Showing posts with label Horticulture. Show all posts
Tweet Share Share Share Share Share

1:39 AM
By Dr S M Alam

FLORICULTURE is fast emerging as a profitable venture and the country is also earning a sizable foreign exchange by exporting roses to Middle East and European countries.
The local production of cut flowers is estimated at about 10,000-12,000 tons per annum. Roses are popular crop for both domestic and commercial cut flowers. They are harvested and cut when in bud and held in refrigerated conditions until ready for display at their point of sale.
Both local and grafted roses are grown in all the four provinces of the country, but Punjab has lion’s share in production of grafted roses and supply to all the cities of the country.
Promoting FloricultureRoses may be grown in any well-drained soil with optimum sunlight. Most rose varieties are grown by budding on lower portion of a plant and propagated from seeds or cuttings. Clay soils, warm temperatures are always preferred, and the rose plants grow best when not set among other plants. Cow manure is the preferred fertilizer for rose cultivation, but other organic fertilisers, especially composts, are also used.
Rose plants usually require severe pruning, which must be adapted to the intended use of the flowers. Pattoki, a small town about 80-km south of Lahore, has emerged as a leading home for cut flower floriculture technology. More than one million pieces of cut flowers are sent daily from this town to all the major cities of the country. The availability of flowers and ornamental plants has recently increased with change in crop production priorities and rise in living standards. The availability of pick flowers of red rose in use since ages for garlands has increased manifold. Additionally, cut flowers for flowers arrangements have sprung up in market due to demand pull by the local consumers.
The demand for long stem roses, tube roses, gladioli has tremendously increased. In order to explain the cultivation of these plants, import of quality hybrid flower seeds and planting material may be allowed free of duty to promote production of quality leading to export. The small items of machinery and shading nets to be used by the flowers and ornamental plant nurseries should be exempted from the levy of duty.
Roses are best known as ornamental plants grown for their flowers in the garden and sometimes indoors. They have been also used for commercial perfumery and commercial cut flower crops. Some are used as landscape plants, for hedging and for other utilitarian purposes such as game cover. They also have minor medicinal uses. The majority of ornamental roses are selected hybrids. A few, mostly species roses are grown for scented foliage, ornamental thorns or for their ornamental fruit.
Rose perfumes are made from attar of roses or rose oil, which is a mixture of volatile essential oils obtained by steam distilling the crushed petals of roses. An associated product is rose water which is used for cooking, cosmetics, medicine and in religious practices. Rose water made as a byproduct of rose oil production, is widely used in Asian and Middle Eastern cuisine. The French are known for their rose syrup, most commonly made from an extract of rose petals.
By observing the rapid growth in cut flower export, this business can become Pakistan’s second largest export sector after textile if the government encourages the cut flower growers by facilitating them to provide better technology in the year round production, refrigerated transportation and exploring more foreign markets.
The world trade of cut flowers runs in billion of dollars and Holland serves as the centre of cut flower business.
The cut flowers trade is tremendously increasing due to its demand worldwide. The cut flowers importing countries are: Australia, Denmark, Dubai, France, Italy, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Syria, Turkey, U.S.A. and United Kingdom and the major suppliers are Colombia, Ecuador, India, Israel, Kenya and Zimbabwe.Courtesy: The DAWN
Read more »
Tweet Share Share Share Share Share

