Mr. Pankaj Harsora, Horticulturist, Haut Monde Hotels, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, talks about exploring the future of ornamental horticulture.
Ornamental horticulture is basically a branch of horticulture dealing with cultivation of ornamental plants which include herbs, trees, and annual plants, than just cultivating medicinal plants or such crops. We cultivate flowers in this type of horticulture. Nowadays we can see edible gardens where we can see plants used for food and ornamental purposes. We study a lot of flowers, trees which are biennial or perennial. India is witnessing growing demand for ornamental sector. Indian culture requires flowers for every occasion, and now we see demand for beautiful flowering plants, decorative ones in offices to garden, walking space to public spaces. Indian environment is so adaptive, we can cultivate any plant to suit our environment, be it harsh or soft plant. We have lot of export potential also for cut and loose flowers.
Karnataka is the leading state in floriculture with 15.85% followed by Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, and West Bengal. During 2021-22, the flower production was done in 284 thousand ha with production of 833 thousand tons of loose flowers and 2295 thousand tons of cut flowers. Earlier, we used flowering plants to decorate our spaces and homes, and now we are looking at sustainable practices which is to reduce use of chemicals thereby reduce expenditure too. These practices are less expensive and affordable to one and all. We use less chemicals for soil health, use organic pesticide, and we are moving towards organic farming which includes flower production too. Native plant landscaping is designing landscape with native plants which are of Indian origin. We have started using our native plants which are blooming always and evergreen.
We also think of pollinator friendly garden which attract bees, butterflies, and humming birds, and we use such flowers to attract them and create opportunity for them to survive. When we say urban greening, we think of incorporating our space with vegetation such as roof gardens, vertical gardens, etc. We have less places for cultivation as we are moving towards commercialisation, with lands converted into large buildings and construction sites. So we will have less soil to cultivate plants, grow vegetables or flowers. In such cases, we are planning to use our walls and empty spaces for cultivation by vertical gardening. Here we have two concepts, one is bio wall and the other one is vertical gardening. Bio wall is connected with ornamental plants, connected with walls while in vertical gardening, we can grow all kinds of plants. In a pollinator garden there are lots of flowers to attract insects, and we have space for walking. Some native plants like milk wort, spider wort, birds foot, Malabar lily, and ceropegia and jeemikanda are grown. We are promoting our plants and other inputs like material, fertilisers, implements, technology, and modern concepts to the world. We are trying to export our native plants and do landscaping using plants like Malabar Lily.
Bio wall and vertical gardening have been done in Indore IIT. Bio wall is done for decorative purpose with different logos and designs. The difference between the two is bio wall is done by using empty space or wall and vertical gardening is done in space used for cultivation and indoor. Biophilic design is the emerging trend now where a forest or garden is created inside a building. We use plants that require less sunlight and use LED lights to give them proper light for growth. We can also use native plants that give lush flowers, ever green, and vibrant to enhance the beauty of our spaces and gardens. In edible landscaping, we use plants that look beautiful and also give food, such as salad leaves.
When we talk about micro gardening, it is a unique concept trending now. We can use small spaces or small office spaces for cultivating indoor plants and vegetable plants. Digital gardening is the next concept where we use digital software or mobile phone or laptops to design a place, a landscape area. Using the technological advancement, we can make use of the electronic devices to create designs, identify if the plants have any diseases or pests, etc. We can also find out if the particular plant is adaptive to the climate. A plant that is cultivated in Karnataka, if we want to cultivate it in Madhya Pradesh or Uttar Pradesh, we can know if the plants are climate adaptive ones that can be grown anywhere. When we talk about technological advancement, the first thing that comes to our mind is precision agriculture. These are agriculture techniques which use remote sensing, GPS, observation by drones, and computer monitored irrigation system, and complete control with computers. There is no need for any labour, and if needed very less labour is used. By using these means, we will be using less labour inputs, but we can get exact data, we can know where and how to use the fertilisers, when to give them, when to irrigate the plants. All these are controlled by the data produced by the software or GPS guided equipment, remote sensing, and observing with drones.
