Fogging for Effective Pest Management
Greenhouse Product News
June 2008
By Kurt Becker
When it comes to low-volume chemical application in the greenhouse, growers have a variety of options to choose from — from mist blowers to targeted low volume sprayers.
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Techniques for Fighting Rising Energy Costs
Greenhouse Product News
May 2008
By Patricia Dean
Faced with increased material costs, labor issues and rising energy prices, growers are looking to gain a competitive advantage.
Targeting the White Menace: Mealybugs
Greenhouse Product News
April 2008
By Casey Sclar
Mealybugs plague greenhouse and interiorscape growers, and they can be difficult to control. But with the right combination of control tactics, growers can successfully rid their crops of these pests.
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Greenhouse Weed Control Tips
Greenhouse Product News
March 2008
By Fred Hulme
Controlling weeds in the greenhouse can be quite challenging. Read on to explore the basics of weed management and learn about some best management practices.
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Grower 101: Greenhouse Cooling Options
Greenhouse Product News
October 2007
By Gene Parsons
Growers can choose from a myriad of options for cooling their greenhouse structures and maintaining optimum growing conditions including natural or mechanical ventilation as well as evaporative cooling.
Grower 101: Operating And Maintaining Ventilation
Greenhouse Product News
September 2007
By Tyler Morrison
Proper fan maintenance is one of the easiest and most cost-effective measures growers can implement to improve performance in the greenhouse. Read on to learn how you can save time and money by following these procedures.
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Grower 101: Quenching Your Thirst for Irrigation
Greenhouse Product News
March 2007
By George Elliot
Last month, this 2-part series discussed principles of irrigation management and looked at irrigation management systems. This article discusses irrigation delivery systems in terms of functional characteristics and management potential.
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Grower 101: Understanding Irrigation Management
Greenhouse Product News
February 2007
By George Elliot
Irrigation can be managed differently with different control and delivery systems. The first part of this 2-part series provides an overview of the different types of irrigation automation available for growers.
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Grower 101: Diagnosing Bedding Plant Nutrient Deficiencies
Greenhouse Product News
December 2006
By Paul Nelson, Brian Whipker, John Dole, Dharmalingam Pitchay, James Gibson, Amy Rhodes and Brenda
The different nutrient deficiencies in bedding plants exhibit a range of symptoms. Learn the common symptoms of a number of deficiencies, such as nitrogen, copper, boron and more, to aid in diagnosis.
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Managing Spores And Sanitation
Greenhouse Product News
September 2006
By Robert Larose
Many spore misconceptions exist among growers: The best protection from spore-related problems is to learn the facts and exercise good sanitation practices.
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Stop By Stop By Stop, A Pack Trials Overview, Part 1
Greenhouse Product News
June 2006
By Tim Hodson, Catherine Evans and Bridget White
With more emphasis on
programs and elaborate exhibits, the varieties are only part of the Pack Trials story. We have rounded up the happenings at each stop in the company-by-company coverage.
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Grower 101: Rooting Hormones
Greenhouse Product News
August 2005
By Christopher Cerveny and James Gibson
Rooting hormones can improve the visibility of temperate and tropical annual and perennial species by increasing propagation success.
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Grower 101: Scheduling Perennials
Greenhouse Product News
June 2005
By Leonard Perry
If you wish to do your own vegetative propagation, keep in mind this is easiest when the plant itself wants to be vegetative and not flowering. This is often in spring for divisions and various times of summer for cuttings.
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Grower 101: Get Cultured
Greenhouse Product News
April 2005
By Donald J. Merhaut
The greater the concentration, the more quickly it disinfects. However, too much chlorine may also kill plants.
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Grower 101: A Business Plan
Greenhouse Product News
February 2005
By Charles R. Hall
Managers sometimes argue that it is useless to write a business plan because the marketplace is changing so rapidly that any plan is quickly outdated.
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Grower 101:Growing Plants Cooler, Part II
Greenhouse Product News
October 2004
By John Erwin, Charlie Rohwer and Ryan Warner
Weigh the pros and cons of lowering greenhouse
temperatures and learn the effect it will have on
crop quality, timing and pest and disease control.
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Grower 101: Growing Plants Cooler, Part I
Greenhouse Product News
September 2004
By John Erwin, Charlie Rohwer and Ryan Warner
We studied the effects of temperature on a number of major bedding plant crops and showed that species time to flower is affected differently as temperature decreases.
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Grower 101: The Beauty of orchids
Greenhouse Product News
August 2004
By Wagner Vendrame
Gaining popularity over the past few years, orchids have a long history and large family
but are easy to grow. Find out more about what some call the most beautiful pot plant ever.
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Pressure-Treated Lumber
Greenhouse Product News
June 2004
By John W. Bartok, Jr.
How the transition in pressure-treated lumber standards and
new alternatives will affect greenhouse and nursery growers.
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Grower 101: Labor Sources
Greenhouse Product News
March 2004
By Randall A. Countermine and Tony Moe
Quality employees are hard to find, and a long, extensive search could be very costly.
