Is Rose Farming a Profitable Business?

INDIA A HUB FOR PROFITABLE ROSE FARMING

Roses are the most grown flowers in the world, but have you ever stopped to wonder if they are actually being cultivated for profit purposes or just for its sentimental value? I will tell you…...roses happen to be one of the most economically important ornamental crops in the world. And I am going to take you on a journey to discover how this usually overlooked flower that plays an important role both to our emotional and economic needs, is being nurtured from infant to maturity and harvesting. but for the sake of this article and owing to a narrowed scope of evaluation from a few research, I am going to use India as a reference point for this article. 

Brief History/Introduction

A rose is a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae, or the flower it bears. There are more than three hundred species and their cultivars run in thousands. They form a class of plants that can be erect shrubs, climbing, or trailing with stems that are most often times equipped with sharp thorns. Flowers vary in size and shape and are usually large and conspicuous, in colours ranging from white through yellows and reds. Most species are native to Asia, with smaller numbers native to Europe, North America, and northwestern Africa. (Wikipedia).

You should not miss the Hydroponic Gardening.

Requirements for rose farming

1. Sandy loamy soil (with proper PH level of about 6 or 7.5, 30% organic matter and very high oxygen level)
2. Greenhouse
3. Nursery
4. Irrigation system
5. Fertilizers (chemical or organic)
6. Cutting tools (like clippers, scissors etc)
7. Labour
8. Climate (temperature and sunlight)
9. High quality seeds preferably HYV (high yielding variety seeds)

Planting process

First and foremost, rose seeds (preferably HYV---for higher quality, yield and profitability) should be planted in a nursery or a pit for about four to six weeks after which they are being transplanted to the greenhouse. Aluminum greenhouses are obviously the best choice, and will hold up well for a long time. They are usually nurtured from around November to January, so that before the Monsoon season the rose plants will have already been transplanted to the greenhouse. Here is an interesting fact, do know that half of Arizona receives about half of its annual rainfall during the monsoon season. Incase you are wondering what the monsoon season is-----it is a rainy season between the month of June and September……, but for Indians, it is a time of unstable and sporadic epochal droughts, floods, cyclones…. just to name a few.There are basically three main techniques of planting roses in the Nursery, they are:

(a) seeding

(b) budding/grafting

(c) cutting

Seeding

as the name implies is a technique why by seeds are directly planted into the soil for germination. The recommended spacing for planting in the nursery is to plant 60 to 90 cm deep and 60 to 90 cm across beds or pits, then the beds or pits are filled with soil and compost.

Budding/Grafting

This system involves getting a stem of an already harvested rose flower usually about 4 to 6 inches, and cutting the bottom of the stem into an arrow-head like shape, then you get an already growing plant with about the same width and thickness, and slice the plant in half, leaving half the stem rooted in the soil. At this point you want to go ahead and make a v-shape at top of the already cut stem (with roots still in the soil), after that, you then take the already arrowhead rose stem and put it into the v-shaped cut stem and tie it together using a cutting wool thread.

Cutting:

Like to Growing Roses from Cuttings? This technique is very similar to grafting, it entails getting a stem of an already harvested rose plant of about 4 to 6 inches in length and then cut the bottom of the stem just like the grafting technique, but unlike the grafting technique you want to a cut at a 45° or 60° angle just below a bud and make sure to wound or peel a bit of the stem that will be going into the soil, and here is why you want to do that. You need to apply a bio-plant rooting hormone (paste or powder) in the cut area and then put into a wet soil. But here is a kicker, for optimal and faster growth, locals in India have a secret ingredient at their arsenal…...guess what it is? Natural/organic honey. It has been discovered that after covering the cut area of the rose stem with a bio-plant rooting hormone you want to go ahead and deep it into an organic honey before planting, to boost or speed up the germination process…...Don’t ask me the science behind that, cause I don’t know either.

You may also consider Growing Hydroponic Microgreens.

