Rose Growers Gearing Up For Valentines Day

For many growers producing higher volume, but maintaining quality and uniform bunches is a challenge for many growers and especially leading up to Valentine's Day. For the Ecuadorian rose grower Naranjo Group it was too and last year, they decided to set up and install the first Latin American rose grower - the RoseMatic 2.0 of Bercomex. And it runs at full speed at the moment. "For Valentine's Day, 160,000 roses will be sorted and bunched", says Carlos Jauregui of Columbec, Ecuadorian partner of Bercomex.



Just like many other Ecuadorian growers, Valentine's Day is one of their most important days, together with Mother's Day and All Saints. During these days larger quantities of roses are required but the quality of the Ecuadorian rose should not suffer. For this reason, Naranjo Group decided to install the new rose grading machine, the RoseMatic 2.0 of Bercomex. 



"Last year, Columbec, Bercomex and Narjanco group started to work together intensively to improve the process from farm to harvest and post harvest. We installed the RoseMatic 2.0 which is capable of processing all varieties that are produced by Naranjo Group, which are more than 80. These are grown on three farms that are located from 2,700 meters to over 3,000 meters above sea-level", says Jauregui.



The RoseMatic 2.0 sorts roses according to the length of the stem, diameter of the stem, bud height and opening of the bud and can produce 8,000 stems an hour, with a maximum of 9,000 an hour. According to Jauregui, a major advantage of the machine is the combination of high productivity and creating uniform bunches. "Manually, it is possible to achieve uniform bunches with high quality roses, but with this machine this farm may certify it and can increase the production up to 35 percent", says Jauregui. "On top of that, it saves the grading criteria per type of rose, so growers can always switch quickly." 

http://www.floraldaily.com/article/13750/Ecuador-Naranjo-Group-gears-up-for-Valentines-Day-with-new-grading-machine

Ter Laak Orchids Wins AIPH & IGOTY Grower of the Year

 

The Ter Laak Orchids in the Netherlands, have been crowned the International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH) International Grower of the Year (IGOTY) 2018. 

The Ter Laak Orchids family business has been growing Phalaenopsis plants since 1980. In that time, they’ve developed into a respected partner for many customers around the world. Their clients including Rouvalis appreciate the results-oriented approach and typical Dutch trading mentality. In everything they do, they are guided by their core values: demonstrating ambition, respecting people and the environment and doing business in a straightforward way. The jury praised the company for being “A fast growing international business with a strong clear focus on their people and sustainable production.  A truly outstanding company.”

Valentine's Day Collection

After weeks of numerous iterations the designers have the Valentine's Collection of 2018. Check them out.

  https://www.rouvalisflowers.com/valentinesday/

Valentines Day Roses From South America!

This year Americans are expected to spend nearly $20 billion this year on their loved ones, with more than $2 billion plus on flowers alone. This voyage to get the flowers to the states starts more than 3,000 miles away in Colombia and Ecuador, those countries exports the most flowers to the states.

An hour west of Bogota, Columbia along the Andes Mountains is  one of the largest flower farms in Colombia. At Passion Growers, workers busily harvest and process 30 million flowers for Valentine's Day for two weeks, and it's a 24-hour operation.During these two weeks before Valentine's Day the farm employees more than 1,000 workers.

The Valentine's Day production crop is approximately 15 percent of Passion Growers whole year's production in a span of two week period.  The massive greenhouses filled with roses, employees diligently inspect down to the petal before being cut and bundled, then pulled across the farm, 5,000 at a time in order to be processed from shipment. 

The roses need to be kept cold during transport from the farm to the states, this starts the second they leave the farm on trucks to the airport. Once at Bogota's airport where all the boxes from Passion Growers and other regional growers  are loaded and ready to be distributed in the states. Pallets are dry packed and stacked in Boeing 767's One load on a 767 is a staggering 50 tons of flowers, approximately 3,000 boxes. That is roughly 300,000 roses worth $1 million plus.

