The world's major flower exporters include the Netherlands, Colombia, Ecuador and Kenya.
Colombia has more than 600 varieties of fresh cut flowers, with a planting area of about 8,900 hectares, including various flowers such as roses, carnations, chrysanthemums, hydrangeas, anthuriums, strelitzias and bougainvilleas. Colombia has more than 40 years of export experience and is the world's second largest flower exporter after the Netherlands and the largest carnation exporter. 95% of fresh cut flowers are exported, creating a large amount of foreign exchange income for Colombia.
At the same time, Kenya is the world's fourth largest exporter of fresh cut flowers and the largest exporter of flowers in Africa. With roses as the main export variety, its exported fresh cut flowers account for more than 40% of the EU market. According to the Kenya Flower Commission's 2023 data, about 5,000 hectares of land in Kenya are used for flower cultivation, producing more than 200,000 tons of flowers each year, with an export value of US$900 million.
The commonly used biostimulants in flower cultivation mainly include auxins, cytokinins, gibberellins, paclobutrazol, chlormequat and natural brassinolide.
- Auxins such as 3-indoleacetic acid(IAA), Indole 3 Butyric Acid(IBA), etc., can promote cell elongation and increase the number of flowers.
- Cytokinins such as 6-Benzylaminopurine, also known as 6-benzyladenine, 6-BA, 6-BAP, Kinetin, also known as 6-Furfurylaminopurine or 6KT, etc., can stimulate cell division and increase the yield of fresh cut flowers.
- Gibberellins or Gibberellic Acid (GA3) can regulate the growth cycle of flowers and keep fresh cut flowers for a longer viewing period.
- Brassinolide can regulate the endogenous hormone level in crops, promote nutrient absorption and transformation, and promote flowering.
These biostimulants play an important role in flower cultivation, but when used, they need to be reasonably matched and adjusted according to the flower variety, growth stage and market demand to avoid excessive use leading to abnormal growth or quality degradation. Therefore, seaweed fertilizer can be appropriately applied for supplementation. Dora Kelpreal and Dora AlgaNeo contain natural plant growth regulators, which can well promote the growth and development of flowers, as well as regulate plant physiological metabolism, improve drought resistance and cold resistance, and keep flowers growing in adversity. Moreover, the use of seaweed fertilizer is very convenient and safe for the user.