Bonnie Plants in Union Springs, Alabama, is a massive, modern farming operation, growing over 300 varieties of vegetables, flowers, and herbs across 70 sites throughout the country. Its plants, all grown in greenhouses, are ubiquitous in the gardening sections at Home Depot, Walmart, Lowe’s, and nearly 5,000 independent garden centers nationwide, according to the company.

Two years ago, according to VP of Operations Ken Andrews, the giant producer was looking at streamlining some SOPs in its production processes. After a quick glance around at the various sticking and transplanting robot options on the market, they linked up with hort tech outfit TTA USA (McMinnville, TN) to explore automating Bonnies’ transplanting lines.

“We installed our first TTA transplanter back in Fall of 2019, and we have since expanded on that initial investment to include installing 8 additional transplanters throughout our operations,” he says.

Specifically, Bonnie leverages TTA’s Pack Planter 1450 S and the Pack Planter 2230 S, along with the wireless connectivity capability offered by TTA, to more efficiently deploy labor throughout its growing operations.

So far, so good, according to the VP.

“We’re reducing our reliance on transplanting labor, and we are also seeing an improvement in survivability, as well as shorter grow times, which we believe is likely due to the technology helping us reduce the level of plant stress at transplant,” Andrews says.

Prior to signing on with TTA, Bonnie, like most, relied solely on human transplanters to get its plants out of plugs, into disposable pots and ready for retail. That labor pool is rapidly shrinking, according to Andrews, as well as becoming exponentially more expensive as many states have adopted $15 farm worker minimum wage legislation (New York, California, etc.) in recent years.

Going forward, the plant giant will continue working with TTA to streamline its production processes where it makes sense, so it can keep delivering the inexpensive-yet-quality plants consumers have come to expect when they see that familiar green and yellow branding.

“As we move into 2021, we are focusing on becoming more efficient and consistent in our overall operations throughout our production facilities,” Andrews says. “By partnering with TTA, we are able to streamline our production process and improve our overall efficiency - while at the same time increasing production.”

Across half a million acres of production space, Emerald Coast Growers (ECG) owner Paul Babikow estimates that 60 to 70% of its greenhouses were developed and built by Atlas Greenhouse.

“We’ve been gradually shifting from hoop houses to more efficient gutter-connected, high-wall houses,” he says. “This provides more cost-effective heating during the winter months, and better control of air movement during the hot, humid months.”

ECG propagates ornamental grass and perennial liners, as well as various native plants, across two sites in the Florida panhandle and another up in the heart of Pennsylvania Amish country outside Lancaster.

Obviously, those are two very different growing climates. The certainty in producing a consistent, well-performing crop that Atlas Greenhouse provides makes working with the builder an easy choice for Babikow and Emerald Coast Growers. In fact, the grower just recently opened the doors on a new 2-acre perennial facility, designed and built by Atlas.

“The structure includes a gathering/loading headhouse on the west end and perennial production houses on the east end with two 1-acre gutter blocks in between,” Babikow says. “This new setup provides us with an efficient flow of product from sticking to shipping and the high walls allow for improved air flow and ultimately a better environment for perennial growing.”

And a better growing environment means a better season financially for ECG, as well as happier customers who are more likely to buy again.

Yet, there is a multitude of active greenhouse structures companies in the industry today. So how did ECG come to choose Atlas as its main commercial partner on so many of these projects?

“Convenient southeast location, service and the quality of structure made Atlas an easy choice for our greenhouse needs,” Babikow says.

That easy choice came into play again recently when ECG got started on a new project for an extended headhouse to connect their new perennial facility with four older gutter-connected blocks to improve their material handling.

Babikow says that this latest ongoing project requires a bit of ingenuity from the Atlas team, who have been very hands-on through the entire process, including multiple in-person site visits.

“This install requires connectivity to some non-Atlas structures, as well as Atlas houses,” he says. “After 30 years in business, we have a bit of a mix of old and new structures, with a need to make everything work together the best that we can. Atlas, for its part, has been an essential part of that effort.”

Catoctin Mountain Growers, situated at the base of the Appalachian foothills in Keymar, Maryland, was founded by Bob and Denise Van Wingerden in 1985. Considering Fine Americas got its start in Walnut Creek, California, in 1983, current Catoctin Mountain head grower Julie Ifert believes that it’s fair to assume Catoctin has leaned on the company for its plant growth regulator (PGR) needs from the very start.

The 25-total acre operation serves customers from Virginia to New York, with its plants ending up at many of the national big-box retail stores scattered throughout the region. The group also sells a portion of its output directly to consumers.