LAN Cargo flies about a third of the world's flowers for Valentine's Day. During the busy to weeks of Valentine's Day preparation Lan doubles its flights from Bogota. Most of all the flights head to Miami International Airport, the hub for flowers coming from South America. 

Ninety-one of percent all flowers imported into the U.S., or about 22 million a day, come through Miami International Airport. The process of unloading the flowers needs to be done quickly to avoid the Miami heat. The airlines and distributors have this process down to roughly 5 minutes from the 767 to warehouse. Once they are warehouse where the temperature is 40 degrees the flowers are inspected by Federal Agents.

The agents are looking for any signs of disease on the leaves or insects, this is a difficult process because the amount of leaves on the flowers so the agents shake and hit them. Any sings of disease or insects can hold an entire shipment from a particular farm.  After the agents have inspected its off to all the wholesalers and retailers around the country.

Behind the Scenes of a Fresh Cut Flower

The voyage of a fresh cut flower, the process it takes to get from where it’s grown to your home is very complex and in some regard phenomenal.  Most people think by snipping a flower out of a garden is all it takes but when you visit us its a lot more involved and intricate. This industry is blooming with an estimate  in the 100 billions. 

Flowers are grown all around the world. Climate is a very important element in the growing process, making countries like Kenya, Columbia, Ecuador and Israel big players in export flower production.

Each country specialises in the flowers that best suit their climate, take for example, Columbia grow a mass of roses, Ecuador is good for nice large headed roses, Israel for Gypsophila and Kenya for smaller headed roses (the ones usually at your supermarkets).

These growing opportunities offer the local population good jobs just like in the coffee industry. In South America growing flowers, crops and coffee help the locals stay out of gangs by providing them steady income, education and teamwork. This is not just evident in South America growers from around the world flower growers all over the world take theses steps especially with the help of Fair Trade and the Rain Forest Alliance organizations.

Touching on some of the other countries involved in flower production one cannot forget about the biggest grower in the world Holland. Holland is responsible for 70% of the industries flowers, with a staggering 10,000 growers accompanied with an international trading system via the Aalsmeer Flower Auction. Flowers that are grown locally and international all travel to Holland to be sold, packaged and shipped to its near or far destination. 

Funding this extraordinary market is the Dutch government and its constant investment in the most advanced techonogy, Holland has created a trading system that is unmatched by any. This system of trading has given them the ability to create a year round growing environment to produce large quantities of flowers. 

These systems feed the exact amount of nutrients and water needed for the ideal growth. Here at Rouvalis we buy 80% of out flowers direct from Holland. The quality, longevity, and aesthetics are what makes some our arrangements so unique and long lasting. Some of our Rose growers in South America are Dutch owned, keeping the standard very high across the globe. 

Europe is preparing for Tulip season!

There is a lot of tulip news. Flower Council Holland has assigned January as month of the tulip, growers are making a lot of noise for the product on social media and, it seems, the demand is getting started earlier every year. And although the marketing slogan says 'Christmas tree out, houseplant in', consumers are opting for the tulip ‘en masse’, according to flower supplier

The tulip sector has been doing well for some time and the total production volume grows a bit every year, but looking at the price, there's actually not a lot of news. Pretty ordinary, as different Dutch growers report.

Just good

"Of course we are dealing with the buyers and not directly with the consumer, but everywhere you hear that the consumer is more prepared to buy", confirms Siem Munster, tulip grower from the Northern part of the Netherlands. At the same time, there is no question of elation: "Sales have been good in recent weeks and have occasionally been worse in the past. But to say that prices are going sky-high, that is not the case."

Supply and demand

In recent weeks, the demand was slightly larger than the supply, according to the auction statistics. The supply was somewhat lower, and in that sense the forcers are climbing out of the usual Christmas dip earlier than other years. Christmas has never been a peak time for cut flowers, and Niels Kreuk states, it is nonetheless more difficult to have the company fully staffed at that time.

