Use

Asters are strong cut flowers with a good vase life.
Therefore they are easy to transport.
Asters are commonly used as bouquet fillers.
Besides England, where a large proportion of Asters were sold, France also became a huge consumer.

White Asters, as the small flowered Monte Casino and Paquita and the large flowered Casablanca and Pretty Wendy, are the most cultivated kind.
Also the blue colored kinds like Purple Monarch and Cassandra became populair.
The pink colored Asters are cultivated and offered on a smaller scale.

Production

The last few years the production of Asters has somewhat declined worldwide.
About 15 Ha of asters are still grown in the Netherlands.
Many Asters are cultivated in country's like Zimbabwe ( about 20 Ha), Israel (8 Ha) en Kenia.
At Floraholland 36 million branches were traded in 2012 for the avarage price of  22 eurocent a branch.
But this is only a small part af the amount produced worldwide. Most of the flowers are sold directly to wholesalers.

Cultivation

Asters are, just like chrysantemum's, autumn bloomers.
Vegetative growth takes place under the long day circumstances (day length of  18 hours),
and the generative growth happens under short day circumstances about approximately 12 hours.
Because Asters are easy to influence, maximum 4 to 5 crops a year can be harvested.
In country's in the region of the equator artificial lights and a shade cloth is sufficient.
In colder regions except a greenhouse, lights and dimming are needed.