Plants may do well at other While crop rotation is used to prevent the build-up of soil pathogens, the soil is also occasionally fumigated. Twenty years ago, Engelke Blomme began producing flowers in tunnels for wind protection. However, this method does not apply to all seed and bulbs, as many cultivars are protected by breeders’ rights and cannot be grown from one’s own seed. or about $15.000 an acre. Günther says that the greatest advantage of having their own market is the independence and freedom it brings. Soil. © 2020 Farmer's Weekly Magazine | Caxton Magazines Digital |, Why a Cape winemaker bought a vineyard in Slovenia, Helping livestock farmers control data on the farm, Equipping women farmers for long-term success, Inside a family-run abattoir that slaughters 800 cattle a day, Building a mega business through egg production, Using manure as fertiliser: Mistakes to avoid, Good wheat year ahead, but climate uncertainty prevails, Land beneficiaries’ 20-year struggle for government help, Table grapes yet to experience full impact of COVID-19, Avocados remain buoyant amid ‘insatiable demand’, Breeding seasons in summer rainfall areas. From the farms the roses are transported, by refrigerated trucks, to the hub in Johannesburg from where they are distributed to the Cape depot and various other clients. Don’t waste your energy fighting and complaining about this, as that is the nature of this type of market. “This one any day,” he says. On this website you will find not ‘only’ flowers of incredible beauty, but also handy hints on how to grow and nurture them, how to protect them without poisoning plant life and the myriad of creepy crawlies that are part of their symbiotic circle. Small growers can grow these profitable plants for seed harvest, cut flowers and bouquets and for value–added products such as wildflower seed gift cards or wildflower seed paper. That's what we're taking a look at. Investing time in preparation before starting will save much heartache and financial loss in rowing flowers. Binding the South African flower industry together is the South African Flower Export Council (SAFEC). The flower farm was founded in 1978 by a Dutch horticulturist named Arend Doorduin, who worked closely with the current fourth-generation owner Anthony Rawbone-Viljoen. According to Jac Duif, director of the South African Flower Export Council (SAFEC), the flower industry started in 1944 in Johannesburg, with four South African and Dutch-origin flower growers as its first members. He warns farmers to buy good-quality, albeit more expensive, tunnel infrastructure, as buying cheaply could result in greater expenditure, a lesson the Engelkes learnt when their new, cheaper structure broke shortly after installation. To get an idea of the many possibilities visit Bloomin.com. Aloe arborescens is a winter blooming flowering perennial plant, which belongs to the family Xanthorrhoeaceae and order Asparagales. More than 500 million cut flowers are sold annually on the home market. Ask him which job he prefers and he doesn’t hesitate. In 1948 a flower market was established, Multiflora, the Johannesburg flower auction, which is still the biggest flower market in Africa. Their story stretches back to the 1800s to Moses’ great-grandmother Susan Williams, a member of the Christian community who grew flowers and strawberries in the area for generations, a vanished tradition remembered in the name Strawberry Lane. In those days Susan and her eldest sons would rise before dawn to walk to Adderley Street, Cape Town to sell strawberries and violets. The garden, filled with dozens of species of flowering plants and shrubs, from strelitzias to pelargoniums, roses to viburnum, is gradually being expanded. A cut above – The flower trade in the Western Cape is blooming for growers great and small…. As with any industry, offering a unique product can net you huge profits. “And as soon as we harvest them we have to replant in order to get four cycles a year.” Each section of plants has a chart, a bit like a hospital patient does, detailing progress. Engelke Blomme has its own market on the Old Strandfontein Road on the Cape Flats. Malcolm now manages the farm while Charles looks after sales, takes flowers to market in Cape Town and buys some varieties from suppliers for the stall. “We used to cut grass for hens, feed the pigs, and we had to carry water in two pails on a stick,” recalls Moses. “While producers are often flooded with all kinds of regulations to be allowed to supply a retailer, having your own market means that you can focus more energy on things that are important to you, like the production of good-quality flowers.”. The flowers are arranged in a … Plant growing guides for vegetables, fruit, herbs and flowers for growing at home. Flowershed produces high-quality, indigenous flowers, and the business has grown from a small, tentative sideline to the largest producer of blushing brides in South Africa, and a major producer and exporter of many other indigenous flower species. Getting Started as a Flower Farmer. Market choice is crucial for a farming operation’s success, as produce can be sold in various ways, from informal traders and the fresh market to retail stores. Luckily, 28 years ago now, Moses was offered land on lease in this valley when childhood mate André Badenhorst gave up his strawberry growing business in the area, and Moses was able to establish his flowers there. Please click on your region for the vegetable planting guide for that area. Trust us, we've been in business for more than 33 years We also use black material curtains to manipulate tunnel light.”