Field Grown Cut Flower Production

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    Cut Flower Production

    90 minutes

    I. Introductiona. So one main reason why you should incorporate cut flowers into your small farm is

    because it is the number 3 top commodity in North Carolina, generating about 900,000

    a year.

    b. Cut flowers on your farm allow you to diversify what you are currently doing.Consumers like variety. When you go to the farmers market, bringing fresh cut flowers

    helps draw more attention to your stalls. The tremendous variety of plants that can be

    grown as cut flowers allows growers to choose those which are well-adapted to the

    farm site and grown without large offsite inputs plus it can help increase your farm

    income.

    II. What are specialty cut flowers?a. Specialty cut flowers, also known as old fashion garden flowers originally refers to

    species other than carnations, chrysanthemums, and roses.

    b. These include annuals, perennials, bulbous plants, and woody plantc. These specialty cut flowers can be grown in the field, in unheated hoop house, and in

    heated greenhouse.

    III. Before you can start, a tremendous number of choices must be made. Consider thefollowing before you start planting

    a. Ease of Cultivationi. Some flowers need more care like Lisanthus whereas some are easier to plant

    such as sunflowers. This may be especially important if you are a beginner.

    b. Ease of handlingi. Some flowers bruise or shatter easily, you will need to consider what kinds of

    flowers are easier to work with or transport. If you are taking the flowers to themarket, will the flowers last while transporting?

    c. Colori. Consider the question, what is more popular at your market? What kind of

    colors mixes well? It has always been very good to consider colors fitting for the

    season. Take for example, yellow sunflowers work well in the summer, so you

    would want to be able to harvest in June or July whereas you would need to

    harvest red, oranges, and yellow color flowers in the fall.

    d. Vase lifei. Some flowers have a short vase life. To get the most of your cut flowers

    production, you want to choose flowers that you know will for a long time and

    consumers love flowers that last a long time.

    e. Stem lengthi. Florist loves long stemmed flowers but some flowers are just naturally short. For

    example lily of the valley only grows to be about 12 inches and less. Choose

    flowers that you know you can work with.

    f. Local growing conditioni. Consider the fact that some flowers dont grow well in our climate. Diversify

    slowly and test some new choices each growing season. Some might do super

    well where as some just wont work.

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    g. Flowering Seasoni. Do you want year-round or season blooms? For flowers through the growing

    season, identify an early bloomer to start blooming in sync with of your market

    opening day or plant flowers that you will have until the market close. Also

    consider that some flowers are one-time cut flowers whereas some flowers can

    be cut multiple times.

    h. Demandi. There will be some flowers that sell really well at one market but not too good

    at another. Test new choices and focus on those that do better with the

    markets.

    i. Marketi. How will you be selling the flowers? Will you sell it at your market in bunches or

    bouquets? Do you want to sell to local wholesalers or local florist? On the

    internet, or in CSA? Also consider the pricingwould you get a better value if

    you sold to Wholesalers or florist? You can sell to wholesalers at a reduce rate if

    you produce too much and cannot sell all.

    1. Subscriptions and CSA-subscriptions offer upfront payment forscheduled delivery of flowers but make sure you plan according. If youpromise the consumer to have flowers until November, make sure you

    have flowers until November.

    2. Cut-Your-Own/Roadside productionFlowers are naturally attractive. Ifyou do decide to do a cut-your-own production, make sure you meet

    the right requirements to reduce your liability risk. Pricing the flowers in

    a way that the consumer can easily understood. You will need to

    provide supplies for the consumer such as buckets or other containers

    with water, scissors for cutting the stem, and wrapping materials.

    3. Retail FloristFlorist will want flowers that are just beginning to openunlike farmers market consumers, who prefer fully open blossoms.

    Most florists know exactly what they want and may need a fairly largequantity of a certain flowers. Some tips to sell to retail florist is to

    deliver in bunches of 10, so that its easier to pull the flowers out of

    bucket without destroying other blooms; Use bucket with your

    name/label so you can leave them and pick up the following trip.

    4. Wholesale floriststhe wholesale florist market is the most demandingas far as grading, uniformity, consistency and packaging. Wholesale

    florists assemble and make available high-quality flowers for retail

    florist.

    j. It might sound quiet tedious and troublesome to be making all these choices, but theywill help you plan and develop a better crop production. A lot of the types of flower you

    grow are trial and error and you just need to focus on those that do best for you.

