Peony Root Harvesting

The 2022 peony root season has started! We started harvesting our peony plants about two weeks ago which is a normal time of the year to start the harvest. Conditions are great and the plants did experience good growth during the last year of their growing cycle. Check out this small clip we made of the harvesting procedure on the field itself:

Before we can harvest and ship out our roots to our world-wide customers, we have to take multiple steps which we will explain in more detail below:

Removing the leaves

During the late summer period the peony leaves that are left on the plants will start the end of their seasonal life cycle. They are ready for removal once they start to color yellow and brown. We use a special machine to remove the leaves which mows the leaves off the plants and sucks up all the waste to make sure no leaves are left on the plants and fields.

Digging up the peony plants

As you can tell from the clip above, the peony roots are being harvested mechanically by a machine that is specially designed for peony roots. The machine digs up the plants and already removes most of the dirt on them. It’s important that the conditions are not too wet during harvesting to ensure the best quality of the roots. The roots are being transported into cubic boxes before being transported to our company to start the next step in our process.

Cleaning the peony plants

Once the peony roots are received on our company we give them a good wash to clean them of any possible dirt that is left on them.

Dividing the peony plants

Once the roots are clean we start the dividing procedure. The roots have grown good sizeable roots and multiple eyes during their 2 year growth cycle, in order to make sellable peony roots we divide the plants into multiple peony plants. This is being done the old school way; using a sharp knife to separate the plants.

Disinfecting and packing the peony roots

After splitting the peony roots into sellable roots, we disinfect them immediately. This disinfection helps to prevent any diseases from getting into the plants. The disinfection procedure consist of a warm-water treatment and an actual disinfection bath. After disinfection the plants will be packing into peat-moss and stored in our climate controlled cold rooms.

Storing the peony roots

Storing the peony roots is an important step during the procedure. Giving them the right temperature control is essential to give them the best start possible once they are being planted by our customers. At Groot & Groot we have the opportunity to give our roots a very detailed temperature control, even based on the destination and climate they will be planted in eventually.

Phytosanitary controls

Peony Roots that are leaving the EU need to go through a phytosanitary control by the Dutch Naktuinbouw authority. For peony roots being exported to the United States and Canada we can also provide our customers with a pre-clearance, speeding up the clearance procedure in the land of destination significantly.

Shipping out the peony roots

Groot & Groot exports peony roots all over the world. We have reliable transportation partners for road, air and container transportation, experienced in transporting agricultural products.