George Fuller, MBE., NDH., Kew Cert., FRIH.
The following Testimonial is from George Fuller, who passed away on Friday the 18th of June 2015. We had the honour to work with George so many times. He was a big believer in our product and always gave us support and made us believe in our products. George will be sorely missed.
His Testimonial; Since retirement in 1990 I have gone from being professionally involved with orchids to now being a hobby (amateur) grower and breeder of orchids. My collection of about 1,500 plants is comprised of approcimately 500 disa's, 500 masdevallias, 200 pleiones, 70 cymbidiums, 50 odontoglossums and a diversity of other genera. All are suited to cool to intermediate growing conditions and are watered and liquid fed by manual over-the-foliage application. The quality of my plants and the standard of their cultivation are regarded by my peers as being of above average status. Shortly after BPT was founded in 2000 I detected they were able to supply freshly crushed (raw) bark in three graded particle sizes of consistently high quality so I began obtaining all my orchid bark requirements from that source as did many other orchid growers throughout N.Z. In the winter of 2005 I was entrusted by BPT with running a pilot trial of a new product comprised of a fine form of freshly crushed bark, now called 3FB. I have been very impressed with 3FB now released onto the market and stand by the suitability of this product for a wide range of orchids. I use all of Bark Products Taranaki's substrates straight from the bag without any form of pre-treatment or blending with other materials because my research has proven that they present no risk of damaging plant tissue. In general use of these products with most genera there does not seem to be justification for mixing with other media providing watering and feeding routines are adapted to the particular requirements of each type of plant being cultivated. My experience has also revealed that all of them can be relied upon to perform reliably for at least three years by about which time repotting is more likely to be required because of congestion of the plant than deterioration of the substrate. Some growers even reuse the substrate several seasons. On personal level I am most impressed with the dedication and ingenuity exhibited by Hans and Anita in the running of their business and have always found them to be very courteous and thorough. In my experience their business acumen is based on integrity. The conclusions that I have reached are based around my sixty years of involvement with orchids during which time I have held positions of responsibility and have been the recipient of numerous awards and commendations of both national and international consequence. The late George Fuller, MBE.,NDH.,Kew Cert., FRIH. |