6:56 AM

Healthy well maintained lawns provide truly marvelous environmental benefits which contribute a lot to the world around it. Environmental benefits of Turf grasses/well-maintained lawns are as follows.
Cooler and quieter: when the heat is on, Turf grass helps keep you cool. Street or sidewalk temperatures may reach 100oF or higher, but turf remains at 75o. This could mean that the front lawns on a block of eight houses perform the same cooling work as 70 tons of air-conditioning-enough to cool off homes.
Turf also makes your life a bit quieter. It effectively absorbs and deflects sound. When combined with trees and other landscaping, a lawn can reduce harsh, unwanted noise to a distant murmur.
Help in breathing: A healthy lawn us an amazingly efficient production system. Turf plants remove carbon dioxide from the air and produce oxygen in return. Just 625 square feet of turfgrass supplies all the oxygen a person needs for one day. An average home lawn of 5,000 square feet produces enough oxygen for eight people each day. In comparison, it takes two 100-foot trees to provide the same amount of oxygen for eight people.
Soil saver: Turf grass controls erosion by knitting the soil together, trapping runoff water, and eliminating many of the problems caused by dust and mud. And it’s one of the more efficient water savers you will find in nature. A healthy lawn absorbs rainfall six time more effectively than does a wheat field.
Dust trap: if you have ever walked through a dry, barren area, such as a construction site, on a windy day, you have some idea of what life might be like without healthy lawns. Clouds of windblown dust make for difficult breathing, irritated eyes, and reduced visibility. Turfgrass is an effective air cleanser. It shows the air moving across its surface, so that dust particles settle out onto the blades and are eventually washed back to the ground. Every year Turfgrass traps millions of tons of dust that would otherwise blow unrestricted.
Pollution fighter: In one year’s time, the blades and roots in an acre of healthy turfgrass absorb hundreds of pounds of pollutants from the air and rainwater. Among them are sulpher dioxide, nitrogen oxide, hydrogen fluoride, nitrates, and other gases blamed for acid rain and greenhouse effect.
A common misconception is that the products put on lawns contribute to groundwater contamination and to algae blooms in nearby ponds and lakes. The truth is that few materials get past grass roots. The dense root system under a healthy lawn captures pollutants as water filters through the soil.
Safe surface: Perhaps the most important benefit is the recreational value lawns provide for young and old. Dense turf is a safer playground and playing field than nearly any other surface. It reduces the severity of many injuries and helps to cushion falls.

Read more »
Tweet Share Share Share Share Share

9:01 AM
1. Bamboo Palm: According to NASA, it removes formaldahyde and is also said to act as a natural humidifier.

2. Snake Plant: Found by NASA to absorb nitrogen oxides and formaldahyde.

3. Areca Palm: One of the best air purifying plants for general air cleanliness.

4. Spider Plant: Great indoor plant for removing carbon monoxide and other toxins or impurities. Spider plants are one of three plants NASA deems best at removing formaldahyde from the air.

5. Peace Lily: Peace lilies could be called the “clean-all.” They’re often placed in bathrooms or laundry rooms because they’re known for removing mold spores. Also know to remove formaldahyde and trichloroethylene.

6. Gerbera Daisy: Not only do these gorgeous flowers remove benzene from the air, they’re known to improve sleep by absorbing carbon dioxide and giving off more oxygen over night.

If you can't even put a plant in your living room because you say it is too much trouble, then you need to die and wait for the other life to bring sense in your spirits!!!

Just do it. Random people like our whole team here are trying to put you back on your feet.. we arent doing that because we've got nothing else to do. We have families, too. We have ALL OF YOUR EXCUSES but yet, we're here, with you.
Read more »
Tweet Share Share Share Share Share

9:01 AM
The agriculture dates back to the era when man learnt to live in huts and cultivated plants which were used for his food, shelter, medicine and clothing. The world agriculture has grown up to highly mature, sophisticated and mechanized. In Pakistan agriculture is in developing stage. About 70% of the population is directly or indirectly related to Agriculture. Most of the farmers of our country are small land holder for agriculture but they are still affiliated with the conventional and traditional agriculture techniques and strategies hence net return from agriculture produce is low.
The farmers utilize huge amount resources, energy and money but functionality in agriculture business is not achieved. Further more market prices of agricultural inputs are touching the climax; hence the poor farmers are unable to purchase the good quality seed, fertilizers, pesticides and machinery. The solution of all these problems is that we should shift our farming from traditional to modern agriculture with updated techniques, practices and strategies. There may be gradual shifting from monoculture to multicropping farming pattern in which conventional crops can be grown along with modern crops keeping in view the local and world market demand. We can go for horticultural crops like cut roses, roses having essential oils, tunnel farming and commercial fruit production. Our mangoes and citrus are one of the best produce of the world but there is need of proper sanitation, post harvest management and marketing system.

A wide range of climatic conditions exist in plan and hilly areas of Pakistan which favors the cultivation of almost all kind of flowers of tropical and temperate region. The demand of the cut flowers in Europe rises when they have to grow flowers in green houses in severe winter but at that time here in Pakistan is favorable season for growth. Further more we have competitive advantage of cheap labor and low cost oil production as labor and farm mechanization is very high in Europe. Floriculture crops including Cut roses, gladiolus, tube rose, narcissus, tulip and others bulbs can be grown commercially for local and international market. These high value crops are demanded all over the world for there aesthetic and medicinal value.

Other important products of floriculture are essential oils and attars which are demanded for medicine, cosmetics and perfume industry all over the world. For attar production fragrant flowers are subjected to distillation, solvent extraction in which benzene or petroleum ether are used and newly introduced super critical carbon dioxide fluid extraction. Essential oils and rose water can be extracted by modern and conventional plants; however the efficiency of these plants may vary.

