Friday, May 23, 2008

Mengenal Anggrek

Orchidaceae adalah keluarga paling besar dari semua keluarga-keluarga tumbuhan. Sampai saat ini, lebih dari 30,000 jenis dari anggrek-anggrek dalam beberapa 750 jenis telah dikenali. Tumbuhan ini ditemukan di mana-mana di diseantero jagat raya, kecuali di dalam daerah-daerah padang pasir dan polar. Bahkan sampai hari ini, masih ada jenis baru masih yang ditemukan. Variasi yang luar biasa dari anggrek membuat bunga-bunga menarik ini tumbuh menjadi satu aktivitas luar biasa populer di seluruh dunia.

Tanaman Keluarga anggrek dikenali atas dasar struktur bunganya yang unik. Mereka semua mempunyai tiga kelopak daun dan tiga daun bunga, salah satu dari yang dimodifikasi ke dalam satu bibir bunga. Tambah lagi, alih-alih mempunyai satu benang sari dan putik, mereka mempunyai satu kolum yang menjadi tanda betina dan jantan.

Kebiasaan-kebiasaan dan pola-pola dari pertumbuhan
Anggrek-anggrek secara luas dapat dibagi menjadi tiga kebiasaan pertumbuhan. Adalah penting untuk mengetahui kelompok mereka, sebab mereka masing-masing mempunyai persyaratan-persyaratan berbeda.

*Anggrek-anggrek terestrial mengakar di tanah dengan akar mereka di dalam lapisan paling atas dari humus. Kebanyakan anggrek-anggrek di kategori ini adalah dari daerah-daerah hangat. Walaupun berkembang dalam daerah beriklim panas, jenis Paphiopedilum menjadi anggota di kelompok ini.

*Anggrek-anggrek epifit tumbuh pada tumbuhan lain, walaupun mereka bukan parasit. Mereka adalah kebanyakan berasal dari daerah beriklim panas. Phalaenopsis dan Cattleya jenis masuk kelompok ini.

*anggrek-anggrek Lithophytic berkembang dalam di pecahan batu karang. Jenis Laelia merupakan jenis tumbuhan ini.

Anggrek-anggrek boleh juga digolongkan menurut pola mereka dari pertumbuhan. Ada dua kategori: anggrek-anggrek monoploidal dan simpodial.

*Anggrek-anggrek simpodial menghasilkan tunas-tunas baru dari tumbuhan yang lama. Mereka kembangkan umbi semu, yaitu. bagian-bagian dari batang-batang mereka yang membesar untuk menyimpan bahan gizi dan air. Struktur-struktur ini mengijinkan mereka untuk bertahan selama musim kering. Cymbidium dan Cattleya masuk kategori ini.


*Anggrek-anggrek monoploidal tumbuh tiap tahun dari batang-batang yang sudah ada. Anggrek-anggrek ini tidak menghasilkan umbi semu. Anggrek-anggrek monoploidal tidak mempunyai periode istirahat seperti simpodial. Phalaenopsis dan Vanda tercakup di kategori ini.

Compost improves soil fertility

Compost is a combination of organic matter and/or manure, which has decomposed until it resembles a rich soil. Compost is a beautiful, nutritious food for your plants and the key to a healthy organic garden.

Compost can be purchased at the store or nursery or made easily at home. Compost is made from things that would otherwise be thrown away. Compost is one of nature's best mulches and soil amendments, and you can use it instead of commercial fertilizers. Best of all, compost is cheap. You can make it without spending a cent. Using compost improves soil structure, texture, and aeration and increases the soil's water-holding capacity. Compost loosens clay soils and helps sandy soils retain water. Adding compost improves soil fertility and stimulates healthy root development in plants. The organic matter provided in compost provides food for microorganisms, which keeps the soil in a healthy, balanced condition. Nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus will be produced naturally by the feeding of microorganisms, so few if any soil amendments will need to be added.Nearly all soil structure problems you may have can be solved by adding compost. Compost aids drainage, stores water well, allows for airflow and encourages earthworms and other helpful organisms and microorganisms. While compost may be just about the perfect consistency for successful growth, it still must be mixed with soil within your garden.

To gain all of the benefits of compost, only a small amount is needed. Spread compost over your entire garden in a layer that is two to three inches thick. Do this only once, at the beginning of the planting season. Be sure to cover your beds with mulch in the winter to retain nutrients.

Making Compost
Compost can range from passive - allowing the materials to sit and rot on their own - to highly managed. Whenever you intervene in the process, you're managing the compost. How you compost is determined by your goal. If you're eager to produce as much compost as possible to use regularly in your garden, you may opt for a more hands-on method of composting. If your goal is to dispose of yard waste, a passive method is your answer.

Passive composting involves the least amount of time and energy on your part. This is done by collecting organic materials in a freestanding pile. It might take a long time (a year or two), but eventually organic materials in any type of a pile will break down into finished compost. More attractive than a big pile of materials sitting in your yard is a 3-sided enclosure made of fencing, wire, or concrete blocks, which keeps the pile neater and less unsightly. Add grass clippings, leaves, and kitchen scraps (always cover these with 8" of other material). The pile will shrink quickly as the materials compress and decompose. Wait a year or two before checking the bottom of the bin for finished compost. When it's ready, shovel the bottom section into a wheelbarrow and add it to your garden beds. Continue to add greens and browns to have a good supply of finished compost at the ready. After the first few years, most simple piles produce a few cubic feet of finished compost yearly.

