Growing indoor and outdoor plants in Bolu, Turkey, how do they work. In an interview, published on the Turkish news website Bolu Express, Agricultural Engineer Ilknur Ozkok Kasikci, who is in charge of the indoor and outdoor plant production in greenhouses for the local municipality explains how they work.
In the indoor plant greenhouse, how many types of plants are you growing? What kind of methods do you use during the production process?
In the indoor plant greenhouse, we grow house plants. We have 140 varieties of plants. We grow poinsettia, flamingo flower, 5-6 different varieties of begonia, schefflera, alocasia, phalaneopsis, different sanseveria species, maranta leuconeura and hoya carnosa. Additionally we also have many types of succulents. We grow both from seed and cuttings. We also propagate plants using leaf cuttings. In this greenhouse, there is a fully automated irrigation, ventilation and fogging system. We have 4 full time staff members working in here, cleaning the leafs of the plants, changing pots, removing dry leafs and taking general care of plants. We also use a special white material named perlite, acquired from erupted volcano remains. This material absorbs and holds water and because its molecular structure is loose, it allows easy rooting within itself. We use this in growing with cuttings. Difficult-to-root species root much easily and quickly with perlite.
Where do you use the indoor plants you grow in here?
We place these plants into the offices of municipalities. We recall the ones which die and replace them. We also send them as gifts on special occasions and let people bring them together during patient visits.
What kind of disease do you encounter most in house plants? What kind of methods do you use to prevent them?
There are a lot of different diseases for plants. The most common ones are red spider, white mosquito, powdery mildew. We first use natural methods to fight against these diseases. We don’t use any hormones in our production process. We also try to use chemicals as minimum as possible. We believe in natural agricultural production and we try to limit our use of chemicals and fertilizers.
What outdoor plants do you grow in your outdoor plant greenhouse and what sort of production methods do you use?
We grow buxus sempervirens, roses, arborvitae, honeysuckle and hedera. So we grow anything that is possible to grow in the climate of Bolu (a city located on the North-western part of Turkey). We grow all outdoor plants we use at municipality gardens and parks and we grow them from seed and cuttings as well.
After you plant the products you grow in the greenhouse in the municipality parks and gardens, what do you do with them after the season is complete and you remove them from parks and gardens?
We don't throw away anything. We prune roses in parks and gardens when it is time and then we do not throw away those branches. Instead we bring them back here and root them by using cuttings and then once they are re-grown, we plant them in green areas where it is needed. In spring time, we collect geraniums from green areas and regrow and multiply them in here. Then we plant them back in May. We also collect plant bulbs for tulips and distribute them to local people. We also distribute them the geranium cuttings if local people show interest in them.