. In the heart of their four-acre smallholding near Jubilee Creek is a cutting garden where they harvest flowers both for arrangements and for the flower workshops they hold at their home, an original woodcutter’s cottage dating back to 1827. Especially in the more arid western areas, it is essential that as much water as possible be stored in the soil profile before planting, to limit the chance of failure. | Privacy policy Here’s how Flowershed conquered the indigenous flower … Peak times in the flower trade are the festive season and Valentine’s and Mother’s days, “ I just don’t have Christmas and I can never take holidays until after Mother’s Day in May,” says Carel with a laugh. The flower farm in a valley beneath the Groenlandberg mountains is surrounded by Oak Valley’s apple and pear orchards, vineyards for cool-climate wines and pastures where grass-fed cattle and acorn-fed pigs are raised. All the listed flowers and arrangements are available for next day flower delivery to South Africa. It’s possible to produce a good income in a small growing area growing flowers for profit. Remove lower leaves so that only bare stems are in water. Growing large volumes of flowers to order requires expertise: harnessing technology combined with knowledge, not only of the requirements of each flower type but the lifecycle of pests like western flower thrips, where the female is capable of laying 150 eggs every day for 15 days. “You’d have to sell lots of flowers to justify such a capital investment. Growing plants for profit is no different. South Africa’s flowers, on the other hand, took up a comparatively paltry 545 hectares in 2011. While Engelke Blomme is experimenting with other products to find a suitable replacement, nothing has so far proven as effective. The king protea has several colour forms and horticulturists have recognized 81 garden varieties, some of … Flower deliveries to South Africa by Flora Niche Florist, one of South Africa's leading florists. Flowers are literally a way of life for Hannes Stander and his partner DP (Daniel) Ferreira. The flower garden that supplies their business surrounds Woodcutters Forest Cottages – their home and their guest cottages on the edge of the forest above Knysna, on the Garden Route. Eastern CapeFreestateGautengKwazulu NatalLimpopoMpumalangaNorth WestNorthern CapeWestern Cape Please keep in mind that this is a guideline. The Flower Farmer: An Organic Grower's Guide to Raising and Selling Cut Flowers. Unlike other green crops, onions are unpretentious and grow rapidly especially if Engelke Blomme, a flower producer established in the 1930s in Philippi in the Western Cape, has overcome these challenges and expanded from a small, part-time business to a major regional operation. In Holland, many cut flowers are now farmed using robots, (forget those jolly images of ladies in national costume gathering tulips). But under the Group Areas Act, the families in the valley were forcibly removed from their leased land in the late 1960s, and relocated to Parkwood Estate near Grassy Park. He adds that supplying a retailer does have some advantages, as farmers do not have to actively market their produce. Making it in the flower industry is not easy. You cannot be away from the farm for long periods. Welcome to Gardening in South Africa! To ensure the highest standards, SANA’s garden centre members form part of the Garden Centre Association which strives to continuously improve the quality of products, knowledge and customer service within garden centres. You have to make the structure work for you, not the other way around. Flower Farming Business In South Africa. Growing medicinal herbs commercially can be a profitable agricultural business idea. After 80 years, the family business Engelke Blomme continues to produce outstanding flowers, despite a highly competitive market. “We’ve suffered huge losses due to wind damage over the years. In South Africa, a shortage of water is the main factor limiting crop production. Plants should also be regularly scouted for pests and diseases, and Engelke Blomme employs workers trained to identify pests. Glenneis Kriel spoke Günther Engelke about their success. You therefore need a good estimate of all your input costs and income before embarking on such a venture,” he says. Those chrysanthemums, for example, are grown in a computer-controlled environment that manipulates the amount of light and heat to replicate autumn conditions, so that the plants are persuaded to flower year round. The flowers come in shades of purple, scarlet, pink, mauve, salmon, and clear white. The other use is for the production of essential oils. If you’ve ever wondered where your bouquet of chrysanthemums – long-lasting queens of the vase – comes from, the chances are, if you live in the Cape, it’s Oak Valley estate in Elgin, the biggest flower grower in the province. Occasionally a thriving business can be purchased. We have 486 guests and no members online. “It was very hard after school.”