Tyrade (Pty) Ltd -

Processing The Roses

Wade Mann reaping Trixx!    Buckets of reaped roses about to be taken to the coldroom

The roses are picked/reaped daily between 7am - 9am and on occasion there can be multiple reapings if the weather is particularly warm and the roses are ripening fast.  All rose blooms are hand-picked by Wade, Tony and Tyron Mann - and this process is methodically done and stems are cut at a certain place along the stem depending on their stage of growth.  The rose bloom has to be at a certain stage of maturity before it is reaped also - this is vital because some rose varieties will not open fully if cut too "green".  All cutting of the stems are done with "Leyat Cut and Hold Secateurs" - these secateurs are especially designed for even clean cuts and allowing the reaper to hold the stem once it has been cut from the rose bush.  The stems are laid carefully along the reapers arm until the line has been completely reaped.  The harvested stems are then placed in a very full bucket of water which is pre-treated for post-harvest benefit.  The stems are then transported to the coldroom facility where they remain in water for a minimum of two hours - firstly to re-hydrate the stems and secondly, to bring down the "field temperature" of the harvested stems before processing.

Harvested roses in the coldroom.                                            Kate Mann striping the bottom 20cm of the rose stems.

Striped roses awaiting grading.                                                Grading being done by Larissa (Trainee) and Tyron Mann.

Tony Mann grading Aqua!                                                        Larissa (Trainee) and Sally (Trainee) grading Red Calypso.

Rob (Trainee) bunching the roses.                                        Rob putting the bunches through the tying machine.

The bunches are then put through the cutting machine.    Product is then placed into valencias ready for the coldroom.

Valencias are then placed on the trolley shelves in the coldroom ready for sale.

Once cooled and re-hydrated, the stems are taken out of the coldroom and first, de-leafed or stripped of the bottom 10-20cm leaves and thorns.  The stems are then length and quality graded - this is the first of the quality-control processes - stems and blooms are carefully checked to make sure there is no damage or disease present.  After being graded into the various lengths - the stems are then "hand-bunched" into bunches of "A Dozen Roses".  At this stage, the blooms and stems are again checked for premium quality - and roses are bunched together with blooms of the same size, shape and hue making Tyrade's presentation of roses "top quality".  The twelve stems are then put through a tying machine to bind the bunch together.  Finally, the stems are put through a cutting machine to ensure all stems have a clean/straight cut before being placed in valencias (with 2 inches of pre-treated solution).  The processed bunches are counted, dated and recorded before being put back into the coldroom for conditioning and storage before sale.

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