Executive Perspective: Flexibility Brings Opportunity in Potting Machines

Selling a new concept into a mature market like the U.S. floriculture industry takes passion and commitment yo your concept, and Blackmore’s Lars Jensen clearly brings both to bear when talking about the innovative production concepts like the company’s various trays and Ellepot machines. We talked to Jensen at Cultivate’26 about this and more.

Greenhouse Grower (GG): How do you see the industry doing this year? How is the market compared to 2025?

Lars Jensen (LJ): I think the market has done pretty good, and a lot of companies have done really well. Consumers are buying plants. But, personally, I think that we’re sitting on our hands too much, and we keep targeting the same people — our customers, who we know care about plants. Instead, we should be targeting the 90% of people who don’t give a thought to plants.

I know most growers had a good year, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t double our sales. Connecting with your end user is key. Growers should not settle for their sales to be just good if The Home Depot is selling a lot of plants. More people will come in and will buy plants if you connect with them, so we’re excited for the future here and in Europe.

GG: How do you see the health of the U.S. market compared to the European market?

LJ: I think that the American market is healthier because it has not yet automated its problem in such a big way as Europe has. Europe had a production problem, and they automated around it, and now those growers are stuck. They have a plastic pot, and everything is about the plastic pot. They’ve spent millions of dollars on robotics to handle that plastic pot. So that plastic pot tells them what they’re going to do in terms of all of their products. You don’t have as many growers over here (in the U.S.) that have made those mistakes yet.

That gives the U.S. more flexibility. More flexibility creates opportunity for higher prices. So, growers here are getting a higher price for their products compared to in Europe.

That’s why we’re introducing an entirely different way of production with our new Air Tray® Technologies system, which offers so many benefits compared to growing in a plastic pot.

One of our newest machines is going to Prides Corner Farms in Connecticut, which is not a super-automated company. Mark Sellew at Prides Corner is not buying this machine because it’s cool. No, he’s buying it because it’s a production vehicle that produces his plants better and faster … which, in good Dutch, means less expensive!

GG: So, where is this segment of the industry going to be five years from now?

LJ: Well, if we have our way, a lot of growers will embrace retailer-friendly systems that help healthier plants look presentable and ready for an impulse buy. But that means growers can’t let plastic pots tell them how they need to run their business. So, growers have to make choices. But we’re not just selling them a machine — it’s a system change. It’s a production technology because we’re selling a concept versus plastic, versus tradition, versus what growers have always known.

When growers started growing plants, they put them in a tin can. Then we put them in a clay pot. Then plastic really came along and helped our industry produce plants that look nicer and are cheaper. So, we’re not against plastic in any way, shape, or form. But what we’re saying is that when it comes to production, there can be ways to do things better, right?

This change is taking hold slowly, and it might be a little controversial, but we’re seeing university researchers start to understand the benefits this approach can offer to the plant as well as to the grower. I am completely certain that any plant grown in this system will outperform the same-sized plant grown in a smooth-sided plastic pot.

GG: What do the growers who manage their production and their automation most effectively do differently than the growers who don’t manage this part of this business as well?

LJ: Focus is a big thing. Being laser-focused on what they want to do with their production.

Executive Perspectives is an editorial series in which Greenhouse Grower visits with leaders from across the industry to learn the challenges they see facing growers from their respective part of the business and their recommendations to help growers succeed. This interview has been edited for style, length, and clarity.

Bob West is the Chief Content Officer at Meister Media Worldwide, the publisher of Greenhouse Grower. He can be reached at 440-602-9129 or [email protected].