Managed composting involves active participation, ranging from turning the pile occasionally to a major commitment of time and energy. If you use all the techniques of managing the pile, you can get finished compost in 3-4 weeks. Choose the techniques that reflect how much you want to intervene in the decomposition process and that will be a function of how fast you want to produce compost.

The speed with which you produce finished compost will be determined by how you collect materials, whether you chop them up, how you mix them together, and so on. Achieving a good balance of carbon and nitrogen is easier if you build the pile all at once. Layering is traditional, but mixing the materials works as well.

Shredded organic materials heat up rapidly, decompose quickly, and produce a uniform compost. The decomposition rate increases with the size of the composting materials. If you want the pile to decay faster, chop up large fibrous materials.

You can add new materials on an ongoing basis to an already established pile. Most single-bin gardeners build an initial pile and add more ingredients on top as they become available.

The temperature of the managed pile is important - it indicates the activity of the decomposition process. The easiest way to track the temperature inside the pile is by feeling it. If it is warm or hot, everything is fine. If it is the same temperature as the outside air, the microbial activity has slowed down and you need to add more nitrogen (green) materials such as grass clippings, kitchen waste, or manure.

Use a compost thermometer to easily see how well your compost is doing. They are inexpensive, and quite convenient to have.

If the pile becomes too dry, the decay process will slow down. Organic waste needs water to decompose. The rule of thumb is to keep the pile as moist as a wrung-out sponge.

If you're building your pile with very wet materials, mix them with dry materials as you build. If all the material is very dry, soak it with a hose as you build. Whenever you turn the pile, check it for moisture and add water as necessary.

Too much water is just as detrimental as the lack of water. In an overly wet pile, water replaces the air, creating an anaerobic environment, slowing decomposition.

Air circulation is an important element in a compost pile. Most of the organisms that decompose organic matter are aerobic - they need air to survive. There are several ways to keep your pile breathing. Try not to use materials that are easily compacted such as ashes or sawdust, without mixing them with a coarser material first. People who build large piles often add tree branches or even ventilation tubes vertically into different parts of the pile, to be shaken occasionally, to maximize air circulation.

A more labor-intensive way to re-oxygenate the pile is to turn the pile by hand, using a large garden fork. The simplest way is to move the material from the pile and restack it alongside. A multiple-bin system makes this efficient, in that you only handle the material once. Otherwise, you can put the material back into the same pile. The object is to end up with the material that was on the outside of the original pile, resting in the middle of the restacked pile. This procedure aerates the pile and will promote uniform decomposition.

The following information is for the highly managed pile and the optimum finished compost in the shortest amount of time. Decomposition occurs most efficiently when the temperature inside the pile is between 104 degrees F and 131 degrees F. Compost thermometers are available at garden shops and nurseries. It is best not to turn the pile while it is between these temperatures, but rather when the temperature is below 104 degrees F or above 131 degrees F. This keeps the pile operating at its peak. Most disease pathogens die when exposed to 131 degrees for 10-15 minutes, though some weed seeds are killed only when they're heated to between 140 degrees and 150 degrees. If weed seeds are a problem, let the pile reach 150 degrees during the first heating period, then drop back down to the original temperature range. Maintaining temperatures above 131 degrees can kill the decomposing microbes.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Peluang bisnis bunga

salah satu peluang bisnis yang menggiurkan pada saat seperti sekarang
ini adalah bertanam bunga. Berbagai jenis bunga, mulai dari jenis sederhana yang harganya hanya puluhan ribu, sampai pada jenis bunga elite yang harganya mencapai belasan juta, menjadi stok para pebisnis rumahan ini.
Jenis-jenis bunga yang biasanya menjadi stok para pebisnis rumahan ini terdiri atas dua jenis, bunga hias dengan harga tinggi dan bunga dengan harga miring.
Jenis-jenis bunga mahal, di antaranya bougenville belang Rp 850.000 per pohon; maraudang Rp 1,5 juta per pohon; beringin korea yang harganya per pohon rata-rata mencapai Rp 1,7 juta; sikas Rp 3 juta per pohon; dan serut Rp 7 juta per pohon.
Sementara itu, jenis bunga dengan harga miring, di antaranya berbagai jenis keladi agronema asal Thailand; keladi jenis king of siam dijual Rp 150.000, keng heng Rp 250.000; pona karmen parigata Rp 250.000; valentine nomor satu Rp 250.000, sedangkan palm roy Rp 450.000.
Berbagai jenis Anggrek dengan kisaran harga antara Rp 150.000 hingga Rp 200.000 per-batang; euphorbia thailand Rp 175.000 per-pohon; euphorbia lokal Rp 50.000 hingga Rp 100.000 per-pohon; beringin putih Rp 85.000 per-pohon, bambu florida Rp 85.000 per-pohon; song india Rp 75.000 per-pohon; walisongo Rp 75.000 per-pohon; dan lidah mertua Rp 75.000 per pohonnya.