    IV. Before you start planting, make sure you do a soil test.a. Soil phFlowers tend to like a little more acidic soil compared to vegetables.b. Maintain high yields (growth)By doing a soil test, you will be able to maximize your

    cut flowers and maintain higher yields. Routine monitoring can spot nutrient problems

    before they become nutrient deficiencies or toxicities

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    c. Increase profit by maintaining a higher yield, youll be able to increase your profitbetter.

    d. Unnecessary fertilizers just increase costsyou dont want to overuse your fertilizerbecause it would just add more cost and take away from your profit.

    e. Soil Bedssome flowers, like blubs or tuber need to be planted deeper than someflowers. Consider raising the beds for some certain lowers. By raising the bed, it wouldhelp with drainage and flowers like dahlias and tulips need a good area. Before you

    make your soil bed, you want to clean or take up the weeds in the area. It would be

    better if you could spray it with Glyphosate (Round up), this will help with reducing

    weeds in your flower bed. If you do not want to spray, you can cover the rows with

    mulch or plastic. During bed preparation, add organic matter at a rate of about 25-30

    percent by volume of soil. This translates to adding about 3-4 inches of organic matter

    on top of the bed and working it into about 10-12 inches of soil.

    V. Fertilizea. Fertilize according to the recommendation of your soil test. Generally, the fertilizer

    requirements for new beds consist of adding about two pounds of 5-10-5 fertilizer per

    100 square feet of garden bed area. Till this in at the time of bed preparation. Generally,the way, Ive always done it is to side dress it when the plants get a little taller, generally

    about 3 weeks after initial planting and once more before it blooms. Make sure you

    dont get the fertilizer on the leaves of the plant because it can damage the plant.

    VI. Choose varieties that do better for you.a. There are many choices to choose from. You have annuals, perennials, and biannual.

    i. Annuals are plants that perform their entire life cycle from seed to flower withina single growing season. All roots, stems, and leaves of the plant die annually.

    1. SunflowersLong stemmed and long vase life, not hard to grow andcost to grow is relatively low. Great sell at local market for summer and

    fall.

    2. ZinniasAllow for multiple cuts and comes in many different colors.Can be transplant or direct sow. If you do transplant, you have to start

    in March so that you can harvest the first crop as early as the end of

    May

    3. Lisanthus--Big seller with wholesalers. Lisanthus have very long vase lifeand the stem can get long. Generally not a lot of different colors. The

    shades are usually pink, purples, and white.

    4. CosmosDont last quite as long. Generally easy to grow. Consumerslike this because it adds a natural touch to the arrangement.

    5. Celosias/Cox CombLong stem and long vase life. Easy to grow andvery vibrant colors; the problem with this is that it sheds its seeds easily

    6. Amaranthsii. Perennials are plants that persist for many growing seasons. Generally the top

    portion of the plant dies back each winter and re-grows the following spring.

    When planting perennial plants from seed, blooms will be observe in either the

    spring or summer of the second and third year.

    1. Black-eyed Susansubstitute as sunflowers; some variety have a longvase life but most people generally like black-eyed Susan because its

    easier to manage than Sunflowers

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    2. False Indigo/Baptisia comes in purple, white, and yellow; the foliagelast very and makes very good greens.

    3. Sedumlong vase life, comes in shade of pink and red4. Euphorbiagorgeous foliage, long vase life but it can cause some

    individual to have rash due to the milky substances that it release.

    5. Echinacea-wild, natural look6. DianthusEarly bloomer, long vase life,

    iii. Biennials are plant which require two years to complete their life cycleiv. Bulbs, tubers, and true rhizomes

    1. Bulbsa. Tulip: plant in October, harvest in Late March, early April

    i. Comes in many different colorsii. Suggest planting new bulbs every year to get the good

    quality needed for cut flowers

    iii. Average length 18 in -24 iniv. Tulips are consider ever growing, after cutting the

    flower still continue to grow in the waterstem

    continues to lengthenv. One time harvest

    b. Iris: plant in October, harvest in Mid Aprili. Two variety

    1. Bearded (Rhizomes)This variety doesnt lastquite as long for cut flowers

    2. Dutchii. Harvest when you see the first tip

    iii. Be aware of late frost; if the iris has already form thebloom, a late frost can ruin the bloom

    iv. Iris does not need to be dug up and replanted, plant willrebloom again with more the next year.

    v. One time harvestc. Lily

    i. Long lasting as a cut flowersii. Can have multiple planting session

    1. Plant in Early March for Late Spring Harvest2. Plant in Early August for October Harvest

    iii. Varieties1. Asiatic petals tend to me more delicate than

    oriental varieties

    2. Orientala. Fragrant-Some consumers might not

    like the smell; some are allergic to this

    smell

    iv. One time harvest2. Tubers

    a. Tuberosesi. Popular with Customersii. Should be dug up and replanted again

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    iii. Plant in Late April Harvest in Augustiv. Fragrant-Some consumers might not like the smell;

    some are allergic to this smell.

    v. Can be harvest until frostb. Dahlias

    i. Multiple colors, shape, and sizesii. Popular Fall plant

    iii. Plant after frostiv. Bulbs Harvest Multiple times

    3. True Rhizomesa. Peonies

    v. Wood cuts those that comes from bushes and trees1. Hydrangeas2. Bittersweets3. Peach Blossoms4. Virburnums