The Art of Orchid Growing
The Art of Orchid Growing
From Hawaii to Nepal, orchid growing is practiced by hundreds of thousands of enthusiasts and businesses. In the United States alone millions of individual blooms and stems are used by florists and designers every year, if not daily. The amount of plants needed to feed this market is astronomical. It is not surprising that growing orchids is one of the most popular forms of commercial horticulture in the world today. Orchid growing is big business, requiring substantial investment to do it right.
The Business of Orchid Growing
The first step in growing orchids is to decide which orchids one is going to grow and to what degree of sophistication you are going to operate. You will need to decide whether your focus is on mass producing market favorites or growing that one orchid that will forever have you named in the books.
When you have decided as to the level you want your business to start with, you should consider the budgeting issues. Starting an orchid growing business may take a substantial amount of money, and you should probably plan for minimum income for the first year or so. That means that your orchid growing business should plan to see some operating returns in the second year of operation. Then you should decide how you are going to finance the dream. Once you have made that decision and been successful in the acquisition of the needed capital, the next step is to implement your dream.
Implementing the Dream
For orchid growing this may be easier said than done, particularly if your only land options require the use of uncultivated land. You will need to determine whether the native soils are of any use, and if not, to decide how you are going to provide the ecosystem that your orchids will need. Hopefully these were considerations in your financing proposals, otherwise you orchid growing business may be dead before ever getting off the ground.
If there are not natural waterways you will need to determine how best to bring the required water to the growing beds or pots and planters. This may require some fairly extensive purchases and perhaps the development of a local water storage system to reduce your dependence on public water. Again, these should be elements in the financing plan. Local water storage will reduce the overhead costs to some degree. If you are trying for a year-around environment you may need greenhouses and a plant heating system as well. This all depends on the varieties of the orchids you are caring for and the extent of your plans.