. If you think that commercial flower growing could be worth considering, this page will help you work through the issues critical for success and point to sources of information to help achieve that success. And The Man Above still ultimately takes a hand in decisions like which nights will be cold and which days warm, and what affects things like the colour of blooms. “It’s such a harmonious thing to do and so many people have lost that connection with nature,” says DP. “The wind blew the roof off one of our structures a year ago, resulting in our lisianthus plants contracting false mildew. Any sunny site with good drainage. Uses Rosemary in both its fresh form and dried is used in many food dishes as a flavouring. The flowers that form on the tips of the branches are a delicate blue. Conditions can vary in provinces which also needs to be taken into account. Flowers are either grown in shade houses or in climate-controlled greenhouses on five hectares, using methods developed by the Dutch – long-established masters of the flower trade. According to Günther, it is, however, important to produce a continuous supply throughout the year. Cocks, hens and ducks root about under the fig and plums trees Moses grew from cuttings. As with most agricultural commodities, prices are volatile and competition is stiff. The plant grows at a height of around 2 to 3 meters. To revive flowers, shorten stems and always cut on the diagonal with a sharp knife or secateurs. “If you want to supply a retailer directly, you have to make peace with the fact that you will be a price taker, and that there will be all kinds of quality control measures to which your produce and production processes will have to conform. Cut flowers are one of the most profitable crops you can grow, with growers across the United States reporting sales of $25,000 to $30,000 per acre. Making it in the flower industry is not easy. Choosing a market Flower production is also extremely labour-intensive, and the Engelkes employ between 40 and 50 labourers per day. About 80 per cent of them are homegrown, and the remainder is imported from countries like Kenya. Tunnel production It is a federation of member organisations and consists of Cape Flora SA (fynbos industry – based in Paarl), South African Flower Growers’ Association (SAFGA) (traditional flower industry – roses etc. This article cannot give the answers but can help you find them. To reduce input costs and protect the business from the vulnerability of the seed and bulb market, the Engelkes harvest and save seed and bulbs to be reused for another production cycle. The self-catering guest cottages, with cosy fires for winter, are in the vernacular style, and anyone who joins the workshops can stay there, where a welcome bouquet of freshly picked flowers is guaranteed. “We’re close to the sea, so we need galvanised steel to prevent rust. According to him, one of the first tasks before launching a flower production business – or any farming business – is to develop a sound business strategy. A labour-intensive industry South Africa is currently the largest macadamia producer in the world with 19,500 hectares under cultivation, producing over 50,000 tonnes per year. Günther, Otto (his father) and Volkmar (his brother) keep an eye out too. SAFEC is a section 21 company, non-profit export council, supported by the four main producer organisations in South Africa. Günther says that enclosing the tunnel with plastic all round would require a climate control system to manage temperatures and humidity inside the tunnels. But at Oak Valley there are specialised teams for planting, cultivation, picking and packaging, while good old-fashioned methods like composting and a fertiliser made from vermicasts are used. For over twenty years Flowers for Africa has taken great pride in sourcing and supplying the best quality fresh flowers from flower growing countries around the world for our clients – daily. The disease spread like wildfire, and caused a loss of R200 000 in just three days,” he recalls. But each of those hectares sustained 13 jobs. © 2020 Country Life All rights reserved | Terms & Conditions | Contact Us “We don’t have any fancy temperature control systems. And the indigenous forest and vlei that border the garden provide decorative material and a playground for Hannes and DP’s five dogs, two Dutch decoy spaniels, a peke and two lurchers. March 22, 2019 by admin. Frost tolerant. The flowers have the highest quality oils and yield a … “For instance, if we want chrysanthemums to flower on 19 December for the Christmas period, we have to plant them in spring,” explains production manager Carel Malherbe. Some plants will bring in piles of money – as much as $90,000 per acre – while others will do just the opposite. Engelke Blomme, a flower producer established in the 1930s in Philippi in the Western Cape, has overcome these challenges and expanded from a small, part-time business to a major regional operation. Throughout the year, the 12ha garden is magnificent, with rows of sweet peas, strelitzia, sweet William, watsonia, agapanthus, feverfew and poppies on either side of the Spaanschemat River, where tiny fish dart about in the clear water. It also is the flagship of the Protea Atlas Project, run by the South African National Botanical Institute. Multiflora, based in Johannesburg and the biggest flower auction house in the country, wholesales flowers from 600 growers to 400 florists. | We Use Cookies, The mysteries of Cussonia the mighty cabbage tree, 6 of the best flower-spotting guesthouses. Today a simple road sign that announces ‘fresh cut flowers’ entices customers from across the southern Peninsula, from Newlands to Simon’s Town, to buy bunches from Moses and his sons Malcolm and Charles at the Brounger Road Flower Stall. After a flirtation with tomato growing on the estate, Arend started with chrysanthemums for the cut-flower trade and launched what was to become the largest flower-production unit in the Western Cape. Growing guidance for all the seeds we sell can be downloaded in PDF format from the following categories. based in Jhb) and the Intensive Growers Association (IGA) . “This would triple the cost of the structure, and result in a monthly running cost,” he says. Cosmos Growing Guide Crop Rotation Group. 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