Innovations in Commercial Flower Production

 

 Innovations in Commercial Flower Production

For getting higher returns and to compete in ever-challenging global markets, modern innovative techniques are used to produce quality flowers with longer vase life. Use of optimal production and postharvest management approaches increase profitability. Some of these innovative techniques are summarized here.

Market Selection

Most critical aspect of growing highly perishable flowers is finding an appropriate market to sell the produce. Market selection should be well planned even before planting of the crop to ensure timely marketing of these flowers.

Crop Selection

After selecting the market, most important decision is what to grow; growers should select potential crops that fit into the existing growing environment. Growing species that do not suit the environment leads to higher Labour costs and poor productivity. Crops should be resistant to diseases and pests prevalent in the area. In addition, flower crops should produce long stems, particularly if the target market is a retail florist, have high production of marketable stems per unit area, be easy to harvest, have a longer production period with repetitive harvests, and have a postharvest life longer than a week. Annuals, herbaceous perennials, woody plants and bulbs can be grown as cut flowers/foliage crops.

New Cut Flower Species and Cultivars

To fulfill the aesthetic needs of highly demanding customers, many new species and cultivars have been developed/ tested for production as specialty cuts. Annuals, herbaceous perennials, woody plants and bulbs can all be grown as specialty cut crops. Annuals complete their life cycle in one growing season. Herbaceous perennials and bulbs usually die back to the ground at the end of the growing season and again resume growth when favorable weather returns. Majority of hardy woody plants survive the winter season in the dormant state, but do not die back to the ground as the herbaceous perennials do. Producing new introductions, such as specialty cut flower crops, stock, delphinium, antirrhinum etc., as well as old, such as roses, gladioli, chrysanthemum, and carnation cultivars increase the market appeal.

Production Systems

A wide variety of production systems can be used for each species which vary in the type of substrate used, mulches and establishment methods. Moreover, optimum plant densities and staggered plantings provide a consistent supply of product for producers, which help increase profitability of the cut flower businesses.

Open Field Production

Field plantings can be established by a variety of methods. Direct seeding can be used with species that germinate and grow rapidly. Plants with large seeds, such as sunflowers and zinnias, do well when they are sown directly. Some species, such as larkspurs, do not transplant well and are also sown directly. Bulbous flowers are also directly planted on ridges or beds in field plantations. Other crops are first grown in germination trays and transplanted in the field at the 3-4 true leaf stage (Fig. 10.1). Finally, some perennial and woody species can be cutting propagated into trays or small containers and transplanted to the field later.

High Tunnel Cut Flower Production

High tunnels are simple, low tech, unheated structures that protect flowers during production and may increase soil and air temperatures during cool weather. Production of cut flowers particularly annual or bulbous species for early season production using high tunnels can extend the availability of cut flowers of choice for longer periods. Such crops such as stock, delphinium, lisianthus, snapdragons, lupines, tuberoses etc. provide more vibrant colour and texture flowers and increase profitability when produced off-season or earlier than normal season production.

Greenhouse Production

 There are cut crops that can be grown commercially in controlled or semi-controlled greenhouses for cut flower markets (Fig. 10.3). Each potential species/cultivar should be evaluated for intended market, consumer demand, and sales potential .Green houses are expensive to construct and operate; thus, the flowers grown in greenhouses must be high value and the greenhouse space used efficiently to generate maximum production of product and sales.