Most crops benefit greatly from what Stuppy Greenhouse Regional Account Manager Armando Echavarria calls “warm feet and a cool head.” This means heating soil at the root zone, which promotes seed germination and accelerates rooting and growth in young plants.

Stuppy, a national greenhouse manufacturing company headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, designed its Heat2O™ Hydronic Heat product line with higher yields and profits in mind. The system passes heated water through EPDM synthetic rubber tubing that runs along the bench top. With pots, flats and containers sitting directly on the tubing, plant roots receive direct, evenly distributed radiant heat from the warm tubes.

“It’s a very efficient way of targeting the root zone, which likes to be a little bit warmer,” says Echavarria, whose sales coverage area includes California, Nevada, Arizona and Hawaii. “Using a conventional heater, you’re fighting physics trying to bring a large mass of warm air down to the ground. Root heating starts from the bottom up, so you’re using a lot less BTUs and getting better results.”

Stuppy’s in-house hydronic bench heat surrounds plants like an envelope, resulting in better nutrient uptake and root development. Bench heat is most frequently used for seed germination and plug production, but it is also used in small container production. Considering the improved growth rates provided by the system, smaller growers are able to do more with limited square footage, Echavarria notes.

“We have a greenhouse grapevine grower who had trouble keeping up with demand, but couldn’t expand beyond his current square footage,” he says. “Hydronic heat allowed him one or two extra turns.”

Stuppy operates within the North American horticulture market, a portfolio that includes commercial growers, nurseries, vegetable and citrus growers and hemp. While hydronic heat — commonly referred to as “bottom heat” — is not new, Stuppy’s home-grown product is designed and manufactured to spec for individual grower needs, Echavarria says.

“When you work with us to customize your greenhouse, we are also able to recommend a hydronic heating system designed to meet your specific growing needs,” he says.

Stuppy will introduce additions to the Heat2O™ product line in the coming year, including hydronic heating models that harness under-bench aluminum fin and radiant floor tubing, to be unveiled at AmericanHort’s Cultivate’20 show in July. Whether bench, under-bench or floor heating, hydronic heat can transform greenhouse growing, says Echavarria: “In terms of ROI, it’s that quick turnaround [in plant growth]. If you can add 30% to 50% more product in the same amount of time, that’s a huge increase in profit.”

For greenhouse operations looking to improve their growing substrate selection, a key step in the process is finding a growing substrate that fits a business’ specific needs, says Neil Watson. The West Coast sales representative for Pindstrup says the company that can offer a variety of options to growers is a key. That way, he says, a grower is getting exactly what they need based on their pot size, their growing environment and plants they grow.

That’s where Pindstrup comes in. According to Watson, the company works hand-in-hand with growers to find the exact recipe that's right for their business.

“It could be a small liner, it could be a 40-liter pot. To be able to provide a recipe that matches the application gets you closer to ideal growing,” he says. “To have a one-size-fits-all substrate, you're definitely making concessions. You’re saying, ‘Well, it’s good, but not perfect.’”

For instance, a grower producing plants in 4-inch and 6-inch pots and in hanging baskets could choose to purchase one substrate and use it with everything they grow. But, Watson says, if a grower does that, it can result in a diminishing return.

“Having those ideal substrates will allow you to have the ideal root systems and aeration for those crops based on that size,” he says. “If you take a container of any size, the larger the container you have, the more important [role] structure plays in providing aeration and drainage to your plant. If you don’t change your particle distribution size, it becomes a mass of substrate that doesn’t breathe well. If you step up a little bit and obtain that correct structure a resulting sponginess or spring back to your substrate will result, then the plant roots are going to respond to that availability of air spaces with increased root mass and root hairs, which translates to healthier plants.”

Pindstrup has 18 different peat types or screenings to work with, Watson says.

“In our state of the art screening plant, raw peat passes through several screens to divide it into fractions with well-defined distribution of particle sizes,” he says. "With the right combination of screens and sieves, we can separate the raw peat into different fractions, ranging from very fine (0-3mm) to very coarse (>40mm). With the option of mixing in different ways, we are able to always supply the exact screening that suits the specific needs of each customer.”

Products like the Pindstrup 5-20mm and the Pindstrup 10-30mm are among the products most widely used by growers for a variety of applications. Watson, a former grower with 20 years of experience, can offer his product recommendations after seeing a growing operation. He can then guide that grower through trials to help them understand the new substrate and how it is improving their experience. There is no rush for the grower to make a decision or change until that benefit can be seen. It’s all about helping them make the right decision for their business.

“We are very careful in getting the grower the right material for the right application,” he says.