Currently various extraction plants are under operation in Institute of Horticultural sciences, UAF on trial basis like Shoxlet apparatus, steam distillation, solvent extraction. Here is the need to fulfill the gap between farming community and researchers to flourish this profitable floriculture base industry.
The amount and international market rate of some important essential oil is given in the table below.

Name of Specie Oil contents (%) Price/Kg
Rosa danacena 0.07% $14000
Rosa centifolia 0.06% $9400
Jasminum grandiflorum 0.07% $9350
Jasminum sambac 0.04% $ 8600
Tube rose 0.06% $7450
Murva 0.06% $ 7000

The Comparison of expenses and profit of conventional (Wheat etc) and non conventional crop (Rose)
1- Roses in Green House
Cost of one plant of rose = Rs. 20
Plants per acre in the green house = 15000
Total cost of plants =20x 15000= Rs. 300000
Cost of Green house construction = Rs. 40, 00000
Average life of Green house = 40 years
Annual cost of green house = Rs.100000
Labor cost @ Rs. 2 / Plant = Rs.30000
Running Cost
(Electricity, Fertilizers, Pesticides) = Rs. 3, 00000/ year
Total Cost during 1st year
Cost of plants+ Cost of green house/year+ Labour charges+ Running Cost = Rs.750000
Profit during 1st year = Rs. 750000- Rs.73, 0000
= Rs. 20000
Investment during 2nd year = Rs. 100000+Rs. 30000+Rs. 370000
(Green house Cost+ Labour+ Running Cost) = Rs. 500000
Total No. of flowers produced in 2nd year = 6,00000
Income = Rs. 2.5 x 600000 flowers
= Rs. 1500000
Net Profit in 2nd year = Rs. 1500000- Rs.500000
= Rs, 10, 00000
Note: Profit/year from 2nd to 8th year will be same
2- Conventional System of Wheat-Rice Rotation for one year
Net Profit/Acre from Wheat for six months = Rs. 20000
Net Profit/Acre from Rice for six months = Rs 25,000
So it is obvious from the feasibility of conventional and floriculture crops that cultivation of floriculture crops may boost up yield and net profit per acre.

About Author: Muhammad Nadeem is Working as Assistant professor of Floriculture and landscaping. He is also running a private firm "LandMarks Landscape" dealing in landscape business in Pakistan.
Read more »
Tweet Share Share Share Share Share

