Any individual can start commercial rose farming in two ways. They are open fields and the other one is the greenhouse. However, you can go for the greenhouse option for quality rose production as the cut flower. Rose comes in different varieties, colors, and sizes. Commercial rose cultivation is a profitable business. In addition, small startup capital is needed to initiate a rose farm.
Is Rose Cultivation Profitable?
There are several value-added products you can produce from the rose. These are rose oil, rose water, and Gulkhand. Furthermore, fresh roses have a good domestic and international market.
In addition, roses are essential items in preparing bouquets, floral arrangements, worship, social occasions, and the presentation of gifts. However, cut rose ranks first in terms of volume of trade in the international market. Only the production of high-quality flowers at a low cost can stand up to international competition.
Things to Consider in Commercial Rose Cultivation
- First of all, determine for what purpose you are growing rose. Because it determines the rest of the factors.
- Secondly, choose the right variety.
- Have a marketing plan.
- Craft a business plan including the financial inputs. In addition, calculate an expected ROI from your rose farm.
- Arrange a proper irrigation system.
- Check every input is ready with you for the application.
Best Improved Varieties For Rose Farming
- Floribunda: This variety comes with short flowers and shorter stems. However, it yields much higher than other types. Ex. Kiss, Florence, Frisco, Mercedes.
- Hybrid Tea: This variety comes with a large flower and long stems. In addition, this variety fetches more profits than others. Ex. Melody, Darling, Sonia, Vivaldi.
- Spray: This variety carries 5 to 6 flowers on a single stem. However, the steam yields are low. Ex. Nikita, Evelien, and Joy.
Some of the popular hybrid varieties are Gladiator, Baby Pink, Sofia Lawrence, YCD 1, YCD 2, and YCD 3.
Location & Agro Climatic Condition For Rose Farming
First of all, you must provide plenty of light, and a humid and moderate temperature ranging from 15°C to 28°C. If you are growing under the greenhouse, you must provide ventilation. Light is an important factor. It decides the growth of the roses.
Furthermore, you can find a slower growth by day length with 12 hours and heavy overcast, cloudy/misty conditions. High relative humidity exposes the plant to serious fungal diseases. In the tropics, the ideal temperature is 25°C – 30°C on a sunny day and on a cloudy day 18°C – 20°C.
Suitable Soil For Rose Farming
Rose grows well in the plains under the ideal conditions of fertile loamy soils with salt-free irrigation water. Well-drained soil rich in organic matter and oxygen is good for roses. Organic matter as high as 30% in the top 30 cm of the growing beds is perfect for rose farming. In addition, you must maintain the pH of the soil around 6 to 6.5.
Also Read: Is Soil Testing Important In Agriculture?
5 Basic Steps of Rose Farming
1. Land Preparation
First of all, you must prepare the beds or pits before one month of planting. The suitable depth of the bed is 60 to 90 cm. Fill the pot with a mixture of soil and farmyard manure. Flood the bed with water to settle down the loose soil. Add more mixture of soil and manure for leveling the bed.
2. Planting
The most popular propagation options are root cutting and budding on Briar rootstocks. Before planting remove all dried, dead, damaged, and diseased twigs, leaves, and damaged roots coming out of the earth ball, etc with sharp secateurs.
3. Irrigation
4. The newly planted rose needs frequent watering till they establish and afterward once or twice a week. You must do weeding and hoeing after every alternate watering. In addition, all roses require pruning in the second year of their planting and subsequent years. After 6 months or so, there is every chance that the soil becomes stony. Therefore, you must lose the soil for efficient irrigation.
5. Defoliation
The removal of leaves is known as defoliation. However, you must do it to induce certain plant species to flower or to reduce transpiration loss during periods of stress. In addition, you can remove the leaves manually or by withholding water.
Plant Protection System in Rose Farming
The principal pests of roses are Red spider mites, Leaf rollers, whiteflies, Thrips, Aphids, and nematodes. The principal diseases are Powdery mildew, Downy mildew, Botrytis, Pruning dieback, and Black leaf spot. However, the attacks depend on the variety and agroclimatic conditions. You will need to prepare with the intensive protection system.
Also Read: How To Start Flower Export Business
Harvesting & Storage in Rose Farming
You can harvest the flowers with sharp secateurs at the tight bud stage when the color is fully developed. In addition, you must keep at least 1 to 2 leaves with The plant after the cutting. Because it helps to encourage the production of new strong shoots. Furthermore, you must harvest preferably during the early morning hours.
Ideally, roses immediately after harvest should be graded, packed, precooled, and despatched by a refrigerated vehicle. In case of delay in grading and packaging flowers are shifted to the cold store.
Before shifting to the cold store, it is advisable to re-cut the stems, about 2 cm. above the previous level without removing lower leaves/thorns, and again place them in clean containers in clean warm (40-480C) water, adjusted with citric acid to pH 3.0-3.5. This treatment prevents vascular blockage and hence neck drop.
How Much Money Can You Make from Rose Farming Business?
The income from selling roses will largely depend on the quality of the product and the local demand. However, it is seen, successful rose farmers make around $30,000 per acre. The profit is near about 50% of the turnover.
Editorial Team at 99BusinessIdeas is a team of experts led by Rupak Chakrabarty with over 25 years of experience in starting and running small businesses. Started in 2010, 99BusinessIdeas is now one of the largest free small business resources in the industry.