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Field Report: Organic Cut Flower Seed

Organic Cut Flower Seed
by Micaela Colley, Bulk Seed Representative

Organic cut flowers were once as obscure an idea as organic seed, yet today customers can order organic bouquets online or find them at farmers markets or roadside stands. Many natural food stores, including Whole Foods, have even integrated some organic floral offerings into the grocery selection. Like organic seed, flowers are a non-edible crop yet growing them organically helps protect the health of workers in the field as well as the environment. This is important considering the majority of commercial flower production is conducted outside the US with poorly paid labor and high pesticide inputs.

For a lot of organic growers, cut flowers have become a healthy farm income, but as the organic seed market has increased, organic flower seed has remained hard to come by. Even more difficult to access is organic cut-flower starts, which has been difficult for many professional cut-flower growers including Lynn Byzinski author of The Flower Farmer: An Organic Growers Guide to Raising and Selling Cut Flowers. Lynn comments that many growers rely on professional greenhouses to start difficult-to-germinate varieties such as Lisianthus and Campanulas. Hopefully organic greenhouse growers will recognize this market opportunity in the future. At Seeds of Change, as we've developed our bulk-seed program we've incorporated our best cut-flower varieties into our cooperating on-farm variety trials with professional cut flower growers. We now offer bulk quantities of a wide selection of exceptional cut flowers including unique heirloom and Seeds of Change original varieties, such as our Tigers Eye Sunflower, Pastel Dreams Zinnia, and Love Lies Bleeding Amaranth.

Seeds of Change flower varieties are all developed and produced organically and our flower selection represents those that perform best in our on-farm and Research Farm trials. Nancy Gammons of Four Sisters Farm has been conducting Seeds of Change flower trials on her farm near Watsonville, California, over the past three years. She comments that "flowers grown from Seeds of Change organic seed performed better, were more vigorous, had fewer pest and disease problems, and had an overall-healthier look than those grown from conventional seeds." As Nancy noted, the vast majority of modern flower breeding is conducted under conventional growing conditions, which often include fungicides such as methyl bromide, so there is little opportunity for selection against disease. Nancy's favorite Seeds of Change varieties include Agrostemma, Canary Yellow Zinnia and Picotee Cosmos.

Lynn Byzinski, professional cut-flowers grower in Lawrence, Kansas, also trialed several Seeds of Change varieties last summer. Among her favorites were Tithonia (Mexican Sunflower), Maximillian Sunflower (available in packets), and Burgundy Supercrest Celosia. Lynn commented that Tithonia can often be a temperamental variety but the Seeds of Change strain grew well, produced endless flowers, and had a long vase life. She found the perennial Maximillian Sunflower particularly useful as it produced well in the late season when most flowers had passed their prime in her hot Kansas summer climate. She also liked them for their prolific blooms and perennial nature, which requires less yearly weeding and work. The Supercrest Celosia produces majestic, but odd-looking fuchsia flowers. Lynn noted that they were too obscure for her local (fairly conservative) market, but when flower buyers from other areas arrived at her farm, they loved them and left with arm loads.

Whether specializing in flowers or rounding out a diversified farm, flowers are an excellent way to boost farm sales, but success comes with knowing floral production, handling, and marketing techniques. Flowers are a specialized crop. Growing great flowers requires some commitment. The following are a few tips for new flower growers:

• Flowers are often sensitive to climate, day length, and germination conditions. Trial many varieties and research growing requirements. Once you've gained confidence in those that perform best in your area, then invest in larger crops. (See reading recommendations below.)
• Harvest cut flowers when buds are just opening to ensure the freshest looking flowers. Blossoms that are already shedding pollen are ready to senesce and won't hold up long in a vase.
• Identify opportunities in the local market when competition is low, such as early or late season, or demand is high, such as holidays. Early season offerings can be accomplished by starting seeds in the greenhouse or by identifying good early bloomers, some of which can even be overwintered in mild climates for spring harvest, such as calendulas, nigella, larkspur, and sweet peas. Sunflowers and amaranth are excellent for Halloween and Thanksgiving festivities if you can plant in late summer for a fall crop.
• Stagger plantings for continuous bloom. Many flowers can be repeatedly planted, like zinnias and sunflowers, so that each successive planting flowers once the last one ends. This also prevents an overload of a large crop coming on all at once. Nancy recommends planting every two weeks, but plant growth and flowering time will differ with climate, so try experimenting in your area.
• Research your market. Survey the local farmers markets and talk to local florists to see if there are gluts in the market on certain flowers. Showing up with unique offerings is better than competing with your market neighbors when everyone shows up with buckets of the same varieties.
• Know your worth. Many growers beginning to sell flowers often undercut themselves. Growing great flowers is a lot of work and requires more handling and care than most vegetable crops. Figure your cost of production and time and ensure that your return is equitable.

• The Flower Farmer: An Organic Grower's Guide to Raising and Selling Cut Flowers, by Lynn Byczynski. This is an excellent guide to organic production techniques, variety selection, post-harvest handling, and marketing from a long-time professional organic flower grower.
• Specialty Cut Flowers, by Allan Armitage. Although not organically oriented, this guide is an excellent encyclopedic resource about growing requirements, blooming periods, and production recommendations for a wide variety of specialty cut-flower varieties. Information is derived from university-based trials, conducted at the University of Georgia and with professional flower growers and wholesale distributors.