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Grower 101: Rapid Diagnostic Kit
Greenhouse Product News
February 2004
By Mike Tiffany
Viral infection often reduces the number of cuttings that a stock plant can produce and can affect the flower color and quality of the plant. Results from rapid diagnostic kit tests are ready in about 10-30 minutes.
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Grower 101: Workstations --Designed for Efficiency
Greenhouse Product News
January 2004
John Bartok Jr.
Workstations-- used for seeding, transplanting, potting, taking cuttings and preparing plants or vegetables for shipping-- are areas where employees do repetitive tasks. Having everything needed within arm's reach and providing a comfortable environment are key to good workstation design.
Grower 101: Pesticide Application and Equipment
Greenhouse Product News
November 2003
Neda Simeonova
Selecting the correct product for the job is very important to the success of a pest management program, but equally important is the equipment and application technique used to apply the pesticide. To help select the right application and equipment, we turned to Dick Lindquist, a senior technical manager of Olympic Horticultural Products, Wooster, Ohio. The following information is confined to products applied to aboveground plant parts.
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Grower 101: Choosing and Using Fertilizer Injectors
Greenhouse Product News
October 2003
Lela Kelly
Watering and fertilizing are two tasks that take the most amount of time in your greenhouse, and fertilizing is also one of the most important. You want to get the job done quickly and accurately, meaning you want an injector that is easy to install and maintain. Here are a few factors to think about.
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Grower 101: Heating Systems--Maintenance Pays
Greenhouse Product News
September 2003
John W. Bartok, Jr.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, natural gas prices will triple this winter. (For more information see Headlines in the August 2003 issue of GPN.) With the continuing unrest in the Middle East, propane and fuel oil will probably follow suit. Now is the time to get your heating system tuned up for the long, cold winter ahead.
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Grower 101: Handling Unrooted Perennials
Greenhouse Product News
August 2003
John Friel
Last month's Grower 101 outlined how to handle bare root perennials; this month goes a little farther back in the process and describes how to handle unrooted perennials.
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Hibiscus moscheutos 'Pyrenees Pink'
Greenhouse Product News
July 2003
Paul Pilon
Hardy hibiscus is an old-time garden favorite riding a new wave of popularity. Hibiscus moscheutos is a marshland native of the eastern United States and has hardiness in USDA Zones 4-9. With new developments in plant breeding, today's hibiscus cultivars offer improved flower sizes and colors, more appealing plant habits and extended bloom times.
Finishing Bedding Plants and Perennials
Greenhouse Product News
July 2003
Roger C. Styer
It's time to recap problem areas. My top five encompass the growers' greatest concerns. These top issues are where I spend most of my time with clients.
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Grower 101: Bare Root Perennials
Greenhouse Product News
July 2003
Neda Simeonova
Bare root perennials are dormant plants with the soil removed from the roots. They are typically field grown for a period of time, usually one year, and harvested. Once the plants are dug, the tops are trimmed down to approximately 1 inch from the crown with the exception of evergreen perennials such as iberis, lavender, dianthus, Phlox subulata and yucca. These bare root plants are then shipped to finish growers or end users.
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Better Calibrachoas with Growth Control
Greenhouse Product News
July 2003
Jim Barrett
The need to produce more attractive plants led us to doing growth regulator work for our May field days. For this article, I have chosen the strategy of showing more pictures of the plants and letting them speak for themselves, as in "a picture is worth a thousand words."
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Trialing Diascia and Nemesia
Greenhouse Product News
July 2003
Rick Schoellhorn
The following report of diascia and nemesia trials conducted at the University of Florida trial gardens in Gainesville, Fla., was conducted in the winter of 2002. Gainesville is in USDA Zone 8b and is part of an ongoing research program to evaluate new crops for their potential as winter flowering crops. While Southern and Sunbelt producers can use this information to boost winter sales and extend fall-season sales, Northern growers might wonder how this type of trailing affects their use of product, and the answer is two-fold.
Grower 101: Reverse Osmosis --The Pros and Cons
Greenhouse Product News
June 2003
Jeff Roseman
By starting with water that is free from impurities and minerals, reverse osmosis water can help make growing more calculable, since the water quality is constant. Nutrients can be better controlled without having to worry about what is in the water source at the beginning of the irrigation process. Contaminants in the water source, such as iron, manganese, calcium, magnesium and chlorine, can react with the nutrients and cause problems with fertilizer mix.
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Grower 101: Soil Amendments --Sorting Through the Crowd
Greenhouse Product News
May 2003
Kevin Hattori
A soil amendment is any material added to a soil (or soilless mix) for the purpose of improving its physical and/or biological characteristics. The reason for using amendments is to provide a better environment to support plant life and development. A myriad of soil amendment choices can create some confusion about which product does what; here are the basics.
Grower 101: Using Evaporative Cooling, Part II
Greenhouse Product News
April 2003
John W. Bartok, Jr.
As you learned in Part I in the March issue of GPN, fan and pad systems are great for cooling, but there are more options: swamp coolers, mist and fog systems, and fan-generated fog units.
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Grower 101: Using Evaporative Cooling, Part I
Greenhouse Product News
March 2003
John W. Bartok, Jr.
