VARIETIES & PLANTING MATERIAL

This is again most important decision a grower has to take for the overall viability of a rose project. There are thousands of different rose varieties throughout the world covering a full range of shapes, sizes and colors. It may not be possible for a grower to achieve high returns for all the varieties he chooses. Even if 8 out of 10 varieties fair well and produce as per their characteristics the projects should be deemed to be doing sufficiently well. Adaptability to local conditions should be deemed as a prerequisite to the requirement of a variety chosen. Our growing conditions are so adverse that during the summer the temperature rises to +42 degree centigrade and during winters the night temperature go down to 5 – 7 degree centigrade,particularly in Maharashtra. Bangalore has more uniform conditions in this regard. In spite of such a variation in our environment and climatic conditions Indian growers are in a position to grow Roses which are competing in the international market. Even if the quality of our produce is close to 70 percent of the same produced by countries with more favorable conditions. especially in Africa, South America., we can still compete with them with overall realizations through bigger volumes, due to better light conditions. Looking at the good light conditions combined with good year round production, growers in India must emphasize on bigger volume of production, while maintaining the basic quality parameters. We must fully understand if the rose projects in India have to survive, it would be only through volumes. As such select the varieties with the following characteristics:

Varieties should be well adapted to local conditions
Balanced stem lengths and colors in the varietal mix, Avg stem length of 50 – 70 cm would be wise proposition, under our conditions. We can have an average productions of 180 – 200 stems per sq met in this category, which is enough to maintain the desired quantity and quality.
Longer stems may fetch good realization but, that is when the bud size matched with the stem length. We can achieve such a quality only for couple of months of winter during the whole year, but we would have to sacrifice on the production.
Have, good quantities of fast colors like red followed by pink and yellow.
The most important parameter while choosing a variety has to be its vase life, price at the international market and above all, resistance ti diseases and should be good traveler. To be Continued…. With Regards.