"Pune... Hi-Tech Floriculture Project at city-based College of Agriculture procured 4,000 saplings of orchids from Aurangabad five months ago, it was a first for the city considering orchids are not grown here. Only four acres of land in Maharashtra are under orchid cultivation.
Yet, the demand for this... flower is high. Over 50 per cent of the demand in the city is met with by imports,... said project manager Anand A Chaugule. Grown over 500 square metres of land at the college campus, this is a demonstration project set up to extend this technology to farmers. Unlike other plants, orchids... grow in coconut shells at the campus... though brick pieces and charcoal can also be used. The roots take in moisture from the air while the plants grow best in shade houses where the light is reduced and maintained at the level of 25,000 lux, said Chaugule. At the campus, black nets are used to maintain the light intensity, while misters which sprinkle water are used to regulate the humidity. ... We used flowering plants already a year old for demonstration purposes... he said, adding that the project is in fact targeted at nearly 3,000 farmers across the state who are into these flowers. One reason why there are so few takers is that the waiting period before the plant flowers is about a year. Further, each plant will flower up to three times till the third year. From the third year onwards though, it can go up to six times... ... "... The production cost is less compared to the other plants while the saleability of orchids and the demand for the flower is good, said Chaugule. ... orchids have a shelf life of 15-30 days. This is what the project aims to show." URL : http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=252796 *************** Regards, VB _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) [email protected] http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
