Cut Flower Bulbs

USE BULBS TO SET UP A FLOWER FARM OR WORK ON A FLOWER FARM

• Utilize bulbs as nursery stock, landscaping plants, or cut flowers.
• Run a flower farm or nursery, create new varieties, or pursue a passion.
• Learn whenever, whenever, and at your own pace.
• Well trained horticulturists with years of experience serve as expert educators.

Choose and grow the right types of bulbs for the circumstances. It teaches you about the plant groups that bulbs are a part of, their cultural requirements, how to avoid and treat pest and disease issues, and the fundamentals of horticulture knowledge, such as soil types and plant nutritional requirements.

Lesson Structure

There are 10 lessons in this course:

1. Introduction to Cut Flower Bulb Production
   • Overview of floriculture
   • Information on flower structure
   • How plants grow
   • Specialised vegetative structure
   • Introduction to hydroponics
   • Classification of hydroponic systems
2. Cultural Practices
   • Understanding soil composition, structure and texture
   • Ways to improve soil
   • Importance and types of soil water
   • Soil pH
   • Nutrient availability and pH
   • Soil and plant tissue analysis
   • Soil degradation and rehabilitation (erosion, salinity, acidification etc)
   • The nutrient elements (major and minor)
   • Diagnosing nutritional problems
   • Fertilisers (types, application, etc)
   • Natural fertilisers
   • Fertiliser selection
   • Weed control methods
3. Flower Initiation & Development
   • Encouraging plants to flower out of season
   • Ways to cause controlled flowering
   • How to modify plant environment
   • Photosynthesis
   • Carbon dioxide enrichment
   • Response of plants to CO2
   • General guidelines of planting bulbs
   • Mulching
   • Soil mixes and potting media
4. Pest & Disease Control
   • Law in relation to chemical used
   • Disease identification and management in bulb crops
   • Plant viruses detection and diagnosis
   • Pest identification and management in bulb crops
   • Environmental Problems and their treatment
5. Managing Yield, Greenhouse Culture
   • Greenhouse growing system
   • Components of greenhouse facility
   • Types of greenhouse
   • Commonly used greenhouse designs
   • Shade houses
   • Greenhouse benches and beds
   • Environmental control in greenhouses
   • Measurements of environmental factors
   • Heating, cooling and ventilation systems
   • Lighting
   • Horticultural management in a greenhouse (pest and disease, irrigation etc)
   • Plant and water relation
   • Growing bulbs in open ground
   • Irrigating field grown bulbs
   • Types of irrigation system
6. Management, Harvest & Post Harvest
   • Managing market gardens
   • Factors in Deciding Which Plants to Grow
   • Production and crop scheduling
   • Cost efficiency standards
   • Quality and quantity standards
   • Farm layout (design of a store)
   • Marketing bulb crops
   • The marketing process (supply and demand, market research etc)
   • Aging in cut flowers
   • Factors affecting the longevity of cut flowers
7. Gladiolus and Liliums
   • Classification of liliums and gladiolus
   • Growing conditions
   • Soil and nutrition
   • Planting and propagation
   • Pest and diseases
   • Harvest and post-harvest
8. Narcissus
   • Classification of narcissus
   • Growing conditions
   • Soil and nutrition
   • Planting and propagation
   • Pest and diseases
   • Harvest and post-harvest
9. Iris
   • Classification of Iris
   • Growing conditions
   • Soil and nutrition
   • Planting and propagation
   • Pest and diseases
   • Harvest and post-harvest
10. Other Bulbs
    • Scented bulbs
    • Alstroemeria
    • Amaryllis
    • Dahlia
    • Freesia
    • Hyacinth
    • Ranunculus
    • Orchids
    • Ways of judging flower quality

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school’s tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

Aims

• Explain the cultural approaches used to produce various cut flower bulbs, taking into account the principles of excellent horticulture such as soil knowledge, plant nutrition, and weed management.
• Learn how plants with bulbs, rhizomes, tubers, corms, or other specialised parts initiate and develop blooms. examine the elements influencing the blossoming phases.
• Discover how to control any pests and illnesses in the home garden or for a harvest of cut flower bulbs.
• Control a crop of cut flower bulbs, both those produced outdoors and those cultivated inside a greenhouse. We also take a close look at the many methods for producing cut flower bulbs in greenhouses in this course, as well as strategies for controlling the environmental conditions there.
• Learn about the care, harvest, and post-harvest handling of cut flower bulbs.
• Describe how cut flower crops like Gladioli and Lilium are produced.
• Describe how cut flower crops of Narcissus are produced.
• Describe how the cut flower crops of iris and gladiolus are produced.
• We examine the contrasts between several cut flower bulb crops.

Discover How to Grow Bulbs for Cut Flowers

Every year, cut flowers improve the lives of millions of people. Flowers are always in demand, but there are peak needs around holidays and special occasions like Mother’s Day, Easter, Christmas, etc. The kind of flowers needed can vary depending on the occasion, such as red roses on Valentine’s Day.

