What’s an IMF guide? It’s the Insect, Miticide & Fungicide Guide from GrowerTalks and sponsored by BASF, which mailed out with the September issue of GrowerTalks/Green Profit. So it’s either on your desk now or will be soon. If you don’t get the magazine, you can CLICK HERE to access it.

This guide provides an updated look at what’s new in pest and disease controls. From identifying and treating bacteria in production to the latest list of pest control materials for insects and mites in greenhouse horticulture crops, you can find what you need in this handy guide. You’ll find information from experts like Raymond Cloyd, JC Chong (also our PestTalks enewsletter author), Jen Browning, Paul Pilon and more. 

Growers have yet another tool at their disposal now that can be effective on more than 300 different insects, mites and nematodes: AzaPro.

According to the people at Sym-Agro, it’s naturally derived (and OMRI-certified for organic use) and provides 3-in-1 control without leaving visible residue on the crops. It’s effective against mites, aphids, thrips, leafhoppers, leafminers, beetles, mealy bugs, weevil, lepidoptera, pear psylla and others, as well as providing nematode suppression. It can safely be used up to the day of harvest, too, according to the company.

“AzaPro is a broad-spectrum insecticide/nematicide utilizing a highly bioactive form of azadirachtin,” says Sym-Agro President Peter Bierma. “The innovative clean formulation contains 75% less carrier oil—so AzaPro will not leave an oily visible residue on the treated produce or fruit.”

AzaPro has a dual mode of action—it's an insect growth regulator primarily, killing insect larvae or nymphs before they become reproducing adults by interfering with the insect molting hormone, and it also acts as a repellent.

In less than a month (October 5-9), the Controlled Environment Agriculture Center (CEAC) at the University of Arizona will be hosting what they call an “intensive” course in hydroponic lettuce and leafy greens.

Don’t be intimidated by that, though—they only mean it’s a deep dive into growing these crops, which can be really helpful if you’re either just getting started or want to expand your knowledge to grow your profits. The faculty and staff there will provide more than 40 hours of classroom time and hands-on application in the greenhouses to help growers become and/or stay successful.

For example, those who sign up will tour the CEAC and receive an analysis of structures and systems for hydroponic growing, talk greenhouse basics and optimizing the use of resources, as well as learn more about plant protection, food safety and GHP/GAP certification, data collection, environmental controls and system maintenance, propagation, and lots more.

To see the full schedule, find out more about the course and register, CLICK HERE.

Closer to me in Cleveland, Hort Americas and Current have finalized the speaker list for the inaugural Great Lakes Ag Tech Summit. This event is one day—Monday, September 23—at the Institute at Nela Park in Cleveland and will feature the following speakers:

• Austin Webb, CEO and co-founder of mega-vertical farm Fifth Season, on achieving best-in-class economics for a commercial vertical farm
• John Jackson, CEO and co-founder of Sustainable Indoor Growing Systems, Inc., on vertical farm production of young plants from hemp to tomatoes
• Dr. Chieri Kubota, leading controlled environment agriculture researcher and professor at The Ohio State University, on optimizing plant production under a controlled environment (highlighting research and education programs at Ohio State)
• Dr. Ariana Torres, ag economist and assistant professor at Purdue University, on “Are Consumers and Growers Putting Dollars in the Local Food Industry?”
• Chris Higgins, general manager of Hort Americas and founder/owner of Urban Ag News, on how technology is changing controlled environment agriculture from hemp to berries

Early bird admission is $30 before September 16; after that it’s $50. CLICK HERE to register.

In the last enewsletter, I had an item about AppHarvest, the projected 60-acre greenhouse project in Morehead, Kentucky, and its partnership with Signify for the lighting. I had reached out to the company for more details and received an email from Scott Sloan about the timeline.

“Construction has already started on the project with plans to open in the latter half of next year,” he says. I also asked about whether or not customers were already lined up. “Mastronardi Produce is serving as our distribution partner and offers access to top grocers.”

 
A computer rendering of the future 60-acre AppHarvest site in Morehead, Kentucky.

He also sent over some details that came out over the summer, namely that AppHarvest chose Dutch greenhouse company Dalsem to construct the 60-acre range. The company also secured an $82 million investment from Equilibrium Capital for the project.

AppHarvest aims to solve four problems with its new facility: create a local food source for many Americans (the location is within a day’s drive of 70% of the U.S. population, according to AppHarvest); provide more nutritious food; create jobs in Appalachia; and farm more sustainably.

We’ll keep watching this company as they come online in 2020.

This is the first time I’ve heard of this, but if you can grow lettuce in an aquaponic production system, why not cannabis?

Stewart Farms in Saint Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada, is attempting to do just that and adding a vertical farming component, as well. It appears the fish will be separate from the vertical farm, but in the same building. The byproducts from the fish will be pumped through the vertical farm in a closed-loop system to nourish the plants. The goal is to grow medical-grade cannabis for health and wellness products, company founder Tanner Stewart told the St. Croix Carrier back in February.

“People don’t have goals to take drugs, cannabis included,” he told the newspaper. “They have goals to sleep better and lower their anxiety. They have goals to fight depression or battle dementia. We want to be a resource to help patients achieve those goals.”

You can read that full story HERE.