Now before any of all we described above can be done, the soil in the greenhouse needs to be cleared and devoid of any weed, after that, you want to tilth the soil and apply fertilizers. Now you want to make sure that you apply the fertilizers a month before transplanting the roses from the nursery. The type of fertilizers you choose to use, is heavily dependent on your target market. What I mean by that ,is that, if your target market is for pharmaceuticals or cosmetic industries as the case may be, you will want to use the organic manure for high quality rose water and rose oil during extraction. On the other hand if your target market is for floral or ornamental use then you can afford to use the chemical fertilizers. The most commonly used organic fertilizer for good compost are a mixture of cow urine, tobacco and Angel’s trumpets locally known as Datura in India. Here is another kicker, you need to be very careful when handling the plant Angel’s trumpet, there is nothing heavenly or musical about this plant as the name would suggest but rather the opposite. It is a beautiful, bell shaped flower ready to send you straight to the hospital. Eating this flower can give you scary hallucination or even induce a dangerous morbid-like state. I don’t have to tell you, but I will tell you anyway, don’t eat this flower. Make sure to wash and sanitize your hands properly after use.

If you choose to ply the chemical route, then you can apply your chemical fertilizers using these approximate measurements, 8 grams of Nitrogen, 8 grams of phosphorus and 16 grams of potassium to one plant. Another important factor to note before transplanting the roses, is to be wary of pest and diseases. After your manure or fertilizer has properly bonded with your soil which is roughly within a month give or take, you will need to apply insecticides in your greenhouse before you can confidently move your rose plants from nursery to the greenhouse. You also want to make sure the soil is wet before or immediately after transplant, and the best time for transplanting is after sunset in the evening, which brings us to the next process, I am going to talk about.

You should not miss the Growing Hydroponic Marigold.

Irrigation Requirement

As you are well aware, there are several types of irrigation systems, like drip irrigation, sprinkler irrigation, micro jets and basin irrigation, but unlike many other flowers, roses needs less water. So the best irrigation systems for rose farming are drip irrigation and sprinkler irrigation systems. I purposely left the plant spacing for this part because your plant spacing in the green house is directly proportional to amount of sprinklers and mounts your irrigation systems are going to have. The norm for planting in the greenhouse is a 5ft line to line distance and a plant to plant distance of 5ft. You need this distances between rose plants for some obvious reasons:

a) rose plants have thorns, you need space in between them for easy manoeuvre around the plants.

b) It makes it difficult for an already infect plant to transfer it to others at such a distance c) It makes for proper ventilation

d) It allows water from the sprinklers to be able to reach every part of the plant

e) It makes it easy for you to spot any plant that is not doing well or that is infected

F) It makes it easy for farmers to prune and subsequently apply compost or fertilizers

Going by the spacing above you should approximately have a total of 4000 rose plants on 1 acre of land.

Watering

Like I told you earlier rose plants require less water compared to other flowering plants, but at the initial stage, you can water it daily or once in two days for a month and then after a month you can reduce the watering to once a week. The best time to water a rose flower is in the early hours of the morning before sun rise and late in the evening before sunset.

You may also like Growing Pumpkins from Seed.

Climate

After the roses are transplanted to the greenhouse, you want to make sure that the temperature within the greenhouse is being regulated, it should be within the range of 15°C to 28°C for maximum productivity, now don’t get me wrong….roses can survive higher or harsher temperatures, but what that invariably means, is that, it will take longer time for flowering and harvesting, and you don’t want that, do you??

Weeding and pruning

Pruning is usually done once a year after which you want to apply compost or fertilizers because after pruning the rose plants …...as my farmer friend would say……”they become hungry”. while weeding on the other hand, needs to be done once a month, after all you don’t want any unwanted plant sharing resources with your rose plant.

Some farmers that wants better result or more fluffy produce do apply compost/fertilizers at three months intervals. I am going to give you 7 tips for pruning a rose plant.

1)   Prune roses when the forsythia blooms...please….this is not a concrete rule of thumb

2)   Begin with dead, diseased, damaged and crossing stems

3)   Prune to an outward facing bud

4)   Prune to between 18 and 24 inches high

5)   Use clean, sharp tools and make sure to disinfect between roses so as not to transmit diseases between one rose to another.

6)   Cut at an angle facing away from the bud. Seal your cut with glue.

7)   Prune to a pleasing, balanced shape and a more open center.

Popular rose insect pest

• Aphids
• Rose scale
• Leaf cutting bee
• Japanese beetles
• Rose sawflies
• Nematodes
• Curculio beetles
• Thrips
• Caterpillars
• Rose chafer
• Mites

These are common insecticides for combating rose plants insects

acephate, bifenthrin, cyfluthrin, lambda cyhalothrin, permethrin, or spinosad.

