ASCFG Books

A Practical Guide for Commercial Growers, Wholesalers, and Retailers

Postharvest care must be accomplished at every stage of the marketing chain. This book will help you understand these stages and increase postharvest longevity of your flowers.

Postharvest performance of crops has emerged as one of the most important issues in floriculture. The poor performance of cut flowers and greens is increasingly viewed as depressing sales relative to that of other gift items. Every incident of poor performance reduces future sales by the purchaser and anyone else they tell about the product.

John Dole, North Carolina State University, Robert Stamps, University of Florida, Alicain Carlson, North Carolina State University, Iftikhar Ahmad, North Carolina State University and University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Lane Greer, Oklahoma State University, Judy Laushman, Editor. 360 pages

by Allan Armitage & Judy Laushman, 636 pages, softbound. This greatly revised and expanded edition of Specialty Cut Flowers offers a unique perspective on cut flower production, bringing together in one place the information growers need to propagate and cultivate their eye-catching plants. Introductory chapters offer a discussion of domestic and foreign production, a brief overview of trends, and general comments and techniques for the postharvest care of flowers, including drying and preserving. The main body of the book gives extensive coverage of annual, perennial, bulbous, and woody species for commercial cut flower production, including propagation and growing-on methods, environmental factors, yield in the field, greenhouse forcing, stage of harvest, postharvest handling, and pests and diseases. For easier reference, plants now appear in single, straightforward A-to-Z order. Reflecting decades of research and writing by two distinguished horticulturists, Specialty Cut Flowers will be an indispensable reference for the nursery bookshelf

The Flower Farmer
266 pages

Excerpt from the Preface to the second edition:
One of the greatest pleasures of farming life is the fact that there is always something new to learn. Nature is never static, so those of us who interact with her in the flower garden have to constantly change and adapt. Nor have all of her secrets been revealed. The more we learn about the ecological web of the garden and farm, the more we recognize our own ignorance. Gardening, even for its most experienced practitioners, is a lifelong quest for knowledge.

Lynn Byczynski

FOURTH EDITION
by Allan Armitage