Growing orchids on the roof brings in half a billion dongs a year
The cultivation of orchids on balconies, terraces or roofs is probably an unknown model in the orchid world of Vietnam. However, for this model to truly deliver sustainable economic value, homeowners must show passion, invest boldly and, most importantly, gain experience to keep innovating the orchid cultivation model.
dr Tran Ngoc Dien, Standing Committee of the Union of Orchid Production and Business Associations of Vietnam, said that the characteristics of orchids are airy, with appropriate humidity and light, especially not too wet. When caring for and watering.
An orchid garden was planted on the roof, bringing his family Lam Khuong Quyen an income of half a billion dongs a year. Picture: its metal.
Located in an alley on Tran Quang Dieu Street in Binh Thuy District (Can Tho City), the 500-sqm Lam Khuong Quyen Rooftop Orchid Garden is sought after by many people in search of various baskets of orchids.
Visiting the garden, Mr. Dien concluded that the Anh Quyen Orchid Garden is quite professionally landscaped and very suitable for the growth and development conditions of orchids. Growing orchids brings certain economic benefits to gardeners in addition to passion and fulfillment of entertainment needs, making orchids an effective business product. The Union of Vietnam Orchid Production and Business Associations creates many conditions for the development of orchid growers, thus creating value for orchids, which are gradually exported.
Currently, Mr. Quyen owns about 5,000 orchid pots with more than 50 species, from traditional forest orchids and phalaenopsis orchids to extremely attractive dendro orchids on the market, such as. B. Old Red Yellow, Red Yellow 5%, Fire Orange, Fireworks Pink and Purple Red…
According to Mr. Quyen, the dendro orchid lineage is not exclusive, but in Can Tho city, the amount supplied to the market is very small because the successful reproduction rate of this flower lineage is quite slow compared to wild orchids. Propagation is carried out only by taking seedlings directly from the mother plant, with the number of propagations reaching only 5-6 seedlings. Dendro orchids are now loved by many people for their variety of colors and ease of care.
Currently, Mr. Quyen owns about 5,000 orchid pots with more than 50 species ranging from traditional forest orchids to phalaenopsis orchids to the most attractive dendro orchids on the market. Picture: its metal.
As a civil engineer with a “horizontal hand”, he devoted himself passionately to growing orchids. In 2016-2017, Mr. Quyen began building an orchid garden on the scale of a small garden corner. Little by little, after many years of market research and understanding the psychology of orchid lovers, he began to expand his garden, divided into several phases with orchids of different sizes, imported and propagated. In it, he chose the Dendro line of orchids as the main variety of the garden.
So far, his orchid garden has built the “Kuong Quyen Orchid Garden” brand to penetrate the orchid business and create economic value for the family.
Currently, Khuong Quyen Orchid Garden delivers an average of 100 to 200 pots of orchids to the market in most provinces of the country every month. The retail price of each pot ranges from a few hundred thousand dongs to tens of millions of dongs, giving his family an annual turnover of half a billion dongs.
Speaking about the idea of building an orchid garden on the roof, Mr. Quyen said: The model of growing orchids on the roof is very appropriate in the context of today’s high urbanization. In particular, the right direction of Can Tho City is to develop urban agriculture, promote the use of high technology, save costs and increase economic efficiency.
Dendro orchids are loved by many people for their variety of colors, ease of care, and affordable prices. Picture: its metal.
Compared to the method of growing orchids underground, Mr. Quyen said, “Initially, he decided to plant underground because orchids are very well hydrated.” However, the environmental conditions around many trees as well as the amount of Wind and sunshine are no guarantee for stable growth. Meanwhile, the characteristics of orchids are like sun and wind. After a period of research, he decided to create an orchid garden on the roof to both utilize the empty space and create the best growing conditions for orchids.
Automated technology, significant savings in capital costs
Garden design is one of the important steps that decide the success or failure of developing an orchid garden. The orchid garden must be safe and stable and able to withstand storms.
A technology with its own design idea for the orchid garden is a system of 40 upgraded, light-powered, energy-saving cooling fans installed throughout the garden. Equipped with a spray system whose main purpose is to moisten the soil in the orchid garden on hot days.
According to Quyen’s experience, orchids like a humid environment, however growers must ensure that the substrate is not wet as this can easily lead to disease. In the garden he also integrates a fully automatic watering and fertilizer spraying system that is pre-programmed and controlled via a mobile phone to ensure the orchids are fully watered at the right time every other day and replenished in time when the flowers need it.
The process of managing and caring for the orchid garden is integrated into an automatic remote control system via a mobile phone. Picture: its metal.
In addition, Mr. Quyen also regularly adds NPK fertilizer in combination with spraying mushrooms to prevent diseases and create all the conditions for the plants to have enough nutrients to grow, “capture” the sun and wind, and the beautiful leaves and stems remain. , z year-round flowers.
Orchids are considered easy to grow, easy to care for, but quite “flashy” when it rains. Therefore, Mr. Quyen took the initiative to invest in an extendable canvas house system with flexible properties. The advantage of this system is that during heavy rain the gardener can control and retract the tarpaulin but still receive light for the orchids while also being able to regulate the amount of rain that can enter the orchid pots in the garden. This design avoids waterlogging and root rot and greatly reduces spraying and pest control costs.
“After many years of work, I understand and understand the peculiarities of the flower garden, its needs and shortcomings, which I can adjust and supplement accordingly,” Mr. Quyen confided.
In addition, the orchid garden is equipped with an iron frame system, potted plants and hanging devices are also fixed with iron, the net surrounding the garden is equipped with a solid fence and stable B40 net. In addition, the orchid pots are uniform in size and spaced appropriately to ensure ventilation. Thanks to his bold investment, Mr. Quyen saves significant labor costs, takes the initiative in supervising and managing the orchid garden, and most importantly, has free time to focus on developing more business models.
Visitors come to admire Quyen’s orchid garden. Picture: its metal.
According to Mr. Quyen, his model is believed to be the first large-scale rooftop orchid garden in the western region. Many people interested in investing in a similar model have come to him to learn garden design techniques.
Depending on the investment budget and the area of the roof or terrace, any garden can be designed in the range of 40-100m2. Currently, in Can Tho city, the model of the rooftop orchid garden has been replicated on a small scale in about 20 gardens.
Currently, Mr. Quyen is expanding the size of the garden to over 300m² on the roof and planting 8,000 to 10,000 more pots of orchids to ensure a large and stable supply to the market.