GrowerTalks

June 2019 Issue

Vol. 83 No. 2

See the Digital Edition

This Month ...

The Economics of Lighting Young Plants Indoors

by Paul R. Fisher, Celina Gómez, Megh Poudel & Erik Runkle

Who will be this year’s Young Grower winner?

We’ll be awarding this year’s GrowerTalks/Nexus Young Grower Award at the Unplugged event during Cultivate’19. If you’re heading to Columbus, make some time to join us Monday night to see who will be on the cover of our September issue. There will be networking, trivia, a rooftop bar and your first drink is free!

WHEN: Monday, July 15 at 8:00 p.m.
WHERE: Callahan’s Columbus
520 Park Street, Columbus, Ohio

Finalists for the 2019 GrowerTalks/Nexus Young Grower Award:
Brian Austin — Dutch Heritage Gardens, Larkspur, Colorado
Tonya Diehl — Sunny Farms, Inc., Sequim, Washington
John Terhesh — Willoway Nurseries, Inc., Avon, Ohio

An extra special thanks goes to Nexus and AmericanHort for sponsoring this year’s award!

VIDEOS

Watch More

2019 Spring Trials: PanAmerican Seed

2019 Spring Trials: PanAmerican Seed

2019 Spring Trials: Burpee

Spring Trials 2019: Ball Ingenuity

Spring Trials 2019: Ball FloraPlant

Spring Trials 2019: Florist

Spring Trials 2019: Syngenta Drum Off

Spring Trials 2019: Proven Winners Annuals

Spring Trials 2019: Proven Winners Perennials & Shrubs

Bobblehead Bloopers 2019

Spring Trials 2019: Green Fuse

2019 Spring Trials: Selecta One

2019 Spring Trials: Darwin Perennials

Spring Trials 2019: Westhoff

Spring Trials 2019 - Suntory

The new IDM-resistant impatiens

Introducing the Francis Kwong Center for seed processing

PanAmerican Seed's New Greenhouses

Heimos Poinsettia Trial 2018

Ball Customer Day 2018

NEWSLETTERS

Read and subscribe to a variety of Newsletters tailored to your industry interests.

COVER STORY

Pricing: Think Beyond the Loaded Truck

Dr. Charlie Hall

Don’t make the same pay-by-scan pricing mistakes again.

FEATURES

Advocacy Advantage

Being a member of AmericanHort doesn’t just include entry into the Cultivate show; this industry organization offers benefits that you may not even know about. We spoke to one member to learn how he values being a part of AmericanHort.

Cutting Sticker Update

They’re the hottest thing since the transplanter—and sometimes they ARE the transplanter! They’re automated cutting sticking machines, and while there are only two manufacturers currently offering them, they’re evolving as fast as we can write about them. Here’s the very latest on the technology.

Effective Control of Piercing-Sucking Pests

Dr. Aaron Palmateer

Growers need solutions that manage troublesome insect pests with minimum impact on beneficial arthropods, as well as pollinators.

How to Find Them and Keep Them

This year’s GrowerTalks/Nexus Young Grower Award finalists give us their take on attracting the next generation of hort professionals and how to keep them.

Marketing Containerized Herbs

Christopher J. Currey

You’ve grown your herbs—now it’s time to sell them. The last article in this series ends with tips on how to market them.

Putting the Plants First

Michael Heaven & Alex Fermon

Plant-centric controls for plant growth optimization.

The Economics of Lighting Young Plants Indoors

Paul R. Fisher, Celina Gómez, Megh Poudel & Erik Runkle

Indoor growing of transplants can achieve a high level of growth and quality control, as clearly shown by the research presented in this five-part article series. The key question for commercialization is: Does it pay?

Whatever Happened to Retractable-Roof Greenhouses?

What killed the retractable-roof greenhouse? Two things.

CULTURE NOTES

Growing With Griffin

Make More Green with Ornamental Grasses

There’s still time to produce and use ornamental grasses for your late summer and fall programs.

Growing With Griffin

Terra Nova Nurseries and Danziger Announce North American Licensing Agreement

Terra Nova Nurseries, Inc. and Danziger jointly announced they’ve signed a licensing agreement, granting Danziger rights to produce and sell cuttings from Terra Nova Nurseries’ elite stock.

Growers Talk Production

Biocontrol Anecdotes: Aphidoletes

A story about what’s required to understand the concept of managing bugs with bugs.

PEST MANAGEMENT

Making Mass Trapping Work for You

Dr. Sarah Jandricic

More than just predatory mites are needed to keep your thrips biocontrol program consistent and stable, and one of the easiest and cheapest ways to improve your program is with mass trapping.

COLUMNS

If I had to run a business, I’d have to hire someone to handle the books. And it’s because I’m horrible at math.

I Hated Math, Too

Our cover story by Dr. Charlie Hall is proof that we should have paid more attention to math in school.

Paul Talks Perennials

Act Quickly … Your Crops Are Depending on It

Failure to act can often lead to a reduction in plant quality or even worse—crop losses.

Growers Talk Business

Who’s “Braking” Your Business?

What do we do when the government mandates a new policy on trucking and doesn’t see the effect it has on our bottom line?

Industry Flower Festival: CAST ’19

Lauren Kirchner

As performances go, there were plenty of great crescendos, a few lullabies and some straight-up lip synching that altogether kept us charmingly invigorated.

IN THIS ISSUE

Update on Additional H-2B Visas

On March 29, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it planned to release an additional 30,000 H-2B visas.

Embracing the Local Floral Movement

Anne-Marie Hardie

Cut flowers were already a part of their homestead farm, but they were grown primarily so that they could have some nice pollinators on the property and add some fresh flowers to their kitchen table. Now, Village General Farms was looking at how they could transform these flowers into an income.

GT IN BRIEF

Beacon Impatiens Has a Website

Bonnie’s Stan Cope to Retire

Marvin Crunches the Census of Ag

NGMA Hopes to Block Proposed Greenhouse Energy Regulations

Register for the AIB Symposium

Testing a Retailer’s Sanity

COLUMNISTS

Heather Hydoski

Roger McGaughey

Abe VanWingerden

NEW PRODUCTS

Bartlett Instrument Company
Headgrower Mobile App

Costa Farms LLC
Dracaena White Aspen

ITB Co. Inc.
REA 15 Battery Backpack Sprayer

Syngenta Flowers LLC
Cora XDR Vinca

Growers Supply Inc.
GrowSpan Series 500 Tall Greenhouse

Ball Seed
Ball Seed’s WebTrack To Go Mobile App