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“I was working in London in IT Industry for 10years. I was always passionate towards agriculture. I was planning for some floriculture venture when in job hence was looking out for the suitable farmland. I could procure the desired land near Hyderabad and in July 2012, I started open cultivation of rose farming,” Mr. Srinivas Reddy describes briefly on his journey from an IT professional to floriculturist. Before commencing rose cultivation he analyzed the markets of Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi meticulously and found demand of flower to be much more than the vegetables! Further, vibrant colour of flowers and passion swayed him to be an agripreneur.
Mr. Reddy is doing business in partnership with Mr. Ram Patil. Rs. 1.6crores was the capital investment made with subsidy of 75% from State Government. The farm spreads in 80acres, near Hyderabad. Also there is a poly house in additional 10 acre area. When asked him on opting for poly house farming instead of open cultivation, he responds, “The profit attained in the open cultivation was much less because it was labour oriented work. Our neighbouring elder farmers were into floriculture in poly house and were doing good! So we thought of following their footsteps.”
Gerbera, chrysanthemum and carnation are the flowers grown in the farm. “In Gerbera we are cultivating plants of three companies, who provide us TC plants like Monte Planta from Portugal, B & B from Spain and Flourist from Netherlands. Chrysanthemum, we have spray variety,” he shares.
Saplings are bought from Rise N Shine, Pune and Baroda. Including transportation it costs Rs. 35/gerbera plant. Imported carnation stem costs Rs. 13/plant from Pune and chrysanthemum is sourced from Nasik and Ooty. It can be cultivated in the temperature upto 35 degrees.
60-70 days after transplanting the saplings, it flowers till 3-4 years in case of gerbera while carnation is imported from Spain and gets rooted from Pune. Plants starts flowering after 100 days and it come in flashes runs till 2-3 years depending on the pruning, temperature and climate. “It flowers then we need to cut the stem and then again it flashes. Chrysanthemum is a 3month crop. We have to remove it after 3 months,” informs Mr. Reddy.
Speaking about row-row and plant-plant distance maintained, Mr. Reddy explains, “In gerbera spacing is 30cmx30cm. In one acre we can accommodate 24,000 plants. Chrysanthemum is 1.6 - 2 lakhs saplings/acre that is in 1 sq.mtwe put 60-100plants and carnation 80,000 plants in an acre.”
Gerbera yields 60 flowers per year. “Chrysanthemum one stem and we have to cut the stem and pack it. It has multiple stem on plant. Carnation in every flush it comes around 4-5flowers.
Gerbera 3000 flowers per day or 12lakhs/year. Carnation is 10lakh flowers/year. Chrysanthemum is a 3 month and flowers depend on the number of plants,” he elaborates.
Flowers are plucked before 8 am, stored in water filled bucket and kept in the AC room. These are sold in Andhra Pradesh and Delhi market primarily. Gerbera is sold at Rs. 3-6/flower, chrysanthemum at Rs. 80-100/bunch (8-10stems) and carnation at Rs. 4-5/flower. These are despatched in corrugated boxes. “Gerbera has a plastic sleeve for each flower, carnation is wrapped in butter paper, chrysanthemum in plastic envelop. Gerbera goes in Dakshin Express Train and it takes 36hours to reach Delhi. We take care of flowers in such a way that it will not be damaged,” he asserts. Flowers are plucked according to the order received. Minimum quantity of 10 boxes is supplied.
Water soluble fertilizers are used in the farm. “Chemical fertilizers like 90:90:90 (NPK), 12:61:00, used in the basic stage of growth (leafy stage). 13:0:45 at the flowering stage, 0:52:34 and 0:0:50. These are all basic NPK fertilizers. Apart from this we use micro nutrient mix as well,” he says.
Pesticides are used for red mites, thrips, caterpillar and leaf miner. “Different pesticides are available in the market and we change them accordingly so that the insect do not become resistant to any of the pesticides. It is mixed with water and sprayed,” he explains. Drip irrigation is used for watering the plants.
High temperature in summer, fluctuating demand and price, bacterial plights and bit of pests like thrips are the challenges faced. To cope with the same, “We do the timely identification of pests and diseases. Prevention is much better than cure. We have automized the watering of plants to the correct quantity. Besides fertilizer spray is done precisely to reduce the error. We have also reduced the labour,” he states.
Future plans are expansion into flowers and fruits cultivation. “We are going for the extension in 20acres. It is still under construction. We shall soon have orchids farming. In another 50acres we are making the farmland ready for high density fruit cultivation namely mango, guava and custard apple,” signs off Mr. Reddy.