Evaporative cooling, which uses the heat in the air to evaporate water from leaves and other wetted surfaces, can cool the greenhouse to 10-20° F below outside temperature. With an evaporated cooling system, humid air containing the heat that it picked up within the greenhouse is exhausted out through the vents or fans, and cooler, drier air is brought in.
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Grower 101: Algae: Bad for Plants, Bad for Business
Greenhouse Product News
February 2003
Neil Goldberg
If not managed properly, algae will have a direct impact on the bottom line of your business. It takes more than chemicals to solve the problem. It takes an understanding of how algae develops, grows and spreads, and the chemical and non-chemical means necessary to control its associated problems.
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Grower 101: Managing Weeds in Outdoor Cut Flowers
Greenhouse Product News
January 2003
Tina Smith
Weeds compete for water, nutrients and light, resulting in reduced flower yield and increased threat of serious insect and disease problems. A successful weed management program utilizes cultural practices such as cultivation and mulching, or a combination of cultural and chemical measures, taking into consideration labor costs and the cost and availability of materials.
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Grower 101: Diagnosing Plant Diseases of Floricultural Crops
Greenhouse Product News
November 2002
Robert Wick
The ability to make an accurate diagnosis on-site is dependent on a disease that has unique symptoms. Also, the grower needs to have previously identified the problem or have a good illustration or written description to make proper identification. There are a number of diseases that can be easily identified on-site, and there are many that can only be diagnosed in a university or private diagnostic lab.
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Grower 101: Controlling Photoperiod
Greenhouse Product News
October 2002
Erik Runkle
Successful production of many crops requires an understanding of how plants respond to photoperiod, how photoperiod changes during the year and how to modify the photoperiod to control growth and development.
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GROWER 101: Drip, Drip, Drip. Greenhouse Condensation
Greenhouse Product News
September 2002
J. Raymond Kessler, Jr.
High relative humidity at night and condensation can not only lead to disease problems, but will also reduce light intensity. So what conditions lead to this problem, and what steps can be taken to prevent it?
GROWER 101: Irrigation Practices
Greenhouse Product News
July 2002
Carrie Burns
These three steps can help you utilize water properly with the minimum amount of waste. The first step should be implemented by all greenhouses wherever feasible. The second is better but more expensive, so it should be executed when financially possible. And the third is ideal.
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Studying Phytophthora : Foes of Floral Crops
Greenhouse Product News
June 2002
Margery Daughtrey
Phytophthora is one of the special group of plant pathogens termed “oomycetes” — Pythium and the downy mildews are close kin. Analysis of their DNA has indicated that these organisms are more closely related to algae than to fungi. This is the reason why Phytophthora, Pythium and downy mildews are successfully combated by unique fungicides, such as mefenoxam, metalaxyl and dimethomorph, that would not be effective against the true fungi.
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Scouting for Mites, Part II
Greenhouse Product News
June 2002
Kevin Donovan
One of the keys to a successful scouting program is being able to accurately identify the pests and diseases you come in contact with. The following is a review of the most prevalent greenhouse mites.
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Grower 101: Scouting for Mites, Part I
Greenhouse Product News
May 2002
Kevin Donovan
To effectively implement a mite management program, you must first identify the mite species, understand its life cycle and determine whether populations are at an economically damaging threshold. This is accomplished through a scouting plan that is performed routinely and in a systematic manner.
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GROWER 101: Nutrient Disorders in Greenhouse Crops, Part II
Greenhouse Product News
April 2002
Paul V. Nelson
The second of GPN’s two-part series on nutrient disorder shows you symptoms associated with additional deficiencies and toxicities of nutrients in greenhouse crops. When assessing nutritional status, remember the four sets of information: irrigation water quality, root substrate tests, foliar analysis and visual symptomology. The deficiencies below will help you with visual symptomology.
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A New Mode of Resistance Management
Greenhouse Product News
March 2002
Jim Bethke
What is the best approach to manage pests without enhancing pesticide resistance? Minimizing chemical control by incorporating other pest management tactics is a more sensible solution. Managing pests should begin with the basics of integrated control.
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Growing Under Open Roofs
Greenhouse Product News
March 2002
Sven E. Svenson
What is the function of a growing structure? To control the environment or to assist the grower with manipulating healthy plant growth? Should the grower and the plants be forced to adapt to the environment the greenhouse provides, or should the greenhouse provide adaptable environments the grower needs to force the crop? Open-roof structures provide more environmental flexibility compared to traditional greenhouse designs.
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Don’t Expect Pythium Root Rot to Always Act the Same
Greenhouse Product News
February 2002
Gary W. Moorman and Margery L. Daughtrey
Cornell University trials are teaching researchers more about this troublesome pathogen, how it interacts with the plants it infects and how it is becoming more difficult to control — and what they’ve learned may surprise you.
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Greenhouse Curtain Systems
Greenhouse Product News
February 2002
National Greenhouse Manufacturer’s Association
Looking to conserve energy? A curtain system might be just what you need. This, the last in our three-part series with the NGMA, will help you decide if a curtain system is right for you.
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