Skip to content
opens in a new window
GROWERTALKS - April 2024 Issue (Vol. 87 No. 12)
Acres & Acres
Use Your Words
Chris Beytes
French novelist Gustave Flaubert always strove for the “mot juste” and so do I. And so should you.
Cover Story
Locate, Deliberate, Integrate
Jennifer Zurko
Expanding your business doesn’t necessarily have to mean you build a brand-new greenhouse on your property. If you’ve got the will, the want and the resources, you can convert an existing facility from a different location.
Features
AI for Growers: Growing Plants Edition
Katie Elzer-Peters
The second part of using AI in your greenhouse business, this time on the plants themselves.
Features
More Than Just Height Control
Lauren Kilpatrick & Brian A. Krug
Exploring plant growth regulators to increase branching on perennials.
Features
Successfully Chasing the Funding Dream
Mark E. Battersby
Finding the right financing for your business is one of the most important tasks you’ll face. Although financing the growth, expansion—or the survival—of your operation can be a complex affair, funds are available to those willing to comparison shop for lenders, rates and terms.
Features
Tech On Demand Team Profile: Dr. Nathan Jahnke
Bill Calkins
This four-part series will highlight the four members of Ball Seed’s Tech Team and the stories of how they came into horticulture.
Growers Talk Business
Collect Diamonds, Not Rocks
Art Parkerson
You’re surrounded by rocks. Some of those rocks—who knows which ones or how many there are—only look like regular rocks. But they aren’t ordinary rocks; they’re actually diamonds.
Growers Talk Production
Lessons Learned in 20 Years
Austin Bryant
I’d like to share a few things that have been some of the biggest achievements and let-downs over my first 20 years in this industry.
GT in Brief
Glow-in-the-Dark Flowers Get USDA OK
Chris Beytes
This novel introduction, which will be sold under the name “Firefly Petunias,” is coming from the synthetic biology startup Light Bio of Ketchum, Idaho.
GT in Brief
HI Hydrangea URCs Now Available Through Express Seed
Jennifer Zurko
Potted plant grower Creekside Greenhouse, based in Ontario, Canada, recently announced a partnership to develop new varieties and sell unrooted cuttings of the HI Hydrangea line through Express Seed.
GT in Brief
In Memoriam: David Lemon
Chris Beytes
David Lemon, one of our industry’s most well-known and prolific flower breeders, passed away February 10 at the age of 89.
GT in Brief
Putting the Special in Specialty Cuts
Jennifer Zurko
Ball SB breeds, produces and sells specialty cut plant material all around the world all year round direct from their grower partners in Colombia, Ecuador, Central America and Kenya.
GT in Brief
Skagit Gardens to Close
Chris Beytes
Skagit Horticulture LLC announced in February that it would be discontinuing operations April 7, 2024.
GT in Brief
White’s to Close Their Wholesale Operation
Chris Beytes
White’s Nursery & Greenhouse—founded by one of the most venerated individuals in floriculture, Norm White, and run today by Norm and his daughter, Dana, and son, Tal—is closing.
Guest Column
The Strengths Behind Phlox subulata
Lowell Halvorson
Among the perennials, Phlox subulata often opens the category for early spring sales with vibrant color on the heels of pansies and forsythia.
Inside Look
Home Sweet Greenhouse
Jennifer Zurko
On converting or integrating an established greenhouse facility, I wondered if it was similar to buying a house.
JZ on D.C.
AmericanHort Shifts & Expands Advocacy Team
Jennifer Zurko
In February, AmericanHort announced some changes to its advocacy team. Matt Mika is now VP of Advocacy and Government Affairs, assuming the leadership of the organization’s Washington, D.C.-based advocacy team, transitioning that role from long time industry advocate Craig Regelbrugge.
Paul's Pointers
Is Something Bugging You?
Paul Pilon
Pests are always a potential threat to your crops, but with good management practices, they don’t have to bug you.
Pest Management
Bacillus-based Biopesticides
A.R. Chase
Using Bacillus-based organic fungicide/bactericides can be as effective as conventional products for Botrytis, powdery mildew and rust.
Pest Management
Resistance Management
Dr. Raymond A. Cloyd
Which strategy is better—pesticide rotations or pesticide mixtures?
TRENDING NOW
3-ft. Mini Flower Tower
Eckert’s Greenhouse
TRENDING NOW
Corvus Drones
Corvus Drones BV
TRENDING NOW
Firefly Petunia
Light Bio Inc.
TRENDING NOW
Frostkiss Hellebores
Pacific Plug & Liner
TRENDING NOW
Seed Packaging
Ball Seed
TRENDING NOW
Steam-Flo Zone Control Kit
Sioux Corporation