As a horticultural professional, you’d definitely love to have the ability to seamlessly streamline your data collection, eliminate paperwork chaos, and flawlessly transform your field observations and operations into actionable insights. This is where PlantScout, an innovative quality management tool, comes in. PlantScout was founded in 2013 by Julian de Wit, a software engineer, after he got a question from a Phalaenopsis grower.
At first, it was only used by a few. Then, Leo Swart, a creative consultant in the horticulture industry, came in to support the sales and marketing, since the native app and web portal could help the industry. The platform has, in just a few years, become the industry’s go-to tool for bridging the gap between the numerous sectors of the industry, including breeders, growers, and suppliers.
What Was the Idea Behind PlantScout?
Designed precisely for plant and flower professionals, PlantScout replaces outdated spreadsheets and paper logs with a native app and a web portal in a system that captures everything from crop health metrics to vase life performance—all while preserving the irreplaceable knowledge of seasoned breeders and growers. It is an innovative platform that removes the disconnect between office management and field operations in greenhouses, nurseries, and other industry segments.
This groundbreaking data analysis and quality management application has essentially redefined how plant and flower professionals collect, analyze, and share crucial information. With PlantScout, according to Leo, who is essentially the co-founder, it is much easier to make reports without the need to walk the whole length of greenhouses or climb carts and crates in search of data.
Built on the philosophy of capturing and preserving breeder, grower, exporter, and service provider information, PlantScout offers a streamlined approach to quality management that eliminates reliance on cumbersome paper-based systems. It is a vital tool for numerous horticultural businesses, which shows the immense influence of targeted digital solutions in the traditional horticultural sector in various ways.
With over 25 years of horticultural experience, Leo consistently dedicated himself to addressing the fundamental challenges facing the sector. As a consultant with Cresultant—a company keen on delivering horticulture solutions—since January 2016, he acknowledged that collaboration throughout the value chain was both essential and challenging for the industry's success. His extensive experience across all aspects of the industry, coupled with a global network, helped identify a critical gap: working as a consultant, he realized that growers often struggled with disconnected data systems, delayed communication, and the inability to track crop performance across supply chains.
Basically, every segment of the value chain seemed to have a disconnect when it comes to data and information sharing. So, when he was introduced to the idea of PlantScout, he saw the opportunity to connect the industry with this modern technology, in a platform that allows users to collect data in the field, greenhouse, or warehouse and instantly sync it to a centralized platform for analysis and collaboration.
His approach stemmed from his conviction that, because the horticultural sector faces significant challenges that require innovative solutions, their approach needs to focus on examining the industry from different perspectives, building connections within plant and flower businesses and across the supply chain, and prioritizing customer needs. In PlantScout, they therefore created a solid solution that exemplifies their belief in the importance of making collaborative connections throughout the entire value chain, applying smart technologies and data.
Its Continuous Development and Evolution
Between 2013 and 2017, the application was in its advanced developmental phase, mainly focusing on breeding and grower reports and photo documentation. In the course of that duration, Leo also had the opportunity to further explore it, taking note of how it would fit in his idea of addressing challenges that affect the horticulture industry, even as more development saw it expanding its features to include grower-specific modules like pest tracking and vase life testing.
Then in 2019, he got onboard, and after the Covid-19 pandemic’s effects had subsided, PlantScout, then a collaboration of the strengths of Julian and Leo’s vision, continued its fine-tuning, and partnerships with some industry leaders shaping its specialized modules. For example, grower Marginpar used PlantScout to monitor their summer flower varieties across their African nurseries, aggregating data for precision breeding. Offline capabilities were also introduced, enabling its use in remote greenhouses or fields with limited connectivity
As noted, Julian's idea of PlantScout was further built upon by Leo's work at Cresultant, where he had been developing strategies to help the horticultural sector adapt to changing market dynamics. Its design was from the ground up to address the specific needs of horticulture professionals, with a focus on usability and practical application, especially in greenhouse environments—from greenhouses to the field, from the coolhouse to breeding environments.
Over the subsequent years, PlantScout continued to advance, developing specialized modules for different segments of the horticulture industry. For example, they created a dedicated test module for Phalaenopsis breeder, Labeau, and a crop protection registration system for Dekker Chrysanten in a tailored approach that has been instrumental in their success, allowing the platform to address the unique requirements of diverse horticultural operations. More developments continued thereafter. Now, the platform even syncs with enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, ensuring seamless data flow between field operations and enterprise software. Furthermore, recent updates have included formula integrations, batch management tools, and multilingual support.
Generally, one would therefore say, the PlantScout platform features specialized modules that address specific industry needs, including flower trials and vase life and shelf life testing, Quality Control and Checks (both in and out), complaint handling workflows, professional inspection reports, integration with ERP systems, dosing monitoring for crop treatments, pedigree tracking for breeding programs, scouting for pests and diseases, and location tracking for batch management. One can also use the app internally or share it with their customers or suppliers.
To learn more about Plantscout, Leo explains:
Photos by PlantScout.
