India: 12,500 gerbera plants on 2,016 square meters
The gerbera poly-house covers an area of 2,016 square metres in which 12,500 plants have been raised. There are 10 varieties and colours with names such as Dana Ellen(yellow), Submarine and Imperial (both yellow), Stanza and Savannah (red), Balance and White House (white), Intense and Pre-Intenz (pink), Goliath and Dune (orange).
Each gerbera plant has a life of three years and can yield 10 flowers, following which another two shoots are developed from the mother plant and yield accordingly. The life for the plant is three years because the soil nutrients after this become exhausted, so the plant is not able to sustain any further. The size of the flower is large compared to flowers available in the market, which are mainly brought from Bengaluru, says Pai.
Per day yield of gerberas are around 3,000 flowers, depending on orders and events. He also has a market for flowers in Mumbai; Pai sends them via Volvo buses as they have special containers for the flowers. Presently Rs 9000 (134 USD) worth of gerberas have been sold and picking will continue for another 3 months or so, he informed.
Read more at The Navhind Times