Summer is Officially Here
Well, summer is officially here and just as expected, it’s a scorcher outside. I live in Louisiana and down here we’ve been fairly lucky with a mild spring (at least mild for us), but it seems nature flipped a switch and turned that dial all the way up.
That has me thinking about some of the erratic weather we've been experiencing. We all remember the pre-Christmas freeze across much of the southern and eastern U.S., which dealt quite a bit of damage to many of our woodies. After that, mild winters followed by a harsh spring freeze really set us back in the Gulf South.
This crazy weather is starting to feel normal within recent years. This has me thinking more about planning or logistics associated with erratic weather. Unlike many farmers, who must protect yields (many blueberries and peaches across the southeast were all but eliminated by the March freeze), our industry has entire crops to protect and landscape projects to plan.
In reverence to the summer and with this wild weather (I mean, it’s June and we already have disturbances in the Gulf!), I thought it would be fun to take a look at how these erratic and extreme weather patterns affect our industry (check out the current Gulf South temps from
Weather Underground). And maybe consider some more unique or innovative strategies that we can use to continue progress.
Photo: Weather Underground.
Summer? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Summer!
Now former editor-at-large for this newsletter, Matthew Chappell asked: "Hey Jeb—why don’t you send some of that summer a little further north?" He sent me a few more thoughts for the final newsletter where he officially passes the baton ...
Across the Ohio Valley, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast it’s been oddly cool (and in a lot of spots dry) from April to mid-June after a ridiculously warm late February to mid-March. I don’t know that anyone’s complaining about the reduction in sweat-hours (my new method of measuring heat units), but it’s certainly thrown a lot of plants for a loop. The early season warmth led to a lot of premature bud-break that in turn resulted in frost-freeze damage in March (especially for growers who removed plastic from cold frames too early).
So what do we do about it? I suppose we do what we always have … we live with it. The late frost/freeze certainly hurt the growers above the Mason-Dixon line (it’s a geographic point—don’t get upset about the language). We just need to realize that as our climate changes, our management practices will become more variable.
The Future is Now
You can say that again, Matt. You bring up another topic we need to consider. The strong variations in weather patterns will not only require us to adapt our management practices, but logistics will need fine-tuning as well. We're truly a national, if not global, industry and I don’t know of any grower or landscape contractor that's 100% not reliant on people, plants or products from across the nation.
The supply chain issues we discussed last time are also exacerbated by this erratic weather. Think about it—if I buy plants that were grown or propagated in areas with moderate temperatures and try to use them down here in LA, we're going to have some trouble. I’m not saying we shouldn’t embrace the nation-wide nature of the nursery industry, but this is absolutely something we need to keep an eye on.
I recently read an article in
Scientific American titled “
We’re Building Things Based on a Climate We No Longer Live In.” It was an interesting perspective on how our society’s engineers and planners are utilizing infrastructure techniques that may be outdated or nearing irrelevancy based on changing climate. An interesting perspective, but something that's likely relevant to other fields and industries—possibly like ours.
Some Observations on Climate Changing Our Profitability
Matthew said he read that same Scientific American article ("Aren’t we a couple of nerds?") and it made him think of how times have changed since his first nursery job way back in 1991 ...
If you look at the figure below, which uses data from Tidewater Agricultural Research & Extension Center (where I now work) to determine the trend in degree days (daily heat units above 60 degrees Fahrenheit) on an annual basis throughout the growing season, one thing is clear. It’s getting warmer, as the black line indicates.
But what does this mean for us in the Green Industry?I tend to think of it based upon how many of the things we do, products we use and infrastructure we must develop are affected by heat. For example:
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More heat leads to evaporative water loss. For nurseries and/or large landscapes, this means more irrigation is required. This will require larger sources of water (e.g. holding ponds) and larger water transmission systems (piping).
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Then we have to consider fertilizers. Controlled-release fertilizers (CRFs) degrade faster as heat and moisture increase, so our CRFs aren’t lasting as long as they once did. This increases cost to either purchase longer-release products or supplement with injected fertilizers at the end of a growing season.
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The same degradation in efficacy applies to preemergent herbicides. Additionally, longer growing seasons results in the need (in many areas) of an additional preemergence application annually. More product = more cost.
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Then there are insecticides and fungicides. The life cycle for many insects speeds up at higher temperatures, as does the disease cycle for pathogens. The result, over time, will be the need for more frequent pesticide applications.
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Finally (for this article), more heat equals lower worker productivity. A recent University of Chicago study indicated that worker productivity drops 3% for every 1.8 degrees (Fahrenheit) above 80 degrees. We may see 3% as nothing to write home about, but considering labor is our largest expense, this equals a lot of profit lost.
I’m getting depressed … so I'm calling it quits on this line of thought.
Growing Frostkiss Hellebore: Tips & Techniques for a Stunning Crop
If you're interested in growing Frostkiss Hellebore, make sure you register for this upcoming virtual workshop.
Date: Monday, July 10, 2023
Time: 1:00 p.m. Eastern/12:00 p.m. Central
Discover exciting hybrid hellebore varieties that bloom well into spring with the popular Frostkiss series. This upcoming webinar with hellebore breeder Bart Noordhuis and PP&L’s Marketing Director April Herring-Murray will guide you through growing the best hybrid hellebores, with tips and tricks to becoming a hellebore growing pro, including:
- The right time to plant liners
- Proper soil nutrition and pH
- Best practices for continued measurement of nutrition and pH
- The secret sauce for maximizing bloom count
- How to delay bloom and hold a hellebore
This webinar is hosted by Chris Beytes, editor of GrowerTalks/Green Profit and Acres Online, and sponsored by Pacific Plug & Liner.
