In 2011, when Ding Delong planted the first Ilicon at the foot of Wulian Mountain, perhaps he never expected that in the following 15 years, this emerging flower would gradually rise to become a popular "flower" in the domestic New Year's market, and Rizhao City, Shandong Province, would also develop into one of the highlands of the Ilicon industry.

  Ding Delong's North American Holly base

Favorable timing and geographical advantages: Natural endowments create fertile ground for industries

Rizhao gets its name from the fact that "the first light of the sun shines first".
The sunlight and rain here have given birth to the renowned Rizhao Green Tea and also provided a unique growing environment for the North American Holly. As an ornamental fruit-bearing plant, the quantity and ornamental value of its fruits are of vital importance to Ilex negata, and the suitable climatic conditions of sunlight provide a natural guarantee for it.
Rizhao has a temperate monsoon climate, with no extreme heat in summer and no severe cold in winter. Around June 1st every year, the Ilex here enters a flowering period of 5 to 7 days. During this period, there is almost no rainfall in the local area, so the pollination rate of the flowers is extremely high. During the crucial period of fruit color change in September and October, the significant temperature difference between day and night makes the fruits of Ilex latifolia rich and bright in color, with a remarkable coloring effect.
In terms of soil, the Rizhao area is widely distributed with slightly acidic sandy loam soil, which is loose, well-aerated, has excellent drainage, and is rich in organic matter and trace elements. Its pH value is stable in the slightly acidic range of 5.5 to 6.5, which is in line with the core growth requirements of Ilex aquifolius, which is "loose, fertile, slightly acidic and well-aerated".

Fumanhong Rizhao Base

This place can be said to be an ideal planting site tailor-made for Ilex Americana. Mu Zongwen, the general manager of Rizhao Hongdouhong Horticulture Co., LTD., told the reporter of China Flower News. For growers, this favorable timing and geographical conditions significantly reduce daily management costs while providing a solid guarantee for the production of high-quality Ilex Americana products.

Industrial Rise: From "A Spark" to "A Prairie Fire"

In 2011, Ding Delong and his father crossed over from other industries and established Shandong Rizhao Yulongchang Horticultural Technology Co., LTD. They planted 1,000 Holly plants covering a total area of 20 mu in Wulian County.
At that time, no one around had even heard of this plant. Ding Delong recalled that at that time, the domestic Ilex industry was still in its infancy. Although Ding Delong is located in a nursery production area, due to the lack of benefits in the early stage, most people around him are adopting a wait-and-see attitude.
This situation persisted until 2017, when the first local nursery approached Ding Delong to purchase seedlings. The North American Holly began to show signs of "a spark" in Rizhao. What truly ignited this "fire" was a series of positive changes that occurred in 2018. After several years of accumulation, domestic Ilex verticillata has made significant breakthroughs in planting and propagation techniques, and its market recognition has gradually increased. Both inside and outside the industry, this new type of flower with bright red fruits is widely favored. This year, Ding Delong's Ilex japonica seedlings have been selling well in many places across the country and have drawn attention in the nursery circle of Rizhao.

The North American ilex waiting to have its branches harvested at Dingdelong Base

With the solid foundation laid in 2018, by 2019, numerous nurseries for growing Ilex latifolia had emerged in Rizhao, and Mu Zongwen was one of them. I entered the industry in 1995 and have been growing greenery seedlings for over 20 years. However, in recent years, the market situation has not been good, so I have been trying to make a transformation. He said that after getting to know Ilex Americana, he quickly decided to develop this new variety.

From the initial 50 mu of land with 50,000 current-year cup seedlings, to this year, Mu Zongwen not only expanded his own base to nearly 1,000 mu, but also led farmers in neighboring towns to plant over 2,000 mu of Ilex Americana. Our company will provide seedlings and technical guidance, and then sell them uniformly. Mou Zongwen introduced that under their influence, over a thousand mu of North American Holly nurseries have also developed in the surrounding areas. 

