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| Growing Cyclamen as a cut-flower | |
| Some twenty years ago, Cyclamen were grown in Germany as cut-flower but they never arrived at the mass market due to high production and post-harvest costs. Only today are we seing a new lease of life of cut-flower Cyclamen because of lower production prices, longer vase life and improved marketing concepts. A vase-life of between 1 and 2 weeks is considered normal. Dutch grower, Van der Does has developed cut-flower Cyclamen with a vase-life in excess of 2 weeks, partly due to the packaging and impulse sales concept for final consumers which recently won the Company a FlorHolland 2009 Award. FloraHolland, E-mail: adriennelansbergen@floraholland.nl With the availability of a wide variety of flower colour, especially reds, some bicolour and fantasy colours, flower form (some with wavy/ruffled petal margins) and some scented varieties, there is a lot to offer the florist and the final consumer. According to “Floraculture International”, Cyclamen flowers are sold at a relatively high price of €0.20cents a stem. The average crop time from young plans is about 30 weeks, the main harvesting period being October to January (a little later in Southern Europe). Insect proofing of greenhouses is necessary to avoid insect pollination of the flowers. www.Floracultureinternational.com In the scientific paper “Cyclamen. Economics of cut-flower production”, P Gasseling and K. Roth point to the cultivars ‘Victoria’, ‘Leuchtfeur’ and ‘Barbarossa’ as suitable cultivars for cut-flower production and that, given adequate pest and disease control methods, a yield of 200- 600 flowers/m2 can be expected from plants planted in March/April. This represents a potentially good profit. “Gb Das Magazin für Zierpflanzenbau”. www.cababstractsplus.org/abstracts/Abstract,aspx?AcNo=19830313645 Flower Council of Holland E-mail: info@flowercouncil.org www.flowercouncil.org |
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