Greenhouse Management magazine: What is Pioneer Gardens’ approach to pest management?

Amanda Mattison: We do a combination of cultural practices and beneficial insects. We still use some chemicals but we’ve drastically reduced that. When I started eight years ago, they were already using beneficial insects here and getting into more sustainable practices, and that’s been something that we’ve been increasing. But we usually try to use forecasting, which is taking our production schedule and using those numbers for what we’re producing to forecast the purchase of beneficial insects. We try to be proactive and use beneficials preventatively, but we still use chemical controls and rotating modes of action as needed, just as minimally as possible. But we’re not relying on chemicals; we’re just kind of keeping them in our back pocket.

GM: What was the deciding factor for almost exclusively using beneficials and cultural practices?

AM: With chemicals, you can build up the resistance and when you go out there, you’re applying something that doesn’t give you the control that you want. Additionally, it opened up our availability for labor. We’re not constrained to an area of the greenhouse that has shut down because of a 12-hour, 24-hour REI. Our employees can go in at any time without having to worry about exposure, and it also helps with efficiency quite a bit when you’re not working around those restrictions.

GM: How do you train your staff on cultural practices and beneficial insects?

AM: Every single year at the beginning of the growing season, everybody goes through a yearly training — if they’re new, retraining, a returning employee — everyone. We go over what everything means, all the safety procedures and refamiliarize everyone with our practices and the correct way to do things. Then we give ongoing reminders and slight retraining as needed throughout the year. As far as training for scouting, we do in-house training which consists of sharing photographs and information from different resources.

GM: What’s your advice to growers who are trying to decide the best approach to pest management?

AM: I would say it all starts off with scouting. Developing a report would be my first piece of advice so that you can track what you find and so you can see the changes over time. I think sometimes you either have a false sense of security or you panic because you think you’re finding something once but actually, the trend is working in the positive direction if you were to map it out. Otherwise, I like to rely on our local extension. They have really good resources and if they don’t have the answers, they can point you towards the people that do. And the biggest thing for us has been using beneficial insects as a preventative program. You really have to develop a system and stick to it.

main photo © bakhtiarzein | Adobe Stock

Accidents and disasters, either man-made or natural, can strike any time. No business is immune. The development and execution of an emergency response plan makes sure your employees are prepared to handle a situation.

Every organization, no matter the size, needs an emergency response plan in place, says Zachery Bruce, safety services manager at Hortica.

“An emergency response plan is important because it allows an organization to identify potential emergencies and be prepared for them. You can’t be prepared if you don’t plan,” he says. “A plan should train staff to respond appropriately to emergencies and it provides documentation for every employee. And leadership must know how to execute the plan.”

When it comes to emergencies, weather is typically the first thing people think about. But there are other perils facing businesses such as pandemics, cyber attacks, accidents and burglaries.

How to begin

The first step when creating a plan is to identify an emergency response team.

“Make sure you have key employees on your team who have a good understanding of the organization and the facilities,” Bruce says. “Maintenance staff should be included because they know where to find the shutoff valves for power, gas and water, for example. The team shouldn’t be so big that it becomes unmanageable, but you need a good representation of people from HR, maintenance and production.”

Once you have your team in place, it’s time to perform a risk assessment. The team is charged with identifying what potential emergencies your facility could face.

If you need help identifying a comprehensive list of emergencies or developing the plan, there are agencies and companies that can help. An interagency site, ready.gov, provides a comprehensive list of resources for emergency response plans. OSHA provides e-tools to help businesses create plans. It’s available at bit.ly/OSHAetool.

Your own insurance carrier can assist with training materials or templates, and it’s always a good idea to contact your local emergency response authorities such as fire departments and EMS for guidance, Bruce says.

Once your plan is finalized, choose someone on the response team who will initiate and act on the plan when an emergency arises.

“There needs to be someone who leads the response,” Bruce says. Name a backup in case that person is not at work when the emergency occurs.

Next steps

It’s critical to perform drills, which often doesn’t happen in many businesses, Bruce says. “If you don’t practice it, you won’t likely do well in your response.”

During a drill, take notes to determine which areas need work or where more training is needed. Did everyone get out in a timely manner? Was the plan clear?

“It’s a good learning experience, and it will demonstrate where your shortcomings may be,” Bruce says. “You should also consider having a drill during the peak season when the majority of your employees are there.”

Emergency response plans should be reviewed annually at the very least, and certainly after you’ve completed a drill, he says. Review it and make necessary changes if you perform any major facility changes, such as new buildings and new equipment, which could create new potential exposures, he says.

Your plan and list of procedures must be accessible to all employees. Consider housing it on a company intranet, or posting a copy in the breakroom or in another common area. Also consider your non-English speaking employees and make sure your plan is properly translated.

Another consideration when it comes to emergencies is to store copies of important documents offsite, to house data backups offsite and make sure you test that backup system, Bruce says.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF SHELMERDINE GARDEN CENTER

When we spoke with Nicole Bent, president of Shelmerdine Garden Centre, the Canadian IGC was in the midst of a province-wide shutdown. Even businesses deemed essential in the spring, like IGCs, are barred from selling any non-essential goods.

“When we heard that, we closed our doors,” she says. “It’s Christmas, we can’t rely on seed sales.”