The North American Holly from Hongdouhong Garden

 Over the past four or five years, most of these emerging nurseries have mainly focused on cultivating young seedlings, and Rizhao has also become a major production area for young Ilex latifolia seedlings in China. A rough estimate shows that the sales volume of young seedlings in Rizhao was approximately 6 million in 2024, and it is expected to reach 20 million this year. "Mainly sold within the province and in places like Lianyungang City, Jiangsu Province, about 85% of them are young seedlings of the popular variety 'Donghong'." " Mou Zongwen said that as the output has increased, the price has gradually dropped. Seedlings with a height of 30 to 50 centimeters were sold for 5 to 7 yuan two years ago, 3 to 5 yuan last year, and have dropped to 2 to 4 yuan this year. "But the sales have always been good and the profits are still considerable."
In Ju County, Rizhao City, which is renowned for its production of fresh-cut rose flowers, the current planting area of Ilex americano has reached 1,200 mu, mainly featuring medium and large-sized potted plants and cut branches. At the beginning of this year, the government of Zhaoxian Town, Ju County, established a special task force for wintergreen in North America, with Xu Chuanbo, the first secretary of the village stationed in Wujiaqufang Village, Zhaoxian Town by the Ju County Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, serving as the technical director. In three to five years, Ju County will achieve an annual production capacity of one million cut branches of Ilex Americana. Xu Chuanbo said that it was also in 2019 that he was the first to plant Ilex Americana in Ju County.
In early 2025, Rizhao welcomed a leading domestic producer of Ilex latifolia. The Rizhao base of Fumanhong 10,000-mu Ilex latifolia (Yunnan) Crop Science Co., Ltd. was officially completed. This is the company's third base after those in Weihai City, Shandong Province and Qujing City, Yunnan Province. The first phase of the Rizhao base covers an area of 3,388 mu, and 1,500 mu of land has been planted. General Manager Liu Zuolin of the company introduced that if the market conditions are good, the second phase will build 3,400 mu, and by then the scale of the Rizhao base will reach 6,800 mu. 

Fumanhong Rizhao Base

From several small and medium-sized nurseries covering around 40 to 50 mu, to large enterprises acting as the mainstay to drive farmers' development, and then to the strong entry of leading enterprises, over the years, the North American Holly industry in Rizhao has developed into a "prairie fire". 

Technological Breakthrough: Full-cycle Production of Rizhao's "Intelligent" manufacturing

Planting technology is an important barrier to the production of Ilex latifolia in North America. Rizhao, which has produced many talented people, has developed unique techniques for the production of seedlings from small to finished ones, which has become the core code for the successful development of its North American Holly industry.
Entering the small cutting greenhouse of Hongdouhong Horticulture Co., LTD., workers are busy cutting branches. The mixed substrate of perlite and peat soil in the greenhouse makes the reporter feel quite familiar. Around 2015, the all-light mist cutting technology emerged in Rizhao, mainly used for the cutting of red-leaf photinia and other seedlings. A reporter once visited here for an interview. Nowadays, the improved technology is applied to Ilex aquifolium and has been widely promoted locally.
The core of this technology is that both young and old branches can be propagated by cuttings, with a short production cycle and a high survival rate of young seedlings. Mou Zongwen introduced that softwood cuttings involve taking 40 to 60 centimeters of tender branches, which can be cut into 3 to 4 sections. Each section can retain 5 to 8 leaves. One square meter can be used to take cuttings of 200 small seedlings, and they can be sold after two months. Conventional softwood cuttings usually only retain one leaf and take about nine months to be taken out of the nursery. In terms of old branch cuttings, the young seedlings from Rizhao are sold after about six months, and the density of cuttings is higher than that of young branches. Conventional techniques, however, may take a year or even longer. 

The workers are busy cutting the cuttings

The cuttings of Ilex negifolia from North America can be inserted into a one-square-meter foam box for convenient whole box sales.“
The average survival rate of young seedlings can reach 90% or even higher. Mou Zongwen added. This year, Zhang Shoulu and others in the local area developed high-stem cutting and open-air cutting techniques for Ilex latifida, reducing the cost of seedlings to less than 0.5 yuan, which is significantly lower than the conventional method's cost of just over 1 yuan, greatly enhancing production efficiency.

