Women Hand Grading Roses

When the roses are first cut in the greenhouse and brought to the processing area by wagonloads, they are placed in bundles in a large room cooler, in buckets of water with plant food, for about 24 hours. This is to help them endure all the handling that will come. When brought out of the cooler, a person places the bottom part of a bundle in a deshreding machine to remove the bottom leaves. Next they are either sent to a group of women who hand grade the roses (by stem length), or they are sent to the grading machine (next post).