Shelmerdine is a destination garden center outside Winnipeg, the capital of Manitoba. Much of Bent’s marketing is directed toward city dwellers. In fact, the IGC’s robust online store was designed mainly as a showcase to convince Winnipeggers to make the drive out of the city to the store. However, it was quite handy to have the infrastructure for an online store already in place. This year, when the pandemic forced many businesses to close their doors and change their operating procedures, many were left scrambling to build a system like Shelmerdine’s.

“Once we closed due to COVID, it was, ‘Thank God we had this website already in place,’ so we could just start selling online,” she says.

Bent gets a lot of questions from other IGC owners about her site. She’s hands-on in every aspect of Shelmerdine’s web presence.

“It’s kind of my baby, to be honest with you,” she says. “I design the home page. I write the copy. I pick the colors. So it’s not an accident. A lot of hard work goes into it, and it has a consistent set of design eyes looking at it and planning it. If you want to have a strong web and brand presence, you have to be prepared to put the work into it and to be consistent with it and to invest in it too.”

It’s been a struggle to populate the online store with more and more items that are stocked in the brick-and-mortar store, but Bent believes the effort will pay off as customer behaviors change.

“Even when we are allowed to reopen, I feel that people will be more comfortable placing online orders with us,” she says. “I think that that arm of our business will remain strong now that people are used to the service.”

A year of strong sales

Despite all the challenges, 2020 has been Shelmerdine’s strongest year yet in terms of sales. In the spring, seeds, tomato plants and anything to do with vegetable gardening was king.

“I consider this a blessing for the horticultural industry because it literally took a pandemic to get people into gardening,” she says. “It’s been there all the time, and I believe that research is showing anybody that starts gardening now intends to continue.”

In the 2020 Christmas season, greenery and poinsettias have been strong sellers. Looking at shopping trends, Bent sees customers returning to basics and the traditional comforts of home.

“ONCE WE CLOSED DUE TO COVID, IT WAS, ‘THANK GOD WE HAD THIS WEBSITE ALREADY IN PLACE,’ SO WE COULD JUST START SELLING ONLINE.” — Nicole Bent

“People can do without fancy soaps and candles, but they can’t do without their Christmas tree,” she says.

“I tell people, ‘When you get the tree home, it’s like opening a present,’” Bent says.

Building a strong brand

Another factor that differentiates Shelmerdine from other IGCs is the high level of quality photography on display. Bent insisted on a “no stock photos” policy everywhere, from social media to the online store. While stock photos get the message across, they aren’t doing your brand any favors.

“They’re actually our photographs of our products, our store, our team,” she says. “And that really does help to improve your brand presence and tell a story about who you are.”

Bent says one of Shelmerdine’s keys to success is the work its owners put into building the company’s culture. That culture includes charitable donations and fundraisers to help its community and internal initiatives to support its team. Even amidst the challenges of COVID-19, Shelmerdine has taken steps to keep a positive workplace, steps rewarded by excellent staff retention.

“Our internal motto is ‘Work hard and be nice,’” Bent says. “And at the end of the day, I feel that if you do those two things, you’ve had a successful day here at Shelmerdine.”

Photo courtesy of Petitti Garden Centers

As late-winter talk about COVID victory gardens circulated the country, customers at Petitti Garden Centers’ nine Northeast Ohio locations took to vegetable gardening. While some growers marketed ‘victory gardening,’ the Northeast Ohio operation took a more direct approach.

“In terms of the actual victory garden, it wasn’t a trend that we saw people rally around. It wasn’t a huge call to action in our area,” says President AJ Petitti. But vegetable gardening itself was a different story. “We picked up about 43% on herbs and veggies compared to last year,” he shares.

New gardeners account for much of that growth. “We picked up about a 27% increase in customer traffic in terms of transactions,” Petitti says. “Clearly, I think a lot of that was driven by a lot of new gardeners. I think existing gardeners did more because they had more time, but we definitely drew a lot of new customers. They got to experience our stores and our products for the first time. And I think that’s going to carry over, hopefully for years to come.”

Across the grower-retailer’s stores, no single category of edibles or non-edibles stands out. “In terms of variety, just everything went. Demand was just huge this year,” Petitti says. “We grow 90% of what we sell, so fortunately we were able to keep planting and keep producing all along. When everybody was struggling to get product, we were able to make sure we had a continual supply.”

Petitti reports that spring annuals and vegetables both started very strong and went hand-in-hand until mid-July. As vegetables quieted down — typical for summer — other categories stepped in. “But in fall, there [was] renewed interest in cole crops and fall veggies. Obviously, that’s not as strong as what it would be in spring, but it’s still strong,” he says.

Looking to 2021, Petitti expects a strong year. “I don’t see it being as strong as it was last year, so we’re taking our initial 2020 plan and we’re bumping that up,” he says. “I think it’d be really difficult for us to see it increase off of what we saw last year. That was kind of a Cinderella year.”

He advises IGC owners to plan carefully for 2021. “I think it’s really tempting to either go way short or way over in terms of planning — whether you’re buying or whether you’re growing,” he says. “Everybody picked up new customers and there was a great interest in gardening. But I don’t know what’s going to stick, especially as families get busier again, depending on what happens to schooling and activities and all that stuff. I think 2021 is still going to be really strong, but we’re in a little bit of a bubble right now.”

The author is a Minnesota-based freelance writer specializing in the horticulture industry. Reach her at jolene@jolenehansen.com.