Early end of flowers

The freesias were very late flowering this year and as we have had a very warm spring many of the flowers all flowered at the same time giving a shorter season.

I must admit the greenhouse did look beautiful with an abundance of flowers but as most of the florists in New Zealand will tell you the economy has had a flow on effect and it means a lot less flowers have been purchased.

Unfornately flowers are at the bottom of the chain for household expenses so I certainly didnt sell as manyu as I should of but I will now nurse the bulbs along and hopefully have a better season with selling the excess bulbs.

Brenda Baker  Livinrural

Its been another successful season selling my freesia corms .

Its also been an unusual season as I would of had around the

 same amount of bulbs as in past seasons but this year I ran out with

another month of possible selling .

I guarantee that if I had of had the amount I have estimated that I would of

sold (if I had more) , it wouldn’t of happened that way.

My plants for the next season are growing really well so I will get some more photos

and show them on here.

Since the end of January I have been selling these bulbs very successfully on the New Zealand Trade Me ecomerce platform.I also have a listing on the dubli.com trading platform.

I sell them in lots of 100 and mixed colours.

Sadly I can only sell them in New Zealand with export restrictions and distance from international markets.

Once sold I package the bulbs up and courier them out to their final destination.

The freesia bulb will look a picture in any garden as they are vibrant colours and really look spectacular with  close plantings. The smell alone makes then worth while and  when I have them inside my house visitors tell me how lovely it is when they walk in the door.

I have my greenhouse divided into rows and I try to keep the colours separated as much as possible.

Planting in my area is completed by the end of January although it is best to stagnate plantings especially for supply to florists , but I find that by the end of spring the customers go for other types of flowers so I tend to cut my supply to florists at the end of October.As the bulbs don’t all grow at the same time I find I can plant all at the same time and this gives me enough over the time I want to sell them.

I plant around 60 -100 per tray depending on the size and they are planted approx 25cm deep  with the points upwards

Freesias don’t require a lot of nutrient so I provide this nutrient via the watering system as it is needed.

Once the bulbs are in the soil and covered I give them a good watering  and make sure I keep the soil damp to stimulate them to start growing .

 December is a busy time as the plants have now died down

and the bulbs now need to be lifted and divided.

All dead plant debri needs to be removed .

My freesia are in trays so each tray is tipped

up and all plant material taken out and separated

into bulbs for sale, replanting material and the rest

is disposed of

I reuse my growing media so once it has all plant material

removed from it the tray is refilled then placed back on the

growing bed

I store the lifted bulbs in a cool dry place until they are

sold or replanted