We all know about greenhouse. Earlier, we were using greenhouses for cultivating plants in cooled areas, creating suitable environment for plants etc. Now it has changed, the greenhouses are controlled completely by upgraded equipment, humidity controller, temperature controller, and irrigation management. We will now which irrigation management tool we should use, such as drip irrigation, and we will know the humidity, temperature, and control it according to the crops we have planted in the greenhouse. Greenhouse automation is coming in where we will be upgrading all the techniques with the latest ones and sensors to get the data exactly on how to control temperature, and humidity. We need to provide proper lights to the plants. So we use LED lights. We also use hydroponic and aquaponic techniques in ornamental horticulture. These are soilless cultivation techniques we use in nurseries in planting space, where we cultivate our plants in water and then to pots for better cultivation and ornamental practices. This method consumes less space and give high output. We can also control nutrient management and disease management with these techniques by applying water and growing them in water.
The biotechnical and genetic enhancement in ornamental sciences help us in creating hybrid plants, plants that are not native to the place. For the plants that we grow in Karnataka, we make some changes with the help of biotechnology and genetics so that they can adapt to the climate in Madhya Pradesh or Punjab. So we use these technologies to develop plants’ characters, create various colours, tolerance to disease, and resistant to any kind of problem. We can follow these in plants that have less resistance to diseases and remove these problems or incompatibility from plants to come up with disease-free plants, and climate resistant plants. Smart irrigation is a part of technologies such as GPS measures, drones, and remote sensors using computer software. We observe data using sensors, and according to the output, we can decide the irrigation. Thus, we can control soil erosion caused by excess of water and thereby control fungal diseases. Smart irrigation system is a part of precision farming. In this system, we can use mobile app to detect any problem in the plant. Plantix is an app that can be used to detect any problem in the crop that will cause stress and diseases. We can work on the treatment and solution for the problem. Vertical farming is using the vertical space for cultivation of flowers, vegetables, and other crops. Bio stimulants and Plant Growth Regulators are used for better growth of plants especially in landscaping. We can also stimulate the root, shoot, leaf growth, height and width using them so that we can set the plants according to the need and shape we want, according to the use, when and how we will be using it.
There are many challenges in ornamental horticulture. The first issue is pest and disease management. Most of the ornamental plants are cultivated using self-propagation method and are prone for pest and disease. There are diseases caused by soil, and many plants are very sensitive to viral and fungal diseases. Next is the environmental stress which is due to climate adaptability of the plants. The plants require a certain amount of temperature, humidity, and soil for growth. When we use climate adaptive plants, they can adapt to any climate and grow. If the climate is not suitable for the plant, it will dry. Ornamental plants need proper water management, cultivated using propagation method, and good water management is needed for this kind of cultivation as there will be issues like fungal diseases and water logging. This will affect the height, width, colour and many more. We have to manage how much, when, and how to give water to the plants, and at what intervals water should be given to plants.
When we talk about soil health, for a better agriculture practice, we can use crop rotation, such as growing cereals in the first season, then in the next season oil seeds, then legumes, pulses, and so on. The crop rotation will give the soil good nitrogen and health. We have to manage properly especially in ornamental horticulture. We have to apply fertilisers, FYM, manage soil practices in proper time to improve the fertility of the soil. When we talk about invasive species, we would have imported a crop as ornamental plant, and with excess growth, it changes into weed. So, when we go for invasive species, we have to identify which of these will grow faster and replicate that will affect our native plants. We have to control their population. Regulatory compliance comes into picture when we have to import plants. We have to quarantine them for sometime to observe if they carry any disease which will affect our plants through symptoms. We have to identify the activities and problems when we import plants from other places.
When it comes to labour intensity, ornamental horticulture sector is very much in need of labour. The plants need more care, observation, and practices to cultivate to grow better, and there should not be any spoilage of the plant. We have to manage them by planting at the right time, pruning at the correct time, give proper irrigation, and gauge how much we are giving. So, we need labour for this. When we have more than 7 acres of land with lawns, exotic plants, and palm trees, four or five people can mange this property at the same time. But we ned more labour and people to manage it fully. The challenge here is not everyone can afford computer applications, sensors, remote sensors to detect proper irrigation requirement, proper management, and complete care. So, we have to use labour to manage the property, the plants, and maintenance of the same. Such things can affect this sector very much.
Marketing and consumer preference are very important we have to see what we are looking for. It could be a landscaper to provide a design, or a gardener who provides plants and services, or an agency that targets the audience for development and maintenance. We should identify where we should give our efforts, time, and to get income from it. If people are conservative about landscaping and usage of space, we need not give the time in that space because we will know with some practices and efforts, the space can be made good. When we have the ambition to look for bigger place, to work for bigger property, and supply in larger amounts, we should identify the customer and his requirement. We should find out if he needs assistance in planting material or any kind of services, cut flowers or loose ones, plants, or any other service. So we have to identify our audience properly to give the customer our time and effort.
