Investigation of ornamental plant production in Kestel district of Bursa province

Producers of ornamental plants dating back to the 1950s in Kestel have experienced in this sector. 96.67% of ornamental plants hold S.S. Kestel is a member of Ornamental Plants and Fruit Nursery Production and Marketing Cooperative. They are also registered in the Plant Passport System of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. Production parcels in Kestel district are multi-part and more than half of their enterprises (56.66%) produce in areas ranging from 11 decares to 50 decares. The majority (90%) of the land where the enterprises produce is leased land.All of the enterprises produce outdoor ornamental plants from ornamental plants groups. In 2018, 6 million ornamental plant saplings were produced in the district. Ornamental plum (Prunus cerasifera pissardi nigra) is the most produced plantspeciesby 43.33%. This is followed by plane tree and acacia. Reproduction of ornamental plants is done by grafting by budding. The seedling used in production are generally obtained from forest nurseries (60%). A large majority (66.67%) uses a distance of 40 cm x 90 cm in the planting of open area.86,66% of the enterprises apply grafting by budding to the plants they produce. The rate of repicage application in ornamental plants produced is 83.33% and the rate of producers using 150 cm x 120 cm planting distances in repicage applications is 90%. In Kestel district ornamental plants, the rate of employing technical personnel is 3.33%. According to 83.33% of the producers, the most important problem in the sector is the lack of qualified personnel. According to the data obtained within the scope of this research; integration of small and fragmented lands, private sector enterprises and the public preferring domestic seedlings in landscape applications and decreasing VAT rate in ornamental plant sales will accelerate the development of ornamental plant sector in Kestel district.