Question
Hi Carlene,

I live in Jakarta, Indonesia where the climate is hot and humid. We basically only have 2 seasons (dry and rainy). I have an empty land with a size of about 3000 m2 and was thinking of utilizing it to grow flowers (roses as priority) and obviously starting a business. Would this type of climate be suitable to grow roses? I don't know anything about gardening or flowers so I need a fairly detail step by step. What other type of flowers would you recommend for growing?
I look forward to hearing from you.

Best regards,

Marco Gandasubrata

Answer
Hi Marco-

Hot is good for roses, humid is not.  The problem with most hybrid tea roses (that are florist roses used for the cut flower business) they are susceptible to blackspot disease, which florishes in a humid climate.  You may want to check out the Texas A&M website on Earth Kind roses - which have been thoroughly tested to withstand extreme heat, and humidity with little fertilizer, and they still have outstanding results.  You might want to do a little research on the florist roses that are grown in various parts of the world (like South America).  Perhaps it is humid down there - what they do to have success, I don't know.  I will tell you my favorite Earthkind rose is Belinda's Dream and they make excellent cut flowers, for a garden rose.  But it is not a florists rose.  Is it good enough for the cut flower trade?  Maybe. I am not an expert in florist roses.  A good site you can try to do research on is the help me find roses website, and www.everyrose.com.

Another problem is the fact that roses need adequate drainage, and at least a few gallons of water a week.  Now the rainy season is good, as long as the roots of the roses don't stay submerged in water for too long, as roses are susceptible to root rot.  You would need to plant them in raised beds for adequate drainage, or dig underground and put pipes w/holes in them to drain the water away into the sewer perhaps.  In the dry season, you would need sprinklers or some type of irrigation system.

I wish you goodluck-

Carlene