The campaign to harvest the rose blossom has begun in Kazanlak. The picking of the oil-bearing rose Damascena has not changed over the past few centuries, despite advanced technologies. The oil-bearing rose, which weighs only 2 grams, is picked by hand, BNT recalls.
The rose picking begins before sunrise, which was very late this year. It usually starts at the beginning of May, but due to weather conditions, this year it started about two days ago. Unfortunately, however, rose growers are facing a huge problem this year.
Petar Simeonov, rose grower: "The problem is that from these frosts that passed in early April, the problem appears in our case now, when the plantations throw out the buds. They cannot bloom. This is a problem that I can say is huge. More and more colleagues are calling me with this problem throughout the Rose Valley. We have colleagues who started harvesting the rose blossoms 10-12 days ago. This is local, but it is in many places. This thing can't bloom and get rose oil from it.
Non-blooming roses cannot be processed, they simply dry up.
"They dry up on the bush itself. This is a mass phenomenon that over the years we have had one, two per bush, three, but now it is massive on the bush itself. The buds are not pink, they are bright red and cannot be nourished.
The cold itself has scalded them in the bud," explained Petar Simeonov.
According to him, rose growers expect big losses.
"We have been harvesting blossoms for the second day now. What we see is that the yields are extremely low. First of all, the weather is still extremely cold. Hopefully, the next few days will be a little warmer and the temperatures will rise a little more. We can harvest what is not damaged by the cold itself."
On average, rose pickers receive about 50-60 leva for picking between 30 and 50 kg of rose blossoms between 5.30 and 10.30 a.m.
"I don't think it's that hard. We are inviting more and more people, especially on weekends, to visit rose gardens, to show their children how the picking process happens. This will be explained to them by the rose growers themselves. We have provided our contacts throughout the Rose Valley. Anyone can go to any garden, they will be well received."
The mass contracts that have been concluded by the end of April are for the purchase of the rose flower at a price between 3.80 and 4 leva per kg., and these values have been maintained for the third year.
"And our costs are increasing. First, labor, digging and manual labor have increased by perhaps 20-30%. Not to mention nitrogen fertilizers, which jumped by 50% after the New Year. We do not see how this year most rose growers will make ends meet," Petar Simeonov also commented.