#flowergrowing

Interested in growing flowers commercially? To help you get started, we’ve made a list of the things you need to take care of before growing your first plant. Take a look and see if you have the time, money, skill and resources critical for success in commercial flower growing. Read on and get yourself prepared to start your own flower farm and grow gorgeous blossoms for the Australian cut flower industry.

What You Need

More than a green thumb, you need to have a good health to enable you to do hard physical work. It is important that you have a full understanding of how labour-intensive commercial flower growing is. This is a really challenging business regardless if you just have 1/16 of an acre or six whole acres dedicated for flower production. Every bed you have must be productive and you basically have to plant, cultivate and harvest each bloom by hand.

Of course, it goes without saying that you need a background in horticulture. Knowledge in business management is not a major requirement but it will very helpful.

Where to Plant

The Department of Primary Industries of NSW reports that a minimum area of 2-4 hectares is a viable land size for floriculture. At least 5 hectares is recommended for growing protea and native blooms.

On your land, you still have to invest in building a greenhouse, shadehouses, packing sheds, and storage spaces.

When selecting a location, consider the climate in the area where you wish to start your flower farm. The type of flowers you will cultivate will largely depend on the weather condition in your site. During site selection also consider water availability, soil type, topography, market access, and access to skilled labour.

What To Grow

How many flower species are there again? So which one would you like to have in your farm? The answer will basically depend on these four factors: your skill and personal interests, the climate and soil in your site, the market demand, and the cost of production.

Most growers produce a variety of flowers including traditional ones like roses, carnations, chrysanthemums, lilies, gerberas, freesias, poppies, lisianthus and baby’s breath. You may also want to consider growing Australian natives and wildflowers like kangaroo paw, waratah, flannel flower, and different varieties of proteas.

Expert growers recommend starting with flowers and foliage in shapes and hues that you or your target partner florists need in creating bouquets and arrangements.

How Much Will It Cost

It will be expensive at first. You have to spend for the land cost, infrastructure expenses, set-up costs, and working capital to finally begin growing and harvesting flowers.

It is important therefore that you carefully plan everything through a feasibility study. Assess the market, your business skills, financial resources, the legal matters that come with flower growing and starting a business, your technical skills and of course your business’ competitive edge.

Growing flowers for commercial purposes must be treated as a business and not just a hobby. This is a competitive industry that’s capital and resource intensive. According to Australian Flower Industry, there are about 900 flower farms in Australia supplying thousands of florists and retailers. Many of the foliage and flower growers are in Victoria, NSW and Queensland.