Bloom into a Cut Flower Business!
- A course for people working in or preparing to work in cut flower production.
- This course has two parts - broad based core studies and more specialised stream studies. Each part is 50% of the course.
- The first (core) part develops a foundational knowledge base and skills in horticulture, preparing you to apply your horticultural knowledge to anything in production or amenity horticulture.
- The second (stream) part builds on this foundation with a greater depth of studies related to the production and marketing of cut flowers.
Because the Core Units are the same as for the other certificates (i.e. Introduction to Plants, Plant Culture, Soils and Nutrition, Plant Identification and Use, Pests, Diseases and Weeds), it is possible to switch to a different stream if you develop opportunities or interests in another area of horticulture while studying the first half of the course.
CORE STUDIES
Through these lessons, you develop broad general skills in horticultural practices and plant knowledge. These are relevant to growing flowers, but also useful in other areas of horticulture.
Core units consist of the following lessons:
- Introduction To Plants
- Parts of the Plant
- Plant Culture - Planting
- Plant Culture - Pruning
- Plant Culture - Irrigation and Machinery 1
- Soils and Media
- Soils and Nutrition
- Seeds and Cuttings
- Other Techniques
- Identification and Use of Plants - Landscape Application
- Identification and Use of Plants - Problems
- Identification and Use of Plants - Indoor/tropical plants
- Pests
- Diseases
- Weeds
STREAM CONTENT
A further three modules need to be selected from the following options:
The fact that you can choose half of what you are studying in this certificate, allows you a degree of specialisation that is not offered in other cut flower courses. It gives you the opportunity to effectively become an expert with two or three different types of plants; and that level of expertise may well give you a significant advantage over your competitors in the cut flower industry.
A bigger industry than you might imagine!
Cut Flower businesses grow, harvest, store and transport both fresh and dried flowers and foliage, to a mixture of markets, including:
- wholesale flower markets;
- flower distributors (middle men);
- florists and retail outlets;
- export markets.
There is a wide range of flower and foliage to grow! - roses, carnations, orchids, native flowers, bulb and annual flowers, and tropical flowers. Some flower farms also grow flowers in open fields for their essential oils.
Floriculture includes propagating, growing and marketing of all cut flowers, flower seeds and seedlings, bulb growing, nursery operation, chemical protection of plants, post-harvest storage and handling and use of preservatives.
A proportion of flower production takes place in greenhouses. In addition to the greenhouse production, floriculture encompasses outdoor production of herbaceous plants and flowers, and field production of cut flowers.
The International Flower Market
As more people earn more money in developing markets such as China and India so the global demand for cut flowers increases. Cut flower production is an expanding industry worldwide. It has a great deal of export potential, and although most flower producing countries meet the domestic requirements of their home markets, there is still much untapped potential in these. Spending on cut flowers is stronger in some countries than others, the average Australian, for example, spends far less on cut flowers than say, the average German or Frenchman.
Finding Success
In order for a producer to be successful they need to address issues such as:
- What is the market demand?
- What will the producer grow?
- Does it have an established market or is this a new product?
- How will it be presented? As bunched flowers, individual stems, or bouquets?
When a grower decides to produce a certain product the decision is influenced firstly by the constraints of the production area and secondly by the market research conducted before production commences. Potential crops are not just limited to cut flowers but may also include dried flowers, native flowers, cut foliage and fillers for bouquets. Most growers increase their chance to make a profit by growing more than one variety throughout the growing season by choosing species that extend the harvest period. Successful growers will understand the limitations of the growing area through soil analysis, climate, aspect, drainage and irrigation and also the specific requirements of the varieties they choose to grow, i.e. soil pH, fertiliser etc.
Enrolling is easy - just go to the top of this page and select your study method and payment option.
If you have any questions about studying with ACS, or want to know more about any of our courses, get in touch with our specialist tutors today. They will be happy to answer your questions and look at different study options to fit in with your goals.
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