Cut Flower Bulbs BHT317

Become an expert at growing bulbs! A course for the enthusiast or commercial bulb grower, with ten lessons. Learn to grow bulbs as a flower crop indoors (in a greenhouse) or in an open field.

This course is designed to develop your ability to select and cultivate appropriate varieties of bulbs as cut flowers, in different situations. It gives you an understanding of the plant families bulbs belong to, their cultural needs, how to prevent and treat pest and disease problems plus the basis of horticultural knowledge: soil types and plant nutritional needs

Lesson Structure There are 10 lessons in this course:

1. Introduction to Cut Flower Bulb Production
2. Cultural Practices that effect the production of flowering bulbs, such as soils, nutrition, etc.
3. Flower Initiation & Development. Consideration for the affects different cultural practices can have on flower production.
4. Pest & Disease Control. various pest and disease problems are over-viewed.
5. Managing Yield, Greenhouse Culture. We look at the specific aspects of growing greenhouse crops.
6. Management, Harvest & Post Harvest
7. Gladiolus and Liliums
8. Narcissus
9. Iris
10. Other Bulbs

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

• Describe cultural practices for production of different cut flower bulbs, including the basis of all good Horticulture with understanding of soils, plant nutrition, and weed control.
• Understand the initiation and development of flowers in plants with bulbs, rhizomes, tubers, corms or other specialized parts. A look at the factors affecting the flowering stages.
• Learn how to manage any pests and diseases for a crop of cut flower bulbs or in the home garden.
• Manage the quantity and quality of a crop of cut flower bulbs, both grown in the open and in a greenhouse. In this lesson we also have a good look at the various systems of growing cut flower bulbs in greenhouses and look at ways to manage the environmental conditions in them.
• Learn about the management and the harvest/post harvest of cut flower bulbs.
• Explain the production of Lilium and Gladioli cut flower crops.
• Explain the production of Narcissus cut flower crops.
• Explain the production of Iris and Gladioli cut flower crops.
• We look at the a comparison of a variety of different cut flower bulb crops.

What you will do

Floriculture an Overview

Floriculture enriches the lives of millions of people every year and is an industry attractive to both scientist and artist. The term floriculture is derived from Latin, and means to cultivate flowers.
Flowers are in demand all year round with peak requirements at special times of the year, such as for Valentine¢‚¨‚s Day, Mother¢‚¨‚s Day, Easter, Christmas, and so on. Particular festivals often influence the type of flowers required eg. red roses for Valentine¢‚¨‚s Day.

Floriculture businesses produce fresh and dried flowers and foliage for a mixture of markets such as wholesale flower markets, florists and retail outlets, and in some cases for export. The wide range of different flowers and foliage grown can include roses, carnations, orchids, native flowers, bulb and annual flowers, and tropical flowers. Some flower farms also grow flowers in open fields for their essential oils.

Floriculture includes propagating, growing and marketing of all cut flowers, flower seeds and seedlings, bulb growing, nursery operation, chemical protection of plants, post-harvest storage and handling and use of preservatives.

A proportion of flower production takes place in greenhouses. In addition to the greenhouse production, floriculture encompasses outdoor production of herbaceous plants and flowers, and field production of cut flowers.

Cut flower production is an expanding industry worldwide. It has a great deal of export potential, and although most flower producing countries meet the domestic requirements of their cut flower markets, the home market potential in many countries could be further developed. Spending on cut flowers is stronger in some countries than others, the average Australian for example spends far less on cut flowers than say, the average German or Frenchman).

Germany imports most of their cut flower requirements (up to 70%) with The Netherlands being the largest exporter to Germany. Japan and the United States have the largest cut flower market almost doubling that of Germany. During the later part of the 20th century, cut flower production developed rapidly.

Colombia, Israel and to a lesser degree, Australia, developed export cut flower industries rapidly during this period with China and India having the largest areas under cultivation (but low yields per hectare).

The Netherlands has been, and continues to be a major export market that also has a large domestic demand, the local demand almost equaling exports. Countries such as India and China although having large production areas are still in the developing stage mainly due to the low quality of exports and the financial constraints limiting imports. Colombia and Kenya export most of the cut flowers produced with only a small local market.

Being in the southern hemisphere means that some countries (eg. Australia, South Africa, New Zealand) are able to produce out of season flowers for the northern hemisphere where most of the world\'s population resides.

Opportunities from this course to gain or create employment include:

• Farming of cut flower bulb production
• Greenhouse management of cut flower bulb production
• Managing the production of cut flower bulbs for the commercial market
• Maintenance of flowering bulbs in garden displays