Xu Chuanbo, who graduated from Qingdao Agricultural University, has been engaged in fruit tree research for a long time and has applied a number of techniques to the production of Holly in North America, achieving remarkable results. Generally speaking, it takes five years for Ilex japonica seedlings to grow to a crown spread of 80 centimeters. However, the Ju County nursery purchases semi-finished seedlings from Tai 'an and can sell them after one year of cultivation. During this crucial year, Xu Chuanbo was responsible for providing technical guidance at key time points. This year during the Lunar New Year fair, potted plants with a crown width of 80 centimeters in Ju County are priced at around 100 yuan and are in short supply.

In the production of cutting branches, Xu Chuanbo has explored eight major techniques, among which the four aspects of bud promotion, vigorous growth control, flower promotion and fruit preservation are particularly important. The products produced by this technology not only perform well in terms of fruit quantity, density and coloring, but also solve the problem of fruit drop that has long plagued the traditional variety 'Oster'. In addition, the production cycle for pruning has been significantly shortened. Seedlings can be pruned in small quantities in the second year after planting, which is one year earlier than the traditional method.

The Ilex Americana planted in Ju County once and pruned in the second year

Ding Delong, also a professional, is renowned in the industry for the high quality of the Ilex hollies he grows. Every year, his products are never hard to sell. "We now have 260 mu of land." The annual income is around 3 million yuan in a normal year, and nearly 5 million yuan in good times. This year's goods have been fully booked long ago. He said with a smile.

Facing Challenges Head-on: Exploring New Paths for Industrial Upgrading

While the North American Holly industry in Rizhao is booming, many problems and challenges have emerged, and at the same time, new development opportunities are also brewing.
"Finished seedlings from local seedling production enterprises will also gradually hit the market this year. However, the sales targets of seedlings and finished seedlings are different, so the channels need to be expanded urgently." " Mou Zongwen said that in addition, the professionalization level of the later stages such as digging seedlings, loading onto vehicles and packaging also needs to be improved.

Regarding the above issues, Ding Delong, who has successfully transitioned from the small seedling market to the finished seedling market, stated that there are significant differences in production technology between small and finished Ilex seedlings in North America. By resolving this problem first and producing high-quality products, a core competitiveness will be established. As experience increases, problems such as sales, seedling digging, and packaging in the later stages will gradually be resolved.

Ding Delong also shared his experience. Starting from 2023, in order to meet the demands of e-commerce sales, he began to switch from ground-planted seedlings to containerized seedlings. The containers were filled with peat soil, which not only made packaging and transportation more convenient but also reduced transportation costs by about 30%. Ground-planted seedlings can grow 1,800 to 2,000 plants per mu, while containerized seedlings can reach 7,000 POTS.

Ding Delong's "Meister" potted seedlings

The orange-yellow variety 'Donghuang' introduced by Ding Delong

Variety innovation is the key to enhancing an industry's risk resistance capacity and market competitiveness. Ding Delong has collected 14 varieties, leading the country in quantity. Among them, one bud variety is already applying for a new variety right. Xu Chuanbo also has a self-bred variety that is currently observing and performing well.
The development of the North American Holly industry in Rizhao has a strong sense of spontaneity and has developed very well so far. Yang Xiuping, the head of the Forestry Science and Technology Industry Division of the Natural Resources and Planning Bureau of Rizhao City, said that as the competent authority, the next step will be to guide enterprises to avoid blindly following the trend and causing overcapacity, hold relevant activities to enhance technological levels and expand sales channels, and at the same time, collaborate with scientific research institutions and universities to formulate production standards and enrich product types, promoting the steady progress of Rizhao's Ilwintergreen industry through innovation and standardization. Let this "winter red" shine brightly.

(Image source: Interviewee)

Editor: Ma Qiang. Producer: Qi Qi