Ornamental horticulture is basically a branch of horticulture dealing with cultivation of ornamental plants which include herbs, trees, and annual plants, than just cultivating medicinal plants or such crops. We cultivate flowers in this type of horticulture. Nowadays we can see edible gardens where we can see plants used for food and ornamental purposes. We study a lot of flowers, trees which are biennial or perennial. India is witnessing growing demand for ornamental sector. Indian culture requires flowers for every occasion, and now we see demand for beautiful flowering plants, decorative ones in offices to garden, walking space to public spaces. Indian environment is so adaptive, we can cultivate any plant to suit our environment, be it harsh or soft plant. We have lot of export potential also for cut and loose flowers.
Karnataka is the leading state in floriculture with 15.85% followed by Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, and West Bengal. During 2021-22, the flower production was done in 284 thousand ha with production of 833 thousand tons of loose flowers and 2295 thousand tons of cut flowers. Earlier, we used flowering plants to decorate our spaces and homes, and now we are looking at sustainable practices which is to reduce use of chemicals thereby reduce expenditure too. These practices are less expensive and affordable to one and all. We use less chemicals for soil health, use organic pesticide, and we are moving towards organic farming which includes flower production too. Native plant landscaping is designing landscape with native plants which are of Indian origin. We have started using our native plants which are blooming always and evergreen.
We also think of pollinator friendly garden which attract bees, butterflies, and humming birds, and we use such flowers to attract them and create opportunity for them to survive. When we say urban greening, we think of incorporating our space with vegetation such as roof gardens, vertical gardens, etc. We have less places for cultivation as we are moving towards commercialisation, with lands converted into large buildings and construction sites. So we will have less soil to cultivate plants, grow vegetables or flowers. In such cases, we are planning to use our walls and empty spaces for cultivation by vertical gardening. Here we have two concepts, one is bio wall and the other one is vertical gardening. Bio wall is connected with ornamental plants, connected with walls while in vertical gardening, we can grow all kinds of plants. In a pollinator garden there are lots of flowers to attract insects, and we have space for walking. Some native plants like milk wort, spider wort, birds foot, Malabar lily, and ceropegia and jeemikanda are grown. We are promoting our plants and other inputs like material, fertilisers, implements, technology, and modern concepts to the world. We are trying to export our native plants and do landscaping using plants like Malabar Lily.
Bio wall and vertical gardening have been done in Indore IIT. Bio wall is done for decorative purpose with different logos and designs. The difference between the two is bio wall is done by using empty space or wall and vertical gardening is done in space used for cultivation and indoor. Biophilic design is the emerging trend now where a forest or garden is created inside a building. We use plants that require less sunlight and use LED lights to give them proper light for growth. We can also use native plants that give lush flowers, ever green, and vibrant to enhance the beauty of our spaces and gardens. In edible landscaping, we use plants that look beautiful and also give food, such as salad leaves.
When we talk about micro gardening, it is a unique concept trending now. We can use small spaces or small office spaces for cultivating indoor plants and vegetable plants. Digital gardening is the next concept where we use digital software or mobile phone or laptops to design a place, a landscape area. Using the technological advancement, we can make use of the electronic devices to create designs, identify if the plants have any diseases or pests, etc. We can also find out if the particular plant is adaptive to the climate. A plant that is cultivated in Karnataka, if we want to cultivate it in Madhya Pradesh or Uttar Pradesh, we can know if the plants are climate adaptive ones that can be grown anywhere. When we talk about technological advancement, the first thing that comes to our mind is precision agriculture. These are agriculture techniques which use remote sensing, GPS, observation by drones, and computer monitored irrigation system, and complete control with computers. There is no need for any labour, and if needed very less labour is used. By using these means, we will be using less labour inputs, but we can get exact data, we can know where and how to use the fertilisers, when to give them, when to irrigate the plants. All these are controlled by the data produced by the software or GPS guided equipment, remote sensing, and observing with drones.
We all know about greenhouse. Earlier, we were using greenhouses for cultivating plants in cooled areas, creating suitable environment for plants etc. Now it has changed, the greenhouses are controlled completely by upgraded equipment, humidity controller, temperature controller, and irrigation management. We will now which irrigation management tool we should use, such as drip irrigation, and we will know the humidity, temperature, and control it according to the crops we have planted in the greenhouse. Greenhouse automation is coming in where we will be upgrading all the techniques with the latest ones and sensors to get the data exactly on how to control temperature, and humidity. We need to provide proper lights to the plants. So we use LED lights. We also use hydroponic and aquaponic techniques in ornamental horticulture. These are soilless cultivation techniques we use in nurseries in planting space, where we cultivate our plants in water and then to pots for better cultivation and ornamental practices. This method consumes less space and give high output. We can also control nutrient management and disease management with these techniques by applying water and growing them in water.
