Rebecca Kutzer-Rice of Moonshot farm in East Windsor, New Jersey recently completed her first Northeast SARE Farmer Grant, FNE24-087 Evaluating Local Cut Flowers for the December Holidays: Horticultural Best Practices, Marketability, and Profitability In this project, Rebecca trialed 8 flower varieties in a heated high tunnel, targeting December harvest dates. Of the varieties she tried, she found that lilies, snapdragons, stock, chrysanthemums, and anemones were both productive and profitable over two seasons.
Overall we have demonstrated that some flowers can be grown very well in December in the region, especially lilies, snapdragons, stock, chrysanthemyms, and anemones. We have also established that there is a strong market demand for flowers during this season both from the retail and the wholesale market, and that profitability is possible for farmers. We were able to fine tune planting dates, varieties, and recommendations for best practices for achieving cut flowers in December and other winter months. - from the project final report
As a final output, the project team created a December Cut Flowers Growers' Guide with best practices for each variety and our profitability analysis. Local farmers can use this guide to begin growing cut flowers in the winter on their own farms, with less risk and experimentation involved.