GrowerTalks

January 2020 Issue

Vol. 83 No. 9

See the Digital Edition

This Month ...

Making, Mixing or Buying

by Dr. Brian E. Jackson

Nominate a Young Grower Today!

Congrats to the 2019 GrowerTalks/Nexus Young Grower Award Winner, John Terhesh from Willoway Nurseries, Inc., Avon, Ohio!

Do you know of an excellent, hard-working professional under the age of 35? You should nominate them for the 2020 GrowerTalks/Nexus Young Grower Award! For the last 16 years, we’ve recognized young horticulturists for standing out from the crowd in this tough business, who—for whatever noble reasons—have chosen to have a career in this industry.

After three finalists are chosen, each is asked to write guest editorials for the June issue of GrowerTalks, gets a free trip to Cultivate’20 and, while they’re in Columbus, attend a special dinner with Anna Ball and other industry luminaries. The winner is announced at the Unplugged event during Cultivate’20, will be the subject of our September issue cover story and serve as one of our judges for next year’s award.

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

VIDEOS

Watch More

Ball Seed Customer Day 2019

Ball Seed Customer Day 2019

Green workforce

Big Top plant-moving robot

Darwin Perennials Day 2019

Perennials: In or Out?

Jen Zurko Makes a Staghorn Fern Plank

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: Ball Ingenuity

2019 Spring Trials: PanAmerican Seed

2019 Spring Trials: Burpee

2019 Spring Trials: Darwin Perennials

Spring Trials 2019: Westhoff

Spring Trials 2019: Green Fuse

The new IDM-resistant impatiens

Introducing the Francis Kwong Center for seed processing

PanAmerican Seed's New Greenhouses

Heimos Poinsettia Trial 2018

NEWSLETTERS

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

COVER STORY

A Day at the Circus

Our industry is more civically engaged than ever before and AmericanHort’s crack advocacy team is in the trenches of Capitol Hill making sure our voices are heard loud and clear. I spent a day as their shadow just as one of the most important pieces of legislation for our industry in decades was being pushed through.

FEATURES

Dynamic Interaction

Why now is the right time to consider adding mycorrhizal fungi to your crop production strategy.

Form & Function

Allison Westbrook

Nitrogen is one of the most important nutrients—it’s certainly the one that you probably provide in the highest quantity. But nitrogen comes in several forms. How do you know which to apply? Here’s a primer on forms of N.

Making, Mixing or Buying

Dr. Brian E. Jackson

This second article in a five-part series highlights some of the pros and cons of choosing to make your own wood substrate materials vs. purchasing a commercial product.

Overcoming Grass Fatigue

Alternatives to popular ornamental grasses to keep your selection fresh.

Perfecting Perennial Propagation

Rooting perennial cuttings isn’t exceptionally difficult, but there are a number of best practices for perfecting the process.

Try DIF on Bedding Plants

Julie Martens Forney

DIF gives you options for controlling bedding plant height. It’s in your toolbox, thanks to research funding from the American Floral Endowment. Learn how to use DIF to help regulate stem elongation in your bedding crops.

CULTURE NOTES

Growers Talk Production

Handling Loss and Grief in the Greenhouse

Heather Hydoski

The duration, frequency and intensity of the grief process is impacted by the manner of death and is exacerbated if the death is unexpected, which is exactly what occurred on our loading dock.

PEST MANAGEMENT

All Coppers Are Not Created Equal

Copper fungicides represent one of the broadest-spectrum groups in our arsenal, but checking the labels for six copper fungicides shows some differences in their exact copper source, amount of metallic copper equivalent, REI and approved application method.

COLUMNS

Under the Big Top

When Showtime first aired, “The Circus,” their docu-series about American politics, my first thought was that the name of the show was brilliant. There really is no better way to describe what goes on in Washington D.C.

An Extraordinary Industry

What a retiring HR professional thinks of spending his last 20 professional years in horticulture.

Corr on Cannabis

There are plenty of outstanding cannabis companies who know what they’re busy about and will be the superstars to come.

Growers Talk Business

Abe VanWingerden

The year 2020 can be a great year and 2020-2029 can be a great decade, but what’s your plan of action to navigate through the decade?

A Year of Learning

Luís Gustavo Costa

A young student from Brazil shares his story about interning in the United States.

IN THIS ISSUE

House Ag Labor Bill Passes the House

On Wednesday, December 11, the bipartisan Farm Workforce Modernization Act (H.R. 5038) passed the House in a bipartisan vote of 260-165.

Bringing the Culture Back to Agriculture

Anne-Marie Hardie

From a fairly young age, Camelia Frieberg, owner of Watershed Farm in Nova Scotia, had a strong interest in growing food.

GT IN BRIEF

$11 Million More for Pest Management Research

Ball Adds Supplier Quality Rating to WebTrack

Danziger Announces NA Partnership with Rinehart Poinsettias

Danziger Partners with Gerbera Breeder

HRI Sets New Strategic Research Focus

In Memoriam: Ed Lynde

In Memoriam: Marty Orban

NGMA Saves Your Glazing

Plant Sentry is AmericanHort’s Newest Affinity Program Partner

Proven Winners Awards $25,000 in Scholarships

Shinoda Foundation Announces Recipients of Annual Scholarship Awards

USDA to Conduct 2019 Census of Horticultural Specialties

Why Ball Built These Greenhouses

COLUMNISTS

Heather Hydoski

Roger McGaughey

Abe VanWingerden

NEW PRODUCTS

OHP Inc.
Fuerte Herbicide

LumiGrow Inc.
SporeCam Sensors

Dramm Corporation
Telescoping Handi-Reach Handle

WBD Holland
Liv in Wax

Jelitto Perennial Seeds
Bulbine frutescens Avera Sun-Series

PanAmerican Seed
HandPicked Vegetables Collection