The scientific name of the rose is “Rosa” and it belongs from the “Rosaceae” family. Rose flowers and Rose oil are very demanded in the local market as well as in the global market. It places the first position in the international market.
Read Pritish Kumar to get full a brief idea about rose flower harvesting
Generally, rose plants are six ft high from the land. The successful commercial rose farming process mostly depends on the varieties of rose flower. In latest technology, there are many rose planting methods are available but the rose cultivation in greenhouse method is very famous and convenient for rose plants.
Rose cultivation
Climate
Rose usually dislikes humid climate, but can tolerate high temperature. At a temperature below 10°C flowering is affected and blind shoots and bull heads are developed. Rose plant should receive 8 hours exposure to sun rays. Shady area is not at all suitable for rosary.
Soils
Sandy-loam, red-loam, silt-loam soils are best suited for rose cultivation. The soil pH of 6.0 to 7.5 is ideal for rose cultivation. Rose is very sensitive to saline soils as sodium carbonate which is present in the saline soil is harmful to the plants. Soils rich in organic matter with good water holding capacity are ideal for its cultivation.
Varieties
Hybrid Teas, Floribundas and Miniatures are the different types of roses which have commercial value. Mostly Hybrid Teas and Floribundas are grown in A.P. Among Hybrid Teas Gladiator, Raktima, Grandgala, Aditya, Taj Mahal, etc. and among Floribundas Red Front, Olympic Gold, Mother Teresa, etc., are suitable to cultivate. For loose flowers mostly ‘kakinada’ roses are suitable.
Land preparation
Plough the land 4-5 times thoroughly during the month of May followed by 15 days exposure to hot sun rays. Pits of size 45 cm x 45 cm x 30 cm are prepared for planting the rose plantlets. After exposing to sun rays for 15 days, the pits are refilled with soil-manure mixture in the following composition.
| Soil | 40% |
| Cow-dung | 40% |
| Leaf-mould | 10% |
| Oil-cake, Bone-meal | 10% |
| Urea | 25 g |
| SSP | 100 g |
| MOP | 50 g |
Spacing
0.75 m from pit to pit & 0.75 m from row to row in low density cultivation thereby accommodating about 7,000 plants per acre with plant density 1.73 plants/m2. In case of green house culture, high density planting will accommodate about 28,000 plants per acre having plant density 7 plants/m2. Standard roses are planted at a spacing of 90-100 cm. Plantlets are planted after a week of refilling the pits.
Planting
The roses are planted in circular pits about 60-90 cm across and 60-75 cm deep. The pits are to be prepared at least a month before the date of planting. The best time for planting roses is during September or October. The planting material is planted in the prepared pits during evening hours. Before planting, 5 grams of Furadan 3G granules are to be applied to the pit for controlling pests.
Propagation
Roses can be propagated by seeds, cuttings, layers and by budding. Seed propagation is followed in the production of new varieties. Budding is the best method for commercial propagation.
After care
Stock sprouts should be frequently removed. The off shoots or suckers originating from the base of the root-stock stem or below the grafted point which if allows to grow by mistake, will retard the growth of the grafted part ultimately leading to its death. The off-shoot of the root-stock part will be seven leaved and odd pinnate which is to be pinched off as soon as it comes up. Such unwanted suckers should be removed by nail pinching or by a sharp knife.A small quantity of ferrous sulphate may be applied @ 50-75 g/shrub by dissolving in water.
Irrigation
Plants may be irrigated twice in a week during October to March, whereas thrice a week during April to June. No irrigation is required during the rainy season. Irrigations should not result in water logging.
Mulching
Mulching is an agro technique for conservation of soil moisture around the root zone of the plants and to facilitate gradual supply of nutrients to the plants. It is particularly very much important in arid and semi-arid zones where water becomes scarce during summer.
The technique is very simple – agro wastes like straw, dried leaves, grass clippings, rice husk or other wastes like saw dust, used tea or leaf-mould are spread around the root zone of the plant with a radius of 1 to 2 feet and 4 inches thickness. Now-a-days, black/white (silver) polyethylene sheet is used as mulch which is proved to be more efficacious and easy to manage.
Pruning
It is a peculiarity with the rose that the old stem gradually stops giving healthy shoots to bear good flowers. If old and week stems are pruned after giving certain rest period or in places where winter is severe, healthy shoots come up which bear good flowers. Therefore, wintering followed by pruning are the two important operations should be taken up under the temperate climatic conditions as general care and maintenance. Without periodic pruning of old and week stems, at least once a year during October rose plant cannot yield qualitatively as well as quantitatively.
Pruning is done to produce best possible flowers and to maintain good shape and to keep plant healthy by removing dead/diseased plant parts. Three to four months after planting the rose plant is first pruned. Four branches placed in four directions are chosen and these are pruned back to an outer bud leaving two to four buds on the stump. All other branches are thinned out. If the plant has only one or two weak shoots they are to be cut back to two or three buds.
The first fortnight of October is usually considered to be the best time for pruning. Some Hybrid Teas requires severe pruning. In Tea roses strong shoots are pruned to 2/3 of their length. Climbing roses needs no pruning. Pruning is to produce the required number of new shoots because rose bears flowers terminally on current season wood. Too many shoots on plants will reduce the size and quantity of flowering. Limiting the number of flowers promotes flower size.Depending on the variety and severity of pruning roses take about 35 to 60 days from pruning to flowering.
Manures and Fertilizers
The best time to add organic manure is at the time of pruning. FYM, leaf mould and oil cakes are good sources of nitrogen. It is better to apply fertilizers in a mixture such as ‘roxe mix’. Rose Mix can be prepared as:
Neem cake – 5 kg
Bonemeal – 5 kg
Ammophos – 2 kg
Sulphate of Ammonia – 1 kg
Superphosphate – 2 kg
Sulphate of Potash – 1kg
100 g of this mixture can be used per plant. The chelated compounds of iron, magnesium and manganese are available in the market which is helpful in bringing out the full colour of flowers. In general, each rose plant requires about 20-30 g urea, 30-50 g single superphosphate, 20-30 g sulphate of potash and oil cakes ½ kg to 1 kg in 2-3 split doses is recommended per year.
Harvesting
After initial planting in July- August rose starts blooming from October and plant will yield on economic scale for 3 years under open conditions and about 5-6 years under poly house conditions.
Plucking Stage
For commercial cut flower purpose, roses are plucked at the tight bud stage just prior to blooming stage having minimum a stalk length of 9″ to 12″ long as per the preference of the market.
Time of Plucking
Buds must be cut out from the plant by a sharp knife during the evening hours to keep them fresh for a longer duration.
Packaging
Buds with long stalk are made to bundles of 100 as need may be and put in the bamboo baskets which are kept floating on water so that the cut end touch the water. Flowers are transported to market while covering the baskets with wet linen.