French tulips

Incidentally also now in January, tulips enter the Netherlands form other European countries. For example, there is a modest supply from France - these tulips can be recognized by the paper sleeve, says Jan Koene  – and from next week on a larger scale also Italian batches. But in general, this supply is minimal and also limited to this time of the year.

Freezing Temperatures.

Due to below freezing temperature, floral must be wrapped for outside travel. We do not recommend traveling outside with fresh cut flowers for extended amount of time.  

How to protect your plants during extreme cold.

Gardeners plant flowers, shrubs and trees that can survive in their garden during typical weather. But what can a gardener do when the weather is anything but typical? Unexpected freezes can devastate landscapes and gardens. It can leave a gardener wondering how to protect plants from freezing and what is the best way to cover and keep plants from freezing. At What Temperature Do Plants Freeze? When cold weather comes your way, your first thought will be at what temperature do plants freeze, in other words, how cold is too cold? There is no easy answer to this. Different plants freeze and die at different temperatures. That is why they are given a hardiness rating. Some plants produce special hormones that keep them from freezing, and these plants have a lower hardiness rating (meaning they can survive colder weather) than plants who produce less of this hormone. That being said, there is also different definitions of survival. A plant may lose all of its foliage during a freeze and the plant can regrow from the stems or even the roots. So, while the leaves cannot survive a certain temperature, other parts of the plant can. How to Protect Plants from Freezing If you are only expecting a light freeze, you may be able to protect plants in a freeze simply by covering them with a sheet or a blanket. This acts like insulation, keeping warm air from the ground around the plant. The warmth may be enough to keep a plant from freezing during a short cold snap. For added protection when you protect plants in a freeze, you can place plastic over the sheets or blankets to help keep warmth in. Never cover a plant with just plastic, however, as the plastic will damage the plant. Make sure that a cloth barrier is between the plastic and the plant. Be sure to remove the sheets and blanket and plastic first thing in the morning after an overnight cold snap. If you do not do so, condensation can build up and freeze again under the covering, which will damage the plant. When protecting plants in a freeze that is longer or deeper, you may have no choice but to expect to sacrifice all or part of the plant in hopes that the roots will survive. Start by heavily mulching the roots of the plant with either wood mulch or hay. For added protection, you can nestle gallon jugs of warm water into the mulch each night. This will help drive off some of the cold that can kill the roots. If you have time before a freeze happens, you can also create insulation barriers around a plant as a way how to protect plants from freezing. Tie up the plant as neatly as possible. Drive stakes that are as tall as the plant into the ground around the plant. Wrap the stakes in burlap so that the plant appears to be fenced in. Stuff the inside of this fence with hay or leaves. Again, you can place milk jugs of warm water on the inside, at the base of this fence each night to help supplement the heat. A string of Christmas lights wrapped around the plant can also help add additional heat. As soon as the freeze passes, remove the covering so that the plant can get the sunlight it needs. Watering the soil (not the leaves or stems of the plants) will also help the soil retain heat and can help the plant’s roots and lower branches survive.

Read more at Gardening Know How: Protect Your Plants In A Freeze – How To Protect Plants From Freezing https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/plant-problems/environmental/protect-plants-in-freeze.htm

In Store Gift Card

Give a gift the recipient can apply to an in-store purchase anytime.

How it works; After purchase of this physical giftcard, a card will be created for either hand-delivery or mailing. The gift card recipient must present this card at time of sale to redeem value. Value will be taken from the card until the card reaches zero. 

Details; This GiftCard is only applicable to in-store purchases. This gift card is nonrefundable and never expires.

eGift Card

Give an online gift the recipient can apply to an online purchase from any of our collections anytime.

How it works; Purchasing this eGift Card creates a unique code that will be emailed to the recipient. The gift card recipient enters this code at checkout to subtract the gift card value from their order total.

Details; This eGift Card is only applicable to online purchases. This gift card is nonrefundable and never expires.

We offer cards from $50 to $200