Flower care

Crop Selection An important concept to keep in mind with field grown cut flowers is that your crop selection and yield must be market driven, not production driven. Unless you are near a large population centre, like the Fraser Valley, most cut flowers are sold through niche markets, and therefore have a limited demand. Excess volumes will only serve to lower prices. Determine a flower's end-use to decide whether it’s an industry staple or a specialty-niche market item. For example, is it used as a filler, or is it only used as a focal point in wedding work? Another consideration is whether you want to sell your crop as fresh or as dried flowers, or a combination of both. These factors will help in your plans to settle on a crop mix, marketing venue, and on the volumes the market might bear. There are many market options available: the United Flower Growers’ Co-op, farmer’s markets, supermarkets, garden centres, roadside or city stands, hotels, restaurants, craft stores, florists, or as a pick-your-own. Depending upon your location and crop choice, you may sell your product through one or more market outlets. When deciding your crop mix, don’t overlook some of the more common money makers. Novelty and specialty flowers are great, but the crop mix should include some traditional items, even if they’re predominantly used as fillers. Traditional crops and named cultivars are often easier to grow because there is more production information available. On the other hand, if a flower is found in most home gardens there may not be a high demand for it in the regular growing season. Always be on the lookout for new and unusual flowers. Spend your winters reading North American, European, and Japanese seed catalogues and books on gardening and perennials. Remember to introduce new species gradually to the market place. Just because you think it’s the perfect flower don’t expect Joe and Josephine Consumer to want it in large volumes. Evaluate varieties not just by their appearance, but also for other important criteria like vase life, fragrance, hardiness and drought tolerance. Production factors to consider include: • cost of production • production per square metre • the length and ease of extending the production season • resistence to pests • stem length • ease of harvesting One final important consideration; be sure that you can manage the cultural requirements of a new crop. Local climate, the length of the growing season, the number of frost-free days, and rainfall will constrain your crop choice. Crops must not only be able to grow in your climate, but they must also suit your production techniques and anticipated selling window. By growing a combination of annuals, biennials, perennials, bulbs, woody cuts, and ornamental grasses many growers try to achieve staggered production and cash-flow. Table 2 examines some of the advantages and disadvantages of the various crop types and provides a partial list of plants that can be used as cut flowers. More than one botanical name appears for some plants due to reclassification. If you plan to market the cuts as fresh cut flower bouquets, there should be a broad selection of species to provide a good mix of colour, forms, and shapes throughout your marketing period. But don’t overextend yourself by trying to grow too many species. Start off slow and as your knowledge and expertise expands, you can then increase your crop selection.