Faculty on Fire
Let’s shift gears. Since I have Matthew for this last newsletter, I’d like to ask his opinion as someone who's worked in nursery academia for some time now and is currently an administrator at a top-tier university.
I've had discussions with many colleagues about the shrinking academic pool, particularly for ornamental horticulturists. In Louisiana, we've been lucky that many positions are being filled after retirement or turnover, and I know Virginia Tech University has just had a couple positions open for ornamental horticulture specialists. However, without any hard evidence, it seems like the number of extension faculty focusing on nursery production or practical landscaping is dwindling in recent years. Many programs seem to be shifting gears to food production, plant breeding or other positions entirely. Moreover, many Horticulture departments that I'm familiar with have consolidated with similar fields—we're both at universities with SPESS/SPES (schools of plant environment and soil science).
I understand why consolidation is happening, but with such strong national industries associated with the green industry, why do you think ornamental horticulturists seem to be less priority for faculty positions or am I just crazy?
Crazy as a Fox
Jeb, the brain-drain in academia is real and having a significant impact on our industry. Since I arrived in academia as an Assistant Professor back in 2007, we’ve lost about half of the nursery and floriculture faculty positions nationally that have a cooperative extension appointment.
The first wave was when the housing bubble popped and the ensuing recession occurred. The second wave has been since the pandemic kicked in. As faculty have retired, positions either don’t get filled or two original faculty positions at a university (one nursery and one floriculture) are filled with a hybrid position (combining floriculture and nursery). Floriculture positions have been hit particularly hard, with these spots going the direction of “Controlled Environment Agriculture” (AKA vertical agriculture, hydroponics, etc.). The result: we teach less classes and do less applied research, slowly degrading the quality of our industry.
But the big question is why? I have a simple answer that's going to make a lot of folks in our industry mad. Simply put, our industry has a huge economic impact, but is generally disorganized and disjointed at the state level. This leads to a situation whereby little political support exists to maintain positions and refill ornamental positions at the university level.
There’s one thing that sets ornamental horticulture apart from other agricultural commodities. Ornamental horticulture doesn't have a single state-level (legislatively approved) commodity commission nationally (that I know of—Oregon used to have one).
Why is this important? Commodity commissions are linked to state legislatures, as they're overseen by either state-level Department of Agriculture(s) or state legislatures. State legislatures and Agricultural Commissioners have a good bit of sway when it comes to university-level decisions. Hence, commodity commissions lead to a really good chance of positions being refilled that support the commodity commission. Why? Because these commodities are on politicians' radars.
Don’t believe me? Investigate how many states have commodity commissions that cover equine industries and viticulture, which outside of California, Oregon, Washington (viticulture), and Kentucky, Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas (equine), don’t have a higher farm gate value than ornamentals. And in states like Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia, it isn’t even close.
Bottom line—if the Green Industry wants more university support, the fastest way is going to be to organize and form commodity commissions at the state level. It’ll be a gamechanger, if people would only embrace it.
Definitely Not Going Quietly
Wow, that was very insightful! I must admit that I tossed that out there as I had a strong feeling you were well versed in this area. It's been something most of us in academia discuss between ourselves fairly often, but I couldn’t pass up this opportunity to put it out there.
With that I want to thank you again, Matt, for all the support you've had for me on this journey. More importantly, I want to thank you for the years of excellent commentary, witty banter and insightful reporting. Through this newsletter, you've definitely opened my eyes to various subjects, and to more than a few ideas, and I'm absolutely confident that you've successfully educated thousands of people across the world in horticulture and beyond.
You've provided an incredible service and I'm excited to follow. Hopefully, I can keep the momentum and have the courage to discuss some of the more controversial topics like you have. So, from myself as the new editor of NLI and just a guy who's enjoyed your newsletter for years, thank you, Matt!
The Big Goodbye
The transition is over, folks. As of now, I’m handing over the reins to the more talented, handsome and intelligent Dr. Jeb Fields. The NLI is in good hands, not only because I know Jeb is going to rock this assignment, but also because Ball Publishing is in good hands. When I started in my role with Ball Publishing, I was a bit apprehensive. Would I really be able to report on critical, and sometimes controversial, issues and/or share my moderately enlightened opinions of our industry? Would I get shut down by the Ball brand? Nope. Chris Beytes, Jen Zurko and all of my other friends at Ball just went with the flow and all of my wacky ideas over the years.
That’s what makes Ball Publishing unique in a world of brazen self-promotion within our industry. Sure, Ball Publishing has status because of the name. But Ball Publishing has legitimacy because of its independence and ability to be unbiased in what has become a marketing frenzied industry. That’s what made this job fun.
Thanks to all of the readers, too. I don’t know how so many of you ended up with my university email and cell phone number, but the texts and emails were a hoot to read over the years. I’ll miss you all, but you know how to reach me.
Above all, just remember to live authentic and be kind to one another.
Sincerely,
Matthew
Live authentic,
Jeb Fields
Editor-at-Large
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