Seeking a sustainable seal of approval

Wayne Mercer, owner of Mercer Botanicals in Zellwood, Fla., will tell you he is not an environmental extremist. “I’m not a tree hugger,” he said. He does, however, believe in the positive impact ornamental plants have on humans and the Earth. That is why this foliage plant grower has taken the step to become VeriFlora certified.

“If I had to sum up VeriFlora in one word, it would be “transparency,” Mercer said. “There is nothing sustainable about businesses operating in the shadows. It’s not productive for the long term health of our industry or our world. Our industry needs to be transparent and scream our story. We are the good guys!”
 
Mercer has been using a company logo and slogan for seven years. The logo is a gecko lizard in a lab coat holding a magnifying glass. The company’s mission as it relates to its customers is “Worry free buying.” Both the logo and slogan are printed on the company’s stationary and business cards.
 
“We deal with live goods and there are always issues that can arise,” Mercer said. “Our people keep problems to a bare minimum.”
Mercer said the magnifying glass represents his employees who produce and ship the plants.
 
“They are the ones who handle and pull the product. They understand what they ship is the face of our company. Buyers have a choice. We are not the only ones with quality plant material. Transparency along with integrity for our customers and vendors has served us well.”

Marketing sustainability

CHANGING CONSUMERS' PERSPECTIVES

Wayne Mercer of Mercer Botanicals wants to make sure that consumers have a good experience with plants. That’s why he is growing foliage plants that can hold up to the indoor conditions they will be exposed to.   “Sanseveria is bullet proof. Dracaena is another tough crop,” he said. “People are always talking about new varieties, but if the shelf life is too short or consumers can’t be successful, the new and the hot will be sand in the wind.”   Mercer said the industry needs to do a better job of educating consumers about plants and their life expectancy.   “We expect cut roses and annuals to die. Consumers think they’re killers of tropical plants after a year of plant life,” he said. “There is a lack of information to the consumer. We are the good guys, providing healthy living plants that have been proven to clean the air and add harmony to our living environments.”

Even though Mercer is proud of his company’s logo and what it represents, he said it garners no recognition from the end users.
 
“Our logo is not significant, but a VeriFlora type recognition can be,” he said. “We need a ‘Good Housekeeping’ seal for ornamentals.”
 
Mercer said that he could see a non-profit, grower-certified sustainability program like VeriFlora becoming the marketing program that the ornamentals industry has been seeking.
 
“People in our industry have been talking about marketing for years,” he said. “I have been hearing this for 20 years. But it’s hard to convince independent growers to contribute dollars to a marketing program. It’s not going to happen. We need to get behind an organization like VeriFlora and support a program that will gain recognition by the consumer. VeriFlora’s fair standards separate operations growing for short-term versus long-term gains.”
 
Mercer said a Florida 18-hole golf course, on average, will use more water in three weeks of dry weather than his 740,000 square-foot greenhouse facility.
 
“Commercial and residential turf management are the heavy water, fertilizer and chemical users,” he said. “Not our transparent, sustainable-minded growers. We are the good guys. How are we getting the message out? Do we think that buyers and end users don’t care?”

BMPs spur sustainability efforts
In 1998 the Southern Nursery Association released its “Best Management Practices Guide for Producing Container-Grown Plants.” Mercer said the BMP guide and its authors recommended that growers get on board with the program.
 
“Water is such a major issue for Florida growers and this guide kind of spurred us on in regards to becoming more sustainable,” he said. “At that time we were expanding quite a bit so we committed ourselves by putting in low-volume Netafim irrigation systems and retention ponds. We have almost 5 acres of retention ponds on the property. Our main road on the property is a curbed spillway that runs down into a 3-acre retention pond.”
 
The company also has a consumptive use permit for all of its wells. Its water-use records are submitted to the St. Johns River Water Management District every six months.
 
Mercer said much of his company’s sustainability efforts have been a part of his evolution in thinking from the days of “just give them 30 minutes of 20-20-20”.
 
“Fertilizer is expensive,” he said. “We can save more money if we use less fertilizer and less water resulting in less disease.”
 
Another way that Mercer has cut down on water usage is by switching his potting mix. He used to buy an off-the-shelf commercial mix, but has switched to Pinstrup peat. He also uses a small amount of Euro Mix from Berger.