Flowers and foliage are produced by cut flower enterprises for a variety of industries, including wholesale flower marketplaces, florists, retail stores, and occasionally export. A large variety of various bulbs, such as lilies, daffodils, tulips, hyacinths, iris, and many more, are grown as flowers. The fact that the grower can generate additional income by selling bulbs during the dormant season in addition to harvesting and selling flowers is a significant advantage that bulbs have over other types of flowers.

All types of cut flowers, flower seeds and seedlings, bulb cultivation, nursery operations, chemical plant protection, post-harvest processing and storage, and preservative use are all included in the practise of floriculture.

Greenhouses have a role in the cultivation of several flower varieties. In addition to flower cultivation in greenhouses, floriculture also includes growing cut flowers and herbaceous plants outdoors.

The manufacture of cut flowers is a growing industry globally. It has significant export potential, and even if the majority of flower-producing nations are able to meet the domestic demands of their cut flower markets, many of them might still expand their domestic markets. In some nations, spending on cut flowers is more prevalent than in others (the average Australian, for instance, spends much less on cut flowers than, say, the average German or Frenchman).

Up to 70% of Germany’s needs for cut flowers are met by imports, with The Netherlands being Germany’s top exporter. The markets for cut flowers in Japan and the US are the largest, nearly tripling those in Germany. Production of cut flowers grew quickly in the latter decades of the 20th century.

During this time, the export cut flower industries of Colombia, Israel, and, to a lesser extent, Australia, flourished quickly, with China and India having the largest areas under cultivation (but low yields per hectare).

The Netherlands has been and remains a significant export market with a sizable domestic market, virtually eclipsing exports. Although having sizable production regions, nations like China and India are still in the developing stage, largely because of the poor quality of their exports and the financial restrictions preventing them from importing. Most of the cut flowers produced with only a modest local market are exported from Colombia and Kenya.

Certain countries (such as Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand) can produce out-of-season flowers for the northern hemisphere, where the majority of the world’s population lives, due to their southern hemisphere location.

How to Raise Jonquils and Daffodils

“Narcissus” is the genus-level scientific name for daffodils and jonquils. Depending on whose authority you check, there could be up to 60 genuine species. Moreover, there are thousands of designated cultivars as well as several natural variants and shapes. Although bunch-flowered varieties also appear from Asia, the majority of the actual species are from Europe and North Africa.

These bulbs have 35 cm long, 35 cm wide, and rounded tip long, thin strap-like grey to green leaves. Almost all species’ flowers feature a central corona that is fashioned like a cup, bell, trumpet, or flattened. The perianth, which consists of the corona’s six outer petals, is joined at the base to form a tube.

One of the toughest spring-flowering bulbs is the daffodil. With the exception of tropical regions, they thrive in the majority of climates. Before planting, amend the soil with organic matter to make it more productive and well-drained. Plant in either full or partial shade. Early autumn is the best time for planting. Plant bulbs at a depth of 10 cm and a distance of 10 cm (depending on the effect you wish to create). Although they are most often associated with spring, bulbs can flower at any time of year. The earliest varieties appear in early winter, while the later varieties flower in late spring, depending on location and variety. Let the leaves to wither naturally after blossoming because they will serve as the flower’s food supply the following year.

Propagation
Every three to four years, lift and divide offsets to increase bulbs. The little child bulbs will readily detach from the bigger parent bulb. They can also be produced from seeds sowed in the summer, but it could take them three to seven years to bloom. Moreover, they can not be very true to type and be of lower quality.

Health
They are vulnerable to several illnesses and pests. Viral infections, such as cucumber mosaic virus and arabis mosaic virus, can be particularly troublesome. They frequently cause weak flowers and chlorotic leaves or yellow spotting on the foliage. Early in the growing season, dry soil can produce blindness in bulbs, which causes the shoots to develop but quickly turn brown and wither away. Grey mould, which frequently follows narcissus fire, a condition in which leaves and blooms develop brown spots and rot during humid weather, may attack and destroy above ground components. The narcissus fly, whose maggots eat into the bulbs, is a common nuisance. Tarsonid mites may also worm their way between the scales of the bulb and obstruct growth. Moreover, eelworms can invade the bulbs and result in stunted growth or bulb death. Slugs prefer the bulbs as well.

Uses
Daffodils have more promise as cut flowers because of their bigger blossoms. Nonetheless, jonquils are still farmed for cut flower arrangements.
Create a formal appearance by planting single kinds in massed beds, a relaxed appearance by scattering other plants across the garden bed in clusters or drifts, or a naturalised, “wild” appearance by scattering plants under deciduous trees.

Cultivars/Species
In accordance with the type of blossom, narcissus are categorised into a number of groups. The above varieties are offered by specialised bulb growers.

WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT FROM THIS COURSE?

• production of cut flower bulbs in agriculture
• Production of cut flower bulbs under greenhouse conditions
• directing the creation of commercially viable cut flower bulbs
• Garden displays’ maintenance of blossoming bulbs