Popular diseases of rose plants

• Black spot
• Rust Anthracnose
• Canker
• Rose wilt
• Verticillium wilt
• Sooty moulds
• Grey mould
• Parasitic Nematodes
• Downy mildew
• Crown gall rot
• Rose mosaic
• Powdery mildew

These are common pesticides for rose diseases control Copper Fungicides, Chlorothalonil, Bifenthrin,Horticultural oil3, Mancozeb, Myclobutanil, Neem oil, Propiconazole, Sulfur 3, Thiophanate-methyl.

You may consider to read : Growing Butternut Squash.

Rose varieties

There various species of roses with different colours ranging from red, pink, yellow, to white orange and maroon. Interestingly there is a huge international and local market of all range of roses starting with the

Old roses,

like Francis dubreil, baronne prevost, lady banks, Rose de rescht, green rose, and Yolande

Modern/hybrid,

like Grandiflora, hybrid tea rose, Fragrant plum, gold metal, Amber queen, iceberg, Floribunda.

Wild roses,

like Multiflora rose, Rugosa rose

Miniature roses,

like Kristin, Rise n’ shine, magic carousel, Child's play, and baby boomer

Climbing roses,

like mne, Alfred carriere climbing rose, zephirine drouhin climbing rose, sombreuil climbing rose.

Shrub roses,

like ballerina, mister lincoln, peace

Health benefits of rose flower for humans

Rose plants are used to make weight loss supplement

It‘s used as a natural aphrodisiac

Different rose flower petals are used as astringent in skin lotions

Rose water are used for the natural treatment of acne

Rose water are used for making skin rejuvenating creams

They are used to treat minor skin infections

Rose water and rose tea has been shown to be good for women

It helps in boosting the body’s immune system

Cures sore throat

Improves digestive process

Rose water is a home remedy for treating constipation and diarrhea

It's used to maintain urinary tract health 

Major challenges facing rose farming

1. Climate
2. Field/greenhouse management
3. Irrigation
4. Seed quality
5. Fertilizers
6. Soil types
7. Proper pest/ disease control
8. Lack of Technical know how 

How and When to Harvest Roses:

Rose flowers are usually ripe for harvest, when the petals of the rose flower becomes very bright and rich in colour. It takes roughly about two years for the rose plants to become fully matured enough for harvesting. Depending on the type of rose flower you choose, they can usually grow up to 6ft tall. The first year is used for preparing the rose plant for flowering while the second year is for having a good yield. It usually takes 45 to 50 days after pruning for rose plants to start flowering. Roses are mostly harvested by hand and put into a water bucket immediately before being transferred to a cold storage facility with a temperature of about 2 to 5°C. The best time to harvest is early in the morning before sunrise.

Don't miss the Advantges of Hydroponics.

In conclusion

I am sure by now you are waiting to know exactly how much money you can possibly make from rose farming, and I think the best way to show you that, is to draw your attention to an abstract on a research conducted in India.

“Rose cultivation is now a profitable enterprise to the farmers, but the socioeconomic data and information of this flower are very scarce in Bangladesh. So, the present study was conducted to identify agronomic practices, analyze relative profitability, and input-output relationship during December 2010. A total of 100 rose growing farmers were randomly selected for this study. The results indicated that 100% farmers cultivated Lincoln variety of rose. The costs of rose cultivation were Tk. 3,87,569 and Tk. 2,75,214 per hectare on full cost and variable cost basis, respectively. The major share of full cost was incurred for human labour (30%), followed by land use (23%), fertilizer (17%), and irrigation (12%). The yield of rose was 5,40,107 flowers per hectare. The net return from rose cultivation was Tk. 23,31,196 per hectare. The benefit cost ratios were 2.29 and 1.63 on variable cost and full cost basis, respectively. The highest profit was obtained from rose cultivation compared to its competitive crops like potato+jute, lentil+til and mustard+mungbean for rose. Human labor, land preparation cost, seedling, urea, TSP, MoP and irrigation had positive effect on the yield of rose. Lack of technical knowledge, non-availability of HYV seedling, and infestation of insects and diseases were major problems found in rose cultivation”. (www.researchgate.net)