Keindahan bunga, seperti bunga anyelir ternyata bisa dijual. Bisnis bunga inilah yang bisa menghasilkan uang. Peminatnya pun terus bertambah.Seikat bunga anyelir saat ini dijual dengan harga sekitar Rp 24.000. Satu ikat terdiri dari 20 tangkai bunga. Bunga ini dibeli untuk berbagai keperluan, mulai dari hiasan meja untuk ruangan, hiasan di restoran, jamuan pesta, resepsi, maupun diberikan sebagai tanda kasih seorang lelaki kepada pasangannya.

Di Pasar Bunga Rawabelong bunga-bunga menawan dijajakan 24 jam nonstop. Krisan, lili, dan gerbera dijajakan dipajang dalam ember. Tiap ikatan berisi 20 kuntum. Krisan dijual se-harga Rp 12.000. Bunga lili dijual seharga Rp 5.000 setup kuntum. Mawar lokal per ikat berisi 20 kuntum dijual seharga Rp 20.000. Berbagai jenis anggrek pun bisa diperoleh di sana. Anggrek jenis geme stori dijajakan seharga Rp 120.000 setiap ikat. Bila Anda menginginkan anggrek yang lebih murah, pilih said jenis dendro don douglas. Kedua jenis itu dijual seharga Rp 40.000 setiap ikat.

Di Semarang, Frans, seorang pelaku bisnis bunga sedang getaol-getolnya menggandakan jenis aglonema karena bisnis ini cukup menggoda.Untuk widuri, misalnya, Ini sudah ada 60 pohon diinden. Mereka (calon pembeli, red) berani membayar Rp1,5-juta per lembar, kata perempuan yang bersama sang suami bahu-membahu menelurkan sri rejeki-sri rejeki anyar itu. Permintaan serupa datang untuk tiara, hot lady, dan adelia-yang kini paling banyak diincar.

Munculnya pemain-pemain baru yang berani membeli tanaman-tanaman mahal jadi pemicu gairah bisnis aglaonema. Sebut saja A Kiong di Jakarta. Penggemar anyar yang tergila-gila pada sri rejeki itu rela membenamkan duit miliaran rupiah untuk 30 pot widuri dan 200-an pot adelia. Padahal harga widuri saat ini Rp1,5-juta per daun; adelia, Rp350.000 per lembar.

Tak heran, dengan stok terbatas, harga aglaonema-terutama silangan Greg Hambali-meroket tajam. Pertama kali dilepas pada April 2004, widuri hanya berbandrol Rp750.000 per lembar. Kini harga melonjak 2 kali lipat. Setahun silam harga adelia Rp60.000 per daun, sekarang Rp350.000 per helai. Sementara hot lady naik dari Rp900.000 per lembar menjadi Rp1,5-juta per helai dalam hitungan bulan. Suhandono membeli tiara Rp750.000 per lembar pada Agustus 2004, kini Rp1-juta per daun. Toh, para kolektor tak peduli, mereka tetap menginden sang incaran.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Running a florist business

Running a florist business is extremely difficult because most work independent florists are open six days a week, although some may close early on Wednesday. If you buy your flowers on the markets then you need to wake up early to really think you can buy your stock and your store ready for business at 8:30 am.

Supermarkets have eaten into profit margins by offering cut price packages for as little as a few dollars. It is still money to be done, but if you live in a well to do and target the upper end of the market.

People in the UK giving love flowers as a gift for special occasions as the Day of Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, weddings and the birth of a new child. The flowers are the ideal gift to express your feelings for a loved one.

The biggest mistake an entrepreneur can do is to open a florist without prior experience. You can attend classes in flower arranging in many colleges and there are flower arranging clubs in most cities. In my opinion, this is still not enough to launch a successful florist.

For people who like the idea of running a florist, I councils to work in a florist shop for at least six months before opening their own shop. The experience, creativity and attention to detail are all required to design a beautiful bouquet. With experience, florist can accelerate your learning curve and teach you the ropes.

So what is opening a florist business actually cost? It is possible to open a florist at least $ 25000 but the price may vary considerably depending on location. A high street, it should be a minimum of $ 50000 if you have a good credit rating and can persuade banks to lend on a one to one.

The above figures assume that you are leasing property and not buy it! If you plan to offer a delivery service to add that the purchase cost, maintenance and a delivery van. It is often cheaper long-term use of taxis to deliver your packages.

The turnover is very erratic in a florist business with most of your sales happen on special occasions, although funerals, birthdays and corporate events help to stabilize a little sales. Having a personal loan for special occasions can make or break your company. In the long term, these peak demand causes a lot of stress.

Having studied the market florist, I would advice against opening a florist outlet. The hours are long, the work is difficult, the market is cut throat and in winter it can be particularly difficult work being done on markets to 5:00.

The supermarkets are eating into margins at the lower end of the price range while online services are floristry providing exceptional value and service at the end of luxury.

It might be good to "Say it with Flowers", but the industry is too competitive for my taste

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nazir_Daud

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