2:08 AM
By Zahra Nasir
Indigenous in all countries surrounding the Mediterranean, sage has been cultivated throughout Europe for hundreds of years. Zahra Nasir teaches gardening-buffs how to grow the herb in Pakistani soil
Well, ladies, make no bones about it, if you want to stand up and make a statement about who really rules the roost; simply plant sage in your garden. If your sage flourishes then this is an indelible sign to all and sundry that matriarchy prevails in your home. But on the other hand, if your sage withers and dies then quickly pull it out, hide it away, dispose it off quietly, for if someone finds out then everyone will know you have submitted to male domination albeit Taliban style or otherwise. Sage you see, is and has from ancient times, been considered a very female herb.
Garden Talk: The Sage Advice
There are actually around 900 different kinds of sage, botanically known as ‘Salvias’. Sage is a member of the ‘Lamiaceae’ family of plants but the one we are talking about here is that good old medicinal and culinary herb ‘Salvia officinalis’ or ‘Common’ sage although there really isn’t anything at all common about its myriad properties.
Members of this huge genus are, except for a 100 or so, aromatic and can be annuals, biennials or perennials and can be evergreen or deciduous with, mostly, strong woody stems. The sage in question, with attractive velvety, silvery green, dare I say ‘sage green’ leaves which it may or, being awkward, may not hang on to all year round is a hardy perennial. Although its bare woody stems are not at all ornamental, its other properties more than make up for this with its spectacular spires of blue flowers in the spring proffering a splendid apology for anything it may have done to offend you.
Indigenous in all the countries surrounding the Mediterranean, including North Africa, sage has been widely cultivated throughout Europe for literally hundreds of years. It was introduced to North America sometime in the 1600s and was so venerated by the Chinese during the same period of history (should that be ‘her-story’ in this instance?) that they happily bartered three chests of top quality tea for a single chest of dried sage with European traders.
As its origins belie, this particular sage adores sunny, well drained positions in reasonably light, sandy soil although it will tolerate, my own plants are an example, much heavier, humus rich soil as long as it never ever gets water logged as this means almost instant death. Whilst sage is, or rather was, considered to have the ability to bring people back to life if one is to believe ancient Druid and Roman lore, sadly it cannot resurrect itself and when it decides to give up the ghost… it does!
Hippocrates, the ancestor of modern doctors and their Hippocratic oath, Dioscorides and Marcus Aurelius’ doctor by the name of Galen all promoted the use of sage for a wide variety of female illnesses and problems and, much later on, Pliny the Elder venerated it as a top notch herb for treating wounds and snake bites and its botanical name ‘Salvia’ is actually derived from the Latin word ‘Salvere’ which means to be in the best of health. Closer to home in a manner of speaking, in the Arab world, sage is considered to be brain food and was once prescribed for boosting intelligence.
Growing to a height of approximately three feet if it is happy, much less if it isn’t quite comfortable, sage is an astringent, antiseptic herb with a very strong and pleasing aroma. It has been found to relax spasms, prevent sweating, improve digestion, help with liver function and has anti-inflammatory and anti-depressant uses. Modern herbalists prescribe it, taken internally, for indigestion, liver problems, flatulence, to ease lactation and for a whole range of female problems as identified by the ancient Romans. Externally it is used for nasty insect bites, sore throats and mouths plus various skin infections.
Then of course it has numerous culinary uses too. The pungent leaves can be used in all sorts of meat, fish and poultry dishes, a Christmas turkey stuffed with sage and onion being a prime example. The leaves, fresh or dried, make an excellent herb tea or can be used for adding a delicious flavour to homemade cheese and, having told you all of the above I’m certain you, ladies in particular, would like to cultivate a few plants for home use.
The first thing you need is seed of course and I have found good quality German seed in the market here which has (at least mine did) a germination rate of about 90 per cent. I paid Rs. 80 per packet last April and ended up with four dozen healthy plants which, in my opinion, was a very good deal.
The hard black seed, almost round in shape, should be sown in pots or trays of good, well draining compost. About quarter of an inch deep is ideal. Place the pots/trays in a sunny location; keep them watered but not overly wet and the seeds should begin to germinate after 10 to 14 days. Don’t plant the seeds too close together, three inches apart all round is ideal, to allow the seedlings room to grow without having to endure competition from their neighbours. Once they have developed four to six healthy leaves, carefully transplant them into individual 10-inch pots or plant them out, one to two feet apart, directly in the garden. Those of you without an actual garden can keep them in pots which, in adverse weather conditions such as heavy rain, can be kept in a sheltered place.
As previously mentioned, this particular kind of sage is a perennial plant but, sadly, that doesn’t mean it lives forever. It should be pretty and productive for three to four years after which it will tend to get rather woody, have fewer leaves and not be so attractive therefore you should start a new batch off every couple of years or so. Once you have got an established sage plant it can easily be increased by taking cuttings during late spring or early autumn.
Now, the all-important climatic requirements. Sage the sun lover needs sunshine and dry growing conditions. If you happen to reside in Karachi then sow the seed during October or November and keep your fingers crossed that the plants produce lots of leaves before humidity creeps up during early summer as they may not like this at all. Keeping them on a sunny, covered veranda where dew/humidity don’t directly fall on them, will encourage them to survive the summer but it could be that you need to treat them as an annual plant. In Lahore, Rawalpindi and Islamabad, you can sow the seed either in September/October or during late February/March and, as humidity tends to be a little lower than in Karachi, the plants will have more chance of being perennial. In Quetta, Peshawar and cooler hilly regions seed should be sown during spring and, more than likely, the plants will be perfectly good perennials.

Indigenous species of wild sage are found almost all over Pakistan but, whilst perfectly useable, they are not quite as ‘strong’ as Salvia officinalis and neither are their flowers so eye-catching. A useful species, easily grown as an annual although it is really a biennial, is ‘Salvia sclarea’ or Clary sage, an equally useful herb with highly decorative purple, pink or white bracts, and whilst it is very different from ‘Salvia splendens’, the normal sock-you-in-the-eye garden variety which doesn’t have any of the medicinal or culinary merits mentioned above, it is a wonderful addition to anyone’s garden.
Sage, in any form, should not be taken internally for any length of time and not at all if you happen to be pregnant or suffer from epilepsy. Salvia officinalis has a high content of volatile oil of which up to 50 per cent is Thujone and in excess this is toxic. Do not concoct your own herbal remedies as this can be dangerous, please leave this to the experts.
Source: The Dawn Review
Published on: 10/23/2012
Read more »
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)
farming.com.pk. Powered by Blogger.