“We use basically all of their products. We just love Fine Americas,” Ifert says. “They have a fantastic price point and the product is high quality. That’s why we buy all of our PGRs from them.”

Ifert and her production team use Fine Americas’ line of commercial specialty PGR formulations to ensure plants achieve optimal growth throughout their lifecycle, making sure final plant customers receive a healthy, attractive plant.

Prior to being able to deploy the helpful chemistries, Ifert says a team of laborers would “mechanically pinch” and space perennials throughout the growth cycle.

“Mechanical pinching is a huge labor expense. Now we do minimal mechanical pinch, so we want to use plant growth regulators to reduce our spend on labor,” she says. “And it’s the same with spacing. If a plant overgrows its space, you need to send a crew of people through there.”

Specifically, Ifert points to Collate (concentrated ethephon) combined with Dazide as the Fine Americas offerings that have enabled as much hands-off growing as possible.

“That [combination] has really changed how we grow things in the past 10 years,” she says. “We went from pinching almost every vegetative annual, to now we don’t really have to pinch any.”

Piccolo 10XC is another go-to tool in the Catoctin Mountain Growers’ toolbox, according to Ifert.

“There’s a lot of suppliers out there [for that active] but I feel like Fine went with the extra effort on the research and development side,” she says.

The grower also uses Fresco to give plants a late boost in size before shipping time, she adds. The easy handling and storage are additional attributes that help Fine Americas’ product line stand out from the competition.

“[Just] less plastic and less jugs to go through and rinse out, and it’s a better formulation that doesn’t require agitation when you run it [through an injector],” Ifert says.

The sudden appearance of Phytophthora in greenhouse production can spell disaster for growers. The disease is most often seen during the summer months, but can get going in spring and appear late in the fall, says Ann Chase, owner of Chase Agricultural Consulting. Chase performs plant pathology research, diagnostics and consulting.

“It’s sudden and deadly, so prevention is the key to control,” she explains.

A strong preventative program should start just as hot weather hits, she says. Recycling water greatly increases the risk of Phytophthora, she adds. In the greenhouse setting, scout often and remove dead plants.

“With Phytophthora, infected plants can collapse overnight,” she says.

Pythium can also be a serious issue for all growers, “but it is the opposite of Phytophthora and many times sneaks up on growers,” she warns.

Signs of Pythium include irregular growth, wilting, yellowing — especially lower leaves — and stunting.

“Plants can recover from Pythium but rarely recover from Phytophthora,” she says.

For a soil-borne disease control program, apply broad-based fungicides like Segway O, she says.

“Many of the other fungicides labeled for Phytophthora and Pythium only work on Phytophthora,” Chase says. “But Segway O is very effective for both of these oomycete pathogens. Other very effective fungicides for Pythium and Phytophthora include FenStop and Subdue Maxx.”

Segway O contains the active ingredient cyazofamid, making it “an invaluable alternative to commonly-used fungicides where widespread resistance to the water mold diseases has developed,” says Carlos Bográn, OHP’s manager of technical services.

“As the only product from MOA 21, Segway O is an excellent choice for resistant strains of Pythium and Phythophtora on ornamentals and now greenhouse-grown vegetables and herbs,” he says.

In late July, OHP announced the expansion of the Segway O label that allows the product to be used for control of Pythium, Phythophthora and downy mildew on certain greenhouse-grown vegetables and herbs transplants.

Segway O also offers a pre-harvest interval of zero days.

The recent label expansion falls in line with growers adding food crops to their rotation. The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent quarantine boosted the market for home-grown vegetables and herbs.

“The broadening of the greenhouse market has included many vegetables and other herbs. Large container production of crops like tomatoes and peppers has really increased in the ‘ornamental’ operations I visit,” Chase says.

Historically, herb growers have experienced problems finding products labeled for rosemary and lavender, she adds.

“It has been hard to find materials labeled for these crops even when they are produced as ornamentals,” she says.

Anyone adding basil to their production schedule will appreciate the label expansion.

“Basil downy mildew has become quite an issue in recent years and Segway O provides greenhouse herb growers another option, which is important,” Bográn says.

Even with effective products like Segway O, growers “should always use products from different chemical classes with different modes of action,” he says.

When it comes to proper chemical rotation to prevent Pythium and Phytophthora, Chase created a table for growers to reference (see above).

“If you are trying to prevent Pythium and Phytophthora you should rotate materials in the lower half of the table including FenStop, Segway O, Subdue Maxx and Terrazole (or Truban). The P07 products can do an excellent job on both pathogens, but trials have shown control of Pythium only 50% of the time. Using a rotation of two different FRAC groups is sufficient for resistance management,” she explains.