Let’s talk about the power of the “pinch”! While we are all gearing up for the most wonderful time of the year, our valiant rose farmers have other things on their minds. For them, it's “pinching season” for the upcoming Valentine’s holiday, which means it's time to get down and dirty to care for their rose plants.
The pinching of roses is the process of snipping the basal stems, forcing the plant to redirect its energy into growing multiple shoots instead of one. Thus increasing the production of stems in November, December, and January resulting in enough roses to meet consumers' needs for Valentine’s Day. For flower farms, this process is key to their continued success, with multiple blooms being produced for optimum returns. The plants not only produce more flowers with straighter, sturdier stems, but pinching also creates a fuller, healthier plant. This allows each plant to produce the maximum number of premium blooms per square foot of growing space. This crucial task is also the reason why the supply of red roses in December is limited, as most of the plants have been pinched.
Think of the manual work and long hours it takes farmers to pinch every plant!
Time is key in the farming trade. For the farmers who grow the majority of the roses we will need for Valentine’s Day, they will be pinching from the end of October through November, with the outcome of their labors not starting to bloom until around the end of January, just in time for Valentine’s Day. But of course it’s not as simple as clip and wait.
Rose farmers have to factor in each variety’s specific needs and the nutrients that will be required for each plant. They have to consider their specific micro-climate, which determines the rate of vegetative growth and the speed in which blooms will develop. The agronomists at the farms also have to monitor the plants for signs of diseases such as Powdery Mildew and Botrytis and take appropriate counter-measures. This is all to say, farming is hard and pinching is hard and all this is just well…hard.
So why am I writing a blog post about pinching for floral professionals? One, because it’s cool to learn stuff about how the flowers we love and sell to you are grown. This is one of those “the more you know” moments. But really it’s to shine a light on something you might not have realized is a vital part of your flower's journey. To get that special flower into your hands, it's more than just letting a plant grow. It’s time, effort and care on the part of not only us as wholesalers but that of the farmers and laborers who dedicate their lives to the health of their plants.
And it’s really fun to say “pinch” so many times.
Thanks to Mayesh’s David Dahlson & AMAZING Purchasing Team for the insights!