Contact details:
Mr. Srinivas Reddy
Solipeta Gramam,
Bommalaramaram Mandalam,
Nalgonda District, Telangana
Mobile: 09705105200
Email: dasrinu@gmail.com
Mr. Reddy is doing business in partnership with Mr. Ram Patil. Rs. 1.6crores was the capital investment made with subsidy of 75% from State Government. The farm spreads in 80acres, near Hyderabad. Also there is a poly house in additional 10 acre area. When asked him on opting for poly house farming instead of open cultivation, he responds, “The profit attained in the open cultivation was much less because it was labour oriented work. Our neighbouring elder farmers were into floriculture in poly house and were doing good! So we thought of following their footsteps.”
Gerbera, chrysanthemum and carnation are the flowers grown in the farm. “In Gerbera we are cultivating plants of three companies, who provide us TC plants like Monte Planta from Portugal, B & B from Spain and Flourist from Netherlands. Chrysanthemum, we have spray variety,” he shares.
Saplings are bought from Rise N Shine, Pune and Baroda. Including transportation it costs Rs. 35/gerbera plant. Imported carnation stem costs Rs. 13/plant from Pune and chrysanthemum is sourced from Nasik and Ooty. It can be cultivated in the temperature upto 35 degrees.
60-70 days after transplanting the saplings, it flowers till 3-4 years in case of gerbera while carnation is imported from Spain and gets rooted from Pune. Plants starts flowering after 100 days and it come in flashes runs till 2-3 years depending on the pruning, temperature and climate. “It flowers then we need to cut the stem and then again it flashes. Chrysanthemum is a 3month crop. We have to remove it after 3 months,” informs Mr. Reddy.
Speaking about row-row and plant-plant distance maintained, Mr. Reddy explains, “In gerbera spacing is 30cmx30cm. In one acre we can accommodate 24,000 plants. Chrysanthemum is 1.6 - 2 lakhs saplings/acre that is in 1 sq.mtwe put 60-100plants and carnation 80,000 plants in an acre.”
Gerbera yields 60 flowers per year. “Chrysanthemum one stem and we have to cut the stem and pack it. It has multiple stem on plant. Carnation in every flush it comes around 4-5flowers.
Gerbera 3000 flowers per day or 12lakhs/year. Carnation is 10lakh flowers/year. Chrysanthemum is a 3 month and flowers depend on the number of plants,” he elaborates.
Flowers are plucked before 8 am, stored in water filled bucket and kept in the AC room. These are sold in Andhra Pradesh and Delhi market primarily. Gerbera is sold at Rs. 3-6/flower, chrysanthemum at Rs. 80-100/bunch (8-10stems) and carnation at Rs. 4-5/flower. These are despatched in corrugated boxes. “Gerbera has a plastic sleeve for each flower, carnation is wrapped in butter paper, chrysanthemum in plastic envelop. Gerbera goes in Dakshin Express Train and it takes 36hours to reach Delhi. We take care of flowers in such a way that it will not be damaged,” he asserts. Flowers are plucked according to the order received. Minimum quantity of 10 boxes is supplied.
Water soluble fertilizers are used in the farm. “Chemical fertilizers like 90:90:90 (NPK), 12:61:00, used in the basic stage of growth (leafy stage). 13:0:45 at the flowering stage, 0:52:34 and 0:0:50. These are all basic NPK fertilizers. Apart from this we use micro nutrient mix as well,” he says.
Pesticides are used for red mites, thrips, caterpillar and leaf miner. “Different pesticides are available in the market and we change them accordingly so that the insect do not become resistant to any of the pesticides. It is mixed with water and sprayed,” he explains. Drip irrigation is used for watering the plants.
High temperature in summer, fluctuating demand and price, bacterial plights and bit of pests like thrips are the challenges faced. To cope with the same, “We do the timely identification of pests and diseases. Prevention is much better than cure. We have automized the watering of plants to the correct quantity. Besides fertilizer spray is done precisely to reduce the error. We have also reduced the labour,” he states.
Future plans are expansion into flowers and fruits cultivation. “We are going for the extension in 20acres. It is still under construction. We shall soon have orchids farming. In another 50acres we are making the farmland ready for high density fruit cultivation namely mango, guava and custard apple,” signs off Mr. Reddy.
Contact details:
Mr. Srinivas Reddy
Solipeta Gramam,
Bommalaramaram Mandalam,
Nalgonda District, Telangana
Mobile: 09705105200
Email: dasrinu@gmail.com
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