Turkish rose grower Omer Gok has started a cut flower greenhouse in Ordu, a city located in northern Turkey under the name of Ordu Sera. He noticed a need for other Turkish grown cut flower varieties as well as the need for more growers in the industry.
Omer Gok: “It has been a very good season for growers, especially in the last few weeks. Because of the start of Ramadan in mid-May, a lot of people moved their weddings and graduation ceremonies to the first 2 weeks of May which, combined with Mother’s Day created a lot of business for the growers as the demand was very high on the market side. I have given more than half of the production within the city to fulfill the demand of the local florists first.
Prices were also satisfactory for growers. The price per stem of rose was 0.25 USD at the grower. I have increased my production from 15,000 stems to 20,000 stems this year. Next year, my plan is to grow 30,000 roses. If I had more roses this year, I would have easily sold them as well, the season was that good.
Ordu is a good location to grow cut flowers, we have started with rose and succeeded. But we can grow other varieties here as well. More people in this city need to get involved with cut flower production. When starting up, the growers can utilize different incentive programs. We have met with the Ordu City Agriculture Directorate and they promised us support in replacing seedlings. If that happens, our productivity will go even higher. One rose seedling has 5 year of life for production.”
Source: Ordu Olay