in Europe the many different types of Phalaenopsis Orchids that grow in Taïwan and Thailand. In Taiwan, certain varieties of Orchids are considered weeds because they grow exceptionally fast all over the island, whereas in Europe, especially the big flowered Phalaenopsis Orchids are still considered an exceptional plants of great beauty and character regardless of the fact that the Dutch producers have inundated the world flower market with their standardized and rapidly produced Phalaenopsis Orchids. Thanks to mister Yang’s will for challenges, OKIDLAND Phalaenopsis Orchids are present at worldwide flower exhibitions and known throughout the world.

Mister Yang is personally involved in choosing the different varieties that are produced in the south of France and he is even participates in the choice of flower pots we used for our compositions. OKIDLAND not only grows and distributes Phalaenopsis Orchids plants but also produces a wide range of compositions from 1 to over 15 stems. In fact, there is no limit to the size of our compositions only our imagination is the limiting factor. But with the participation of our CEO, OKIDLAND is continuously developing new plants, growing new varieties of Phalaenopsis and our team of very experienced florists are constantly creating new compositions.

OKIDLAND acquired the green houses that belonged to AimCore Biotechnologyto start producing Orchids in the best conditions in terms of temperature, sunlight and fresh air. Hyères, next to Toulon, in the south of France that is historically part of the horticultural history of France. This region used to produce all the roses for France at one time, but little by little the original french horticulture companies have been left to the abandon or bought by other companies that wish to benefit from the exceptional climatic conditions. (photos)

OKIDLAND is able to obtain the « Fleurs de France » Label because we grow our orchids from when they are very small, at the « Flasks » state and then grow them for 2 years before having flower to be sold. (Fleurs de France LOGO)

Since 2012,it has not always been a smooth ride for OKIDLAND and many difficulties have had to be overcome. Without considering the high costs of producing Orchids all year round, in 2014our greenhouses were inundated in the terrible floods that hit the region of Hyères. Thousands of plants were lost and equipment destroyed ; the plants that were left were infected with different diseases that greatly reduced our production just when we were in phase of development. (photos of the disaster)

Since we grow our plants over 2 years, three years of production were lost. Thanks to our technical directors, after a vast two year program of cleaning and reconstruction we are now back to full production level. We have rebuilt the greenhouses to our needs and eliminated the diseases that had weakened our plants. Thanks to this disaster Okidland has taken this opportunity to reduce its impact on the environment by installing a solar powered heating system to make the most of over 300 days of sunlight and considerably reduced the fuel previously used to heat the 40 000m2 of greenhouses. Water is heated by the sun a giant reservoir of over 1 millions liters and then passed in a vast network of pipes throughout the green houses to heat a plants and maintain the best growing conditions.

The « Fleurs de France » label has also been an opportunity for OKIDLAND to review its use of fertilizers and pesticides to meet the new « Plantes Bleues » label and its environmental requirements. It is important to our CEO to have the smallest environmental impact as possible. (Plant Bleue logo)

Last year and this year, OKIDLAND has taken a big risk to determine the demands of the orchid market in the world. The greenhouses have produced a large number of different varieties of Mini Phalaenopsis orchids. The results of this research is that there very big regional differences between   the Parisian region and the rest of France. In Paris, the big flowered Phalaenopsis Orchids in white but also in color is preferred to the Mini Orchids regardless of the larger varieties of color available.

(photo of Mini in greenhouse)

The large flowered white Phalaenopsis Orchid is the all time favorite of all countries ; no doubt for its simplicity and purity but colored Phalaenopsis Orchids, especially the simple colored orchids are also very sought after but the most important factor of our Phalaenopsis Orchids is the fact that OKIDLAND likes challenges, so unlike the Dutch, we let our orchids grow naturally and let them maintain their own curves and direction of flowers. This is more challenging for OKIDLAND because it makes packaging and transport of the compositions more complicated and requires specialized knowledge and lots of “bitter” experience but the efforts and the results are always highly prized by our clients. This natural growth gives for a more versatile plant when creating different compositions than the straight Dutch Orchids and enables us to produce OKIDLAND’s standard of high quality Phalaenopsis Orchids and compositions. (photo of best Sogo composition)

Another regional difference is in the sales of our “nanified” Phalaenopsis Orchid plants. Our greenhouses have successfully created a Nanified version of its big flowered white Phalaenopsis orchid which is very desired in Paris and less so in the other regions. Perhaps it is because Paris has the dense population in Europe that “space” is of essence, so the smaller the better. OKIDLAND now provides three sizes of stems for our big flower Orchids: 40, 60 and 80 cm and enables us to provide three layered compositions with no or little stem visible. In our Paris salesroom the “Nanified” plants are always sells out the first. (photo of nanified Sogo)

At OKIDLAND we are always searching for new ways of presenting our Phalaenopsis Orchids and propose a wide range of different services to Wholesalers and florists throughout France. One such example, that is especially used by florists who regularly provide companies with flowers to decorate their offices is to use the flower pots that correspond to the particular decor of that company. Wholesalers provide us with their own flower pots which enables them to satisfy the demands of their clients and in some cases have even enabled wholesalers to sell their less successful flower pots. Its all a question of the will to take on challenges.

This next season will bring new colors, designs and new markets nationally and internationally.