GrowerTalks

April 2024 Issue

Vol. 87 No. 12

See the Digital Edition

This Month ...

AI for Growers: Growing Plants Edition

by Katie Elzer-Peters

NEWSLETTERS

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

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.

More Than Just Height Control

Lauren Kilpatrick & Brian A. Krug

Exploring plant growth regulators to increase branching on perennials.

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.

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.

CULTURE NOTES

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.

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.

Resistance Management

Dr. Raymond A. Cloyd

Which strategy is better—pesticide rotations or pesticide mixtures?

COLUMNS

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

DEPARTMENTS

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.

GT IN BRIEF

Glow-in-the-Dark Flowers Get USDA OK

HI Hydrangea URCs Now Available Through Express Seed

In Memoriam: David Lemon

Putting the Special in Specialty Cuts

Skagit Gardens to Close

White’s to Close Their Wholesale Operation

COLUMNISTS

Chris Beytes

Jennifer Zurko

Albert Grimm

Art Parkerson

Paul Pilon

Bill Swanekamp

Amy Morris

Terri McEnaney

Stan Vander Waal

Austin Bryant

Stephanie Saccomano

VIDEOS

Watch More

CAST 2024: Jaldety

CAST 2024: PRUDAC

CAST 2024: Hishtil

CAST 2024: Cohen

CAST 2024: Benary

CAST 2024: Takii

CAST 2024: Danziger

CAST 2024: HilverdaFlorist

CAST 2024: Syngenta

CAST 2024: Kientzler North America

CAST 2024: Dümmen Orange Perennials

CAST 2024: Dümmen Orange Annuals

CAST 2024: Sakata Seed Annuals

CAST 2024: Schoneveld

CAST 2024: Hem Genetics

CAST 2024: Westhoff

CAST 2024: Green Fuse Botanicals

CAST 2024: Plant Development Services, Inc.

CAST 2024: PlantHaven

CAST 2024: Pacific Plug & Liner

CAST 2024: Beekenkamp

CAST 2024: Suntory

CAST 2024: PanAmerican Seed

CAST 2024: Ball FloraPlant

CAST 2024: Selecta One

CAST 2024: Morel Cyclamen

CAST 2024: Burpee

CAST 2024: Darwin Perennials

A Tour of IPM 2024—the World's Largest Horticulture Trade Show

Trending Now: PDSI

Trending Now: Darwin Perennials

Marvin Teaches Us a New Word - Cyathium

Poinsettias are NOT Poisonous! A public service announcement from GrowerTalks magazine

GrowerTalks at the Heimos Poinsettia Open House 2023

Trending Now: Monrovia

GrowerTalks at Ball Seed Customer Day 2023

Plants, Tools and Technologies from Cultivate’23

Happy 10th Anniversary to LiveTrends

Visiting Darwin Perennial Days 2023

TRENDING NOW

Eckert’s Greenhouse
3-ft. Mini Flower Tower

Ball Seed
Seed Packaging

Sioux Corporation
Steam-Flo Zone Control Kit

Light Bio Inc.
Firefly Petunia

Pacific Plug & Liner
Frostkiss Hellebores

Corvus Drones BV
Corvus Drones

Who will be this year’s Young Grower winner?

We’ll be awarding this year’s GrowerTalks/Ball Horticultural Company Young Grower Award at the Unplugged event during Cultivate’24. 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 and your first drink is free!

WHEN: Monday, July 15 at 8:00 p.m.
WHERE: Gaswerks
487 Park Street, Columbus, Ohio

Finalists for the 2024 GrowerTalks/Ball Horticultural Company Young Grower Award:
Drew Groezinger - Clara Joyce Flowers, Stockton, IL
Trevor Stark - Hoffman Nursery Inc., Rougemont, NC
Carleton Stuecker - Metrolina Greenhouses, Huntersville, NC

An extra special thanks goes to Ball Horticultural Company, BASF and AmericanHort for sponsoring this year’s award!