The biotechnical and genetic enhancement in ornamental sciences help us in creating hybrid plants, plants that are not native to the place. For the plants that we grow in Karnataka, we make some changes with the help of biotechnology and genetics so that they can adapt to the climate in Madhya Pradesh or Punjab. So we use these technologies to develop plants’ characters, create various colours, tolerance to disease, and resistant to any kind of problem. We can follow these in plants that have less resistance to diseases and remove these problems or incompatibility from plants to come up with disease-free plants, and climate resistant plants. Smart irrigation is a part of technologies such as GPS measures, drones, and remote sensors using computer software. We observe data using sensors, and according to the output, we can decide the irrigation. Thus, we can control soil erosion caused by excess of water and thereby control fungal diseases. Smart irrigation system is a part of precision farming. In this system, we can use mobile app to detect any problem in the plant. Plantix is an app that can be used to detect any problem in the crop that will cause stress and diseases. We can work on the treatment and solution for the problem. Vertical farming is using the vertical space for cultivation of flowers, vegetables, and other crops. Bio stimulants and Plant Growth Regulators are used for better growth of plants especially in landscaping. We can also stimulate the root, shoot, leaf growth, height and width using them so that we can set the plants according to the need and shape we want, according to the use, when and how we will be using it.
There are many challenges in ornamental horticulture. The first issue is pest and disease management. Most of the ornamental plants are cultivated using self-propagation method and are prone for pest and disease. There are diseases caused by soil, and many plants are very sensitive to viral and fungal diseases. Next is the environmental stress which is due to climate adaptability of the plants. The plants require a certain amount of temperature, humidity, and soil for growth. When we use climate adaptive plants, they can adapt to any climate and grow. If the climate is not suitable for the plant, it will dry. Ornamental plants need proper water management, cultivated using propagation method, and good water management is needed for this kind of cultivation as there will be issues like fungal diseases and water logging. This will affect the height, width, colour and many more. We have to manage how much, when, and how to give water to the plants, and at what intervals water should be given to plants.
When we talk about soil health, for a better agriculture practice, we can use crop rotation, such as growing cereals in the first season, then in the next season oil seeds, then legumes, pulses, and so on. The crop rotation will give the soil good nitrogen and health. We have to manage properly especially in ornamental horticulture. We have to apply fertilisers, FYM, manage soil practices in proper time to improve the fertility of the soil. When we talk about invasive species, we would have imported a crop as ornamental plant, and with excess growth, it changes into weed. So, when we go for invasive species, we have to identify which of these will grow faster and replicate that will affect our native plants. We have to control their population. Regulatory compliance comes into picture when we have to import plants. We have to quarantine them for sometime to observe if they carry any disease which will affect our plants through symptoms. We have to identify the activities and problems when we import plants from other places.
When it comes to labour intensity, ornamental horticulture sector is very much in need of labour. The plants need more care, observation, and practices to cultivate to grow better, and there should not be any spoilage of the plant. We have to manage them by planting at the right time, pruning at the correct time, give proper irrigation, and gauge how much we are giving. So, we need labour for this. When we have more than 7 acres of land with lawns, exotic plants, and palm trees, four or five people can mange this property at the same time. But we ned more labour and people to manage it fully. The challenge here is not everyone can afford computer applications, sensors, remote sensors to detect proper irrigation requirement, proper management, and complete care. So, we have to use labour to manage the property, the plants, and maintenance of the same. Such things can affect this sector very much.
Marketing and consumer preference are very important we have to see what we are looking for. It could be a landscaper to provide a design, or a gardener who provides plants and services, or an agency that targets the audience for development and maintenance. We should identify where we should give our efforts, time, and to get income from it. If people are conservative about landscaping and usage of space, we need not give the time in that space because we will know with some practices and efforts, the space can be made good. When we have the ambition to look for bigger place, to work for bigger property, and supply in larger amounts, we should identify the customer and his requirement. We should find out if he needs assistance in planting material or any kind of services, cut flowers or loose ones, plants, or any other service. So we have to identify our audience properly to give the customer our time and effort.
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