Ecuadorian floriculturists are sure to achieve Guinness record

Ecuadornews:

Hundreds of flower growers put their hands to the work. Around 16 tons of flowers will be put together to form the largest arrangement of roses, not only of Ecuador but of the world. The idea is to set a precedent in the Guinness Book of Records.

The act to declare the country as the owner of the largest sculpture on the planet will be this Saturday, July 14, in Tabacundo. At present, the title is held by Germany, which produced a giant decoration with around 160 thousand flowers.

The canton of Pedro Moncayo (Pichincha) struggles to overcome the European country. His proposal is to create an emulation of one of the pyramids of Cochasquí, emblematic architecture of this town. At the beginning it was planned to build an adornment of 500 square meters (m2). However, the size of the design forced the structure to be over 680 m2, where about 300 thousand stems will be placed. 220 thousand stems were estimated before the execution of the project, added Frank Borys Gualsaqui, mayor of Pedro Moncayo.

Rosa Cisneros, a professional florist for 15 years and who is in charge of the decoration of the pyramid, said that 300 boxes of oases were placed, a kind of sponges that serve to keep the roses hydrated, in order to last until the event day. The activity generates great enthusiasm in the flower growers because they know that if Ecuador is declared as the new country with the largest floral arrangement on the planet, it will open the possibility that new markets will learn about the beauty of roses and other flowers produced by the country.

José Roberto Camacho, a member of the Tabacundo Flower Growers Corporation, said that Pedro Moncayo represents around 40% of the production on a national scale. This means that it is the canton that produces the most in the country. He estimated that only in this town there are about 40 thousand direct employees, other than indirect workers.

David Moya, legal representative of the Association Aso Pro y Pedro, an organization made up of 150 small-scale floriculturalists in Pedro Moncayo, in Cayambe, said that this event serves to demonstrate that Ecuador has the best flower in the world, since it was considered as the “World Capital of the Rose”.

Moya indicated that, according to the studies carried out, the best flower quality occurs between 2,800 and 3,300 meters above sea level (ms.n.m), right at the location where the farm is located. To this we add that the sun’s fall is perpendicular, which generates a microclimate causing a good pigmentation of the specimens, which have water that comes from the thaw of the snow-capped Cayambe and the quality of the soils that give an advantage.

The floriculturists reorganized their daily tasks to support the development of the rose structure. Several vehicles of the florícolas mobilize the load until the Cochasquí avenue, between the North Panamericana and Sucre Street, where the sculpture will be located.

There, a group of gardeners receives the flowers, removes the leaves, the thorns and cuts them to the required extent, depending on the location in the sculpture. One of them is Francisco Valencia, an employee of the Canambay Floriculture, who has been working since Monday, July 9.

The man, who has worked in this company for 6 years, said that it is not the first time that he helps sculptures, since he collaborated in the delivery of flowers for allegorical cars. Francisco said that they were warned that in order to meet the goal, at least 50 thousand flowers per day should be placed in the structure.

On the other hand, Miryam Ponce, an employee of Florifru, is in charge of classifying roses by colors and by measurements. “We are excited for this work, because if the world knows the quality of flowers we produce, trade will grow and there will be more work,” he said.

Luis Boada, head of post-harvest of the Floriculture Cristy Roses, said that the challenge presented to farmers is unique, but considered that companies are able to meet the goal. In the floriculture that works, for example, they produce around 5 thousand stems daily, especially for the North American and Russian market. Varieties are sown like vendela, freedom, beautiful, cabaret, nina, pink floyd, carousel, mondia, among others.

Each year new varieties are coming out and their name depends on trends and fashion. “It is a great satisfaction to meet this goal, I am sure that we will reach it and invite people to know the best roses,” he said.

A technical team from Guinness will make sure that the sculpture is composed of flowers only, something that is guaranteed by the designers. On average for each square meter of the structure 400 roses are placed, estimated Cisneros. (I)

Source: https://www.eltelegrafo.com.ec/noticias/quito/1/floricultores-ecuador-record-guinness