Acres & Acres

Plan for Profit

Chris Beytes

A plain-English set of instructions on how to do it, from Dr. Will Healy.

Columns

Let’s Get Physical

Paul Pilon

I’m not talking about the Olivia Newton John song; I’m talking about the physical properties of growing mixes.

Columns

Micronutrients: They’re Bigger Than You Think

Rick Yates

Micronutrients, by definition, are required by plants in small quantities, but they’re crucial nonetheless.

Columns

Miss Doesn’t-Know-It-All

Jennifer Zurko

One of my worst fears (besides heights and spiders) is coming across like I know what I’m talking about when, really, it’s plain that I’m totally clueless.

Columns

Quali-fi-cation = Quality in Education

Albert Grimm

In horticulture, the qualification of specialists is determined primarily by the depth of passion for their chosen career.

Cover Story

Everybody’s Doing It—Should You?

Jennifer Zurko

Why mycorrhizae is the new soil buzzword, despite its presence in the industry for 30 years.

Culture Notes

Spring Trials Sneak Peek Lucky Star Pentas

Birdie Lenard-Fountain

The Lucky Star Pentas series is not only well-branched and compact, but the plants are early to flower with no cyclic blooming.

Features

Fertilizer 2.0

Dr. Neil Mattson

The products you use to feed your plants continue to evolve.

Features

Is Your Water Working for You?

Dr. Dustin Meador

Your water may not be as clean as you think.

Features

Seeing Through the Fog

Dr. Michael Brownbridge

Can we use low-volume sprayers to improve application efficiency and performance of biopesticides?

Features

The Gist on Mist

Dr. James E. Faust

Here’s a primer on vapor pressure deficit.

Features

The Right Ingredients

Dan Jacques

A brief review of media components for propagation.

Features

Wood Substrates: The Plant’s Perspective

Dr. Brian E. Jackson & Paul Bartley III

Wood substrate research trials offer insight into the use of these next-generation materials.

Growers Talk Business

Hope & Change—Phase 2

Gary Mangum

I really think if more of us treat people like we want to be treated every single opportunity we get, we will be in a much better place across this great country that we have.

GT in Brief

$18,000 in Scholarships Available to Southeast Hort Students

Jennifer Zurko

The Sidney B. Meadows Scholarship Endowment Fund has announced it’s now accepting scholarship applications for 2017.

GT in Brief

Ball Acquires Danish Potted Plant Breeder

Chris Beytes

Ball Horticultural Company has acquired majority ownership in the Danish potted plant breeding company Ex-Plant A/S. Ex-Plant’s genetics—namely a range of peppers (both ornamental and edible), solanum and exacum—will become part of PanAmerican Seed’s collection.

GT in Brief

Benary Announces Joint Venture in China

Chris Beytes

Interesting news from Germany, where well-known bedding and potted plant breeder Ernst Benary has announced that they’re forming a joint venture in China to grow young plants.

GT in Brief

Fire at Dan Schantz Destroys Production Barn, Cooler

Chris Beytes

The fire broke out the evening of January 3, sometime between 8:00 and 8:30

GT in Brief

HGA—The Hobby Greenhouse Association

Chris Beytes

They’ve been around since 1976, promoting the hobby of growing flowers and vegetables in home greenhouses, but they’ve struggled lately to find new members, especially younger ones.

GT in Brief

In Focus at Season Premier

Chris Beytes

Garden writer Marianne Wilburn gets the shot at Costa Farms’ Season Premier Trial Gardens at Costa Color in Homestead, Florida.

GT in Brief

In Memoriam: Bert Kraft

Chris Beytes

The Kraft family name has long been synonymous with South Florida horticulture—think Kraft Gardens. Alas, the patriarch of the family, Albert “Bert” Kraft, passed away three days after Christmas at his home in Palm City, Florida, at the venerable age of 96.

GT in Brief

On the Move

Jennifer Zurko

BAILEY NURSERIES; HENRY F. MICHELL’S

GT in Brief

Ralstonia Plagues Dutch Rose Industry

Chris Beytes

It’s not the same ralstonia that hit our geranium industry 14 years ago (that was Race 3, Biovar 2), but a serious outbreak of Ralstonia solanacearum, race 1, has been causing hardships for the Dutch cut rose industry.

GT in Brief

Register for America in Bloom

Chris Beytes

If you’re looking for a way to boost sales and show your community spirit, why not register your city, town, village, borough or burg for the 2017 America in Bloom competition?

GT in Brief

Revisions to U.S.-Canada Plant Certification Program

Chris Beytes

If you ship plants to or from Canada, you’re probably up to speed on revisions to GCP, the bilateral export certification program for greenhouse-grown plants being shipped between the U.S. and Canada.

GT in Brief

Sales Up at Auction

Chris Beytes

Royal FloraHolland, the big Dutch auction (and owner of GrowerTalks' sister publication FloraCulture International) has just released their 2016 numbers. They reveal that flower and plant sales were up 3.8% over 2015, to 4.6 billion euros.

GT in Brief

Tour China’s Horticulture with an Expert

Chris Beytes

Dr. Mengmeng Gu, Associate Professor and Extension Specialist at Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, is putting together a China Horticulture Field Trip—a 12-day tour of the northwest Sichuan Province, which boasts amazing scenery, culture, people, cuisine and, as she says, “Most importantly, PLANTS!”

New Products

Adriana Heikkila

Ball Seed; Syngenta; Lambert Peat Moss; Premier Tech Horticulture; Terra Nova Nurseries; EuroAmerican Propagators

Pest Management

Silicon: Making the Crop Stronger to Fight Leafminers

Dr. Daniel S. Klittich

Plants use silicon to provide strength to plant structures and to mount a defense against abiotic and biotic stressors, including pests.

SAF in the Lobby

New Congress Off and Running

The Society of American Florists

The 115th Congress convened January 3 with an ambitious agenda on its plate that includes repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act (ACA), overhauling immigration and border security, tax reform, infrastructure spending, and cutting financial, environmental and labor regulations.

Under an Acre

From Film to Farm: A Real-Life Fable

Anne-Marie Hardie

The journey of Fable began in perhaps one of the most unlikely places—the spare bedroom of film editor Tom Deacon’s home.