MERCER BOTANICALS

Founded: In 1987 by husband and wife Wayne and Christine Mercer. Location: Zellwood, Fla. Crops: Foliage plants, including aralia, ardisia, croton, dieffenbachia, dracaena, neanthe bella palm, pothos, sanseveria, syngonium, grown in 3-, 4-, 6- and 8-inch pots. Production space: 50-acre nursery with 740,000 square feet of covered production. Market: Finished plants are sold nationwide to garden centers, florists and rewholesalers, including dish garden manufacturers and interirorscapers. Employees: 27 full-time employees and two part-time employees. Sustainability highlights: VeriFlora and BMP certified; low-volume Netafim irrigation systems; nearly 5 acres of retention ponds to collect irrigation water and rain runoff; beneficial insects for pest control; use 100 percent peat, which has 100 percent water- and nutrient-holding capacity; minimum fertilizer application; cardboard and plastic recycling.

“How much fertilizer does bark, sand or perlite hold? We grow in 100 percent peat, which has 100 percent water and nutrient holding capacity,” he said. “Most peats have a natural pH of 3-4. With a little extra buffering capacity provided by a larger screened dolomite and better irrigation practices, the health of our plants (roots) has never been more prolific.”
 
Mercer is also doing some studies with wetting agents to find if he can reduce the amount of water he uses.

“Our goal is to use as little water as possible. Growers create most of their own problems by overwatering. It’s so easy to overwater.”
 
Mercer is incorporating the lowest recommended rate of Nutricote slow release fertilizer into the growing medium.
 
“We take pH and EC readings, then supplement with liquid feed only as needed,” he said. “With the 100 percent peat mix, we use 30 percent less fertilizer.”
 
In addition to reducing his water and fertilizer inputs, Mercer is working to recycle as much nursery byproducts as possible. Cardboard is compacted and sold to a recycler. He is working with pot supplier Central Florida Custom Molders to recycle all No. 5 plastic and East Jordan Plastics to recycle No. 6 polystyrene.

Working the bugs out of biologicals
Mercer Botanicals has been using predator mites for the control of two-spotted spider mites for about eight years. About four million predators are released annually throughout the entire range. Mercer said it was the enthusiasm of University of Florida entomologist Lance Osborne that made him want to check out the predators.
 
“At the time we started, our goal was to achieve less suit time for our spray people,” he said. “Who wants to step into a spray suit, rubber gloves and boots and full face mask in the middle of July in Florida?”
 
Mercer said the learning curve on biologicals is not cheap, but the payback is great.
 
“It’s hard to write a standard operating procedure for putting out predators,” he said. “We are working with consultant Suzanne Wainright-Evans to help us devise a SOP for our operation. There are a lot of variables, but it can be done.”
 
Mercer is running experiments with corn plants to see if they will work as banker plants to maintain the predatory mites Phytosieulus persimilis and Neoseiulus californicus. The corn plants act as a food source for grass mites, which don’t damage the foliage plants.
 
“The banker plants are then distributed throughout the greenhouse to control two-spotted spider mites,” Mercer said. “We’re comparing how many predatory mites we have to release in 30,000 square feet of greenhouse space with banker plants versus another 30,000 square feet without.”

Scouting is critical to pest control
Mercer is emphatic when he says scouting is the most important factor when using biologicals.
 
“Scouting is the number one way to stay on top of pest problems and reduce spraying, but yet it is underused,” he said.
 
Mercer is working with Craig Lukas Horticulture to develop an auditable SOP for his scouting program. He said the better nursery operations are already doing this.
 
He is also using nematodes to control fungus gnat larvae, yellow sticky tape for adult fungus gnats and blue sticky tape for catching thrips. He has also released predatory wasps and predatory beetles, but has had minimal success. “There is a learning curve to all of this stuff,” he said.
 
His next project is to find out which plants can be put around the outside perimeter of his property to attract natural predators.
 
“Nature has a balance and we as growers disturb that balance within our micro-environments requiring zero tolerance for pests,” he said.

Most important are the people
A sustainability assessment of Mercer Botanicals was initially conducted in October 2008 by Michael Keyes, certification manager for sustainable agriculture at Scientific Certification Systems, the administrator for the VeriFlora program.
 
“I told Dr. Keyes when he came here that I was very interested in obtaining this certification,” said Mercer. “Additionally, if we were not focused on making Friday payroll and profit, we aren’t sustainable. The employees understand what we are doing. There is nothing hidden. They know they are working in a very clean, safe environment and they are proud of how we operate.
 
“Organic is a destination, sustainability is a pathway and focus. Focused on the quality of plants, the environment and the people — always a work in progress. By doing all of these well, more dollars are added to the bottom line.” 

For more: Mercer Botanicals Inc., (352) 735-9696; www.mercerbotanicals.com.