When assessing a project, the sister-companies concentrate on all areas of engineering and integration. This collaborative and comprehensive design approach guarantees optimal functionality, especially compared to a build where systems are overseen or installed by multiple parties.

For example, observes Sales Rep and Special Projects Engineer Paul Golden, “People sourcing HVAC themselves may not understand how those components work in conjunction with each other. When working with us, we have all the angles and know the issues that are going to arise.”

Nexus and RBI perform custom design and engineering for greenhouses, and also have in-house manufacturing. They build or source additional systems and equipment including coverings, climate control and lighting. The companies’ client portfolio comprises retail garden centers as well as commercial growers in the vegetable, ornamental and cannabis industries.

As a “one-stop shop” incorporating benching, irrigation, heating/cooling and more, Nexus and RBI ensure greenhouse efficiency and a harmonious relationship among all newly installed equipment.

“We integrate the greenhouse into one system so a [grower] doesn’t have to talk to 20 different vendors,” says Systems Engineer Jacob Carson. “If there’s not an integrator on a project, you can delay the start phase by months. To the scale we’re operating at, that’s unique.”

As part of the Growing and Processing Solutions group of Gibraltar Industries, Nexus and RBI have been able to expand their scope of work and product suite. Chiller and dehumidifying systems provide customers with peak climate conditions, while LED lighting is designed for exceptional crop performance. The companies’ structural engineering expertise, meanwhile, helps growers navigate permitting and other key regulation issues.

“More facilities are being built in an urban environment, so the amount of oversight is increasing,” Carson says. “We want those facilities to be sustainable environmentally and economically. We work with districts that haven’t built greenhouses, and going through regulatory issues is somewhere where we’re really excelling.”

Before engaging the permitting process, Nexus and RBI determine if a site has the proper infrastructure and climate for crop growth. After regulations are cleared, a cadre of engineers implement the steel structure and equipment.

“We work with a customer back and forth on a solution, because some growers are irrigation-focused and others are climate-focused,” Carson says. “We make sure the facility is customized and you’re able to optimize in a sufficient time period.”

Nexus and RBI are busy supplying climate control systems in humid climates, with mechanized hydroponic vegetable growth representing a burgeoning sector for 2020.

Greenhouse crop production can lead to a sustainable future for greenhouse facilities, but it’s an integrated design methodology that will provide the ideal environment for crops, note the engineers.

“It’s about providing maximum yield plus minimum labor, maintenance and cost to the client,” Golden says.

As a current horticulture student at Snead State Community College in Alabama, Cory Johnson says he wants to one day earn a PhD in horticulture with an emphasis on plant genetics. He’s grown to love creating his own breeds of daylilies and estimates he’s grown roughly 2,000 plants in his academic career already.

Someday, he’ll grow more than just daylilies — Johnson is simply learning the ropes of plant genetics one step at a time.

“I want to be like, ‘Hey, I created that plant that’s in your yard over there,’” he says. Johnson graduated with an art studio degree from Snead State already, but he returned after realizing the options that come with a horticulture degree. Now a sophomore who plans on transferring to Auburn University or Alabama A&M University, he’s found plenty of success in his new field of study.

He won the college’s President’s Award last year for having the highest GPA among all students in the now-sophomore class. Johnson also just became president of the North Alabama Daylily Society club, a role he earned after two years of setting up plant tours and arranging meetings as the vice president. What’s more, he continues to work in the campus greenhouse, which just opened this fall as a brand new facility.

The President’s Award meant a tremendous amount to Johnson, who felt validated for deciding to spend more of his time in school than most of his peers.

“It made me feel good that I was able to earn that,” Johnson says. “It made up for all the time I used to study instead of doing other things.”

Johnson says he’s done some residential landscaping in the past as a means of just making some extra cash, but now he’s interested in collaborating with landscape designers in the future. He believes certain plants can make a design stand out, and his past as an art major could benefit this partnership looking ahead.

“That’s the creative side. This is where the art degree helps,” Johnson says. “With your breeding, you can be selective too, and work towards certain heights or certain colors and fit them within a landscape.”

Johnson jokes that his role isn’t all that different from a bee, and he’s not technically wrong: He puts pollen on a pistil much like the natural pollinators. However, he’s also learning more about how to create specific plants behind four years’ worth of reading books on plant genetics.

It’s something that always interested him, but like many others, he simply didn’t know what opportunities existed in the field. He encourages students to ask questions in their classes to get the full understanding of what they can do with their horticulture degrees.

“People don’t really know what it is or what you can do with it, but you can do all kinds of different things,” Johnson says. “It depends on which field you want to do. You could do landscape design, genetic or whatever. [Most] don’t really know what the degrees are for.”

The author is assistant editor for sister publication Lawn & Landscape magazine.