From propagation to production to store shelves, Verano365 is using cutting-edge science and product development to help growers increase their bottom line. The company’s first product, Thrivedo, improves plant quality by stimulating natural plant processes to increase nutrient efficiency, water uptake and overall plant growth and vigor.

Thrivedo was created by a team of scientists and developers to solve growers’ biggest problems and improve their bottom lines.

“When talking to growers, we start by seeking to understand their issues,” says David Coorts, technical director. “We ask them about what production challenges they may be experiencing, and use those insights in our development process to figure out where we’ll apply OpusMAX so that we’re truly addressing market needs.”

The active ingredient in Thrivedo is a proprietary protein-surfactant complex derived from a yeast extract, which is enhanced by the company’s OpusMAX technology. “That's a unique approach that enables the claims that we make for the product — enhanced nutrient uptake, enhanced water uptake and enhanced vigor and flowering,” says John Appel, Verano365 president. “So that ingredient is unique by itself, but the difference-maker and the source of Verano365’s competitive advantage is our technology OpusMAX.”

Verano365’s OpusMAX formulation technology enhances the performance of the yeast extract active ingredient by 35%. “And we've seen that across the board in many other active ingredients,” Appel says. “It has a really good synergy with a lot of the active ingredients that are used in the horticulture market.”

Trials at the Ohio State University have shown that applications of Thrivedo increase the number of flowers on pansies by 15%, and another trial in California has shown an increase of 88% in tomato fruit weight. Another tissue analysis on parsley showed that plants were bringing up more than 110% more nutrients with Thrivedo than without. Nitrogen uptake, for example increased by upwards of 250%.

“It's really showing us that it has significant capabilities that we're very, very excited about,” Coorts says. “The fact that it could potentially help growers manage their nutrients better and more efficiently — I think we’d all like to see that happen.”

And when applied in the plant’s vegetative state, Thrivedo can improve marketability by enhancing flowering.

“For wholesale growers, that helps them differentiate versus their competitors, helping them build a deeper relationship with their retail customers and deliver a better product at the end of the day,” Appel says.

In some cases, applications of Thrivedo have been shown to increase a plant’s shelf life by up to 60%. “If the product is staying fresher longer, they’re going to have less shrinkage and be able to sell more products and get paid more money,” Appel says.

One application of mycorrhizae on most plants will allow these beneficial soil fungi to form a lifelong, symbiotic relationship between the mycorrhizae and the plant, says Blair Busenbark, sales and marketing manager at Mycorrhizal Applications.

“Mycorrhizae works to expand the root mass, and by expanding the root mass, the plant is better able to uptake water and nutrients,” he says. “Ultimately, it allows the plant to be less stressed.”

Expanding the root mass does not mean increasing the roots and making the plant root bound, Busenbark says, the expansion of the root mass comes with the expansion of the mycorrhizal hyphae into the soil. These mycorrhizal filaments can then take up water and nutrients from the rhizosphere that are otherwise inaccessible to roots and root hairs.

IMPROVED WATER UPTAKE

Water is stored in mycorrhizae’s myce¬lium, which leaves a reserve that prevents plants from wilting for 36 to 48 hours longer than they would be able to without mycorrhizae, Busenbark says. These water savings can help greenhouse and nursery growers save money.

“Just think about all the labor that you can save if you're not having to water consistently on hot days because you have that reserve in the plant,” he says.

MORE EFFICIENT FERTILIZATION

Simultaneously, mycelium can help plants better absorb and store nutrients for use when the plant needs them, Busenbark says.

“An example of this in min¬eral soil that often has high levels of phosphorus, but that is not available to the plant,” he says. “Mycorrhizae can transform that phosphorus that's not available and make it readily available to the plant.”

Similarly, mycorrhizae can also transform nitrogen from its ammoniacal form to the nitrate form that plants can use. This allows growers to use less fertilizer, Busenbark says.

MYCORRHIZAE AS AN INSURANCE POLICY

Stronger root systems crafted by mycorrhizae help plants avoid stress, Busenbark says.

“What happens when the plant goes into wilt?” he asks. “It puts forth stress, and when it puts out stress, the plant becomes vulnerable. Instead of focusing on flowering or fruiting, the plant has to focus on survival. That's less likely to hap¬pen if the plant has the mycorrhizae as a backup.”

Mycorrhizae is like an insurance policy, he says. Plants are likely to experience stress when they leave the greenhouse; stress can also happen in the greenhouse if somebody forgets to water or the temperature rises or drops to undesirable levels. The mycorrhizae help ensure plant health through tough times.

“The key part is that most people — unless they have a particular [problem] that's right in front of them, they don't know they have the problem, whereas mycorrhizae can help solve a lot of potential problems, like the fertilizer going through the pot that you're just wasting money on,” Busenbark says. “That's something that nobody consciously thinks about, but it's there.”

Proper nutrition and irrigation in greenhouse crops are key. But many factors can create mishaps and complicate growers’ ability to provide accurate water and fertilizer feeds to annuals and perennials.

That’s why Argus Controls developed its Multi-Feed RM (rack mount) injector — part of its complete fertigation management system — to offer pressurized in-line injection and manages dilute tank hydroponic nutrient solutions.

Depending on your requirements, a multi-feed system can provide anything from a single-tank formulation to many separate fertilizer recipes and feed strengths on the same irrigation system.

Growers can configure feed recipes from stock concentrates that are connected to the injector. In a single irrigation system, the Multi-Feed RM can support as many as 64 recipes.

Since the injection software controls each metering valve separately, many styles of injection can be accomplished including single-tank, A/B style dosing, and full single element dosing (where separate tanks are used for each fertilizer salt).

While the Multi-Feed RM can inject acids, bases and fertilizer recipes, it can also provide chemigation treatments to irrigation lines or inject nematodes and other organic materials, says Argus Controls Senior Technician Jeff Neff.

Argus Titan controllers, which manage irrigation systems, can operate the Multi-Feed RM.

The injector tracks EC and pH targets for each recipe for quality assurance, alarm monitoring and correcting automatic feed strengths.

With Argus 'Feed Forward' intelligence, precision dosing is achieved at all design flow rates without the striping inaccuracies, settling times and feedback loop oscillations that can plague other injection strategies.

The fertigation management system that supports Multi-Feed RM

The Multi-Feed RM is just one aspect of a total fertigation management system for growers, which can be custom-configured to meet their needs. Growers can control the RM alongside other irrigation equipment such as zone valves, watering booms and flood benches and floors.

Both frequency and volume for watering are adjustable with the Multi-Feed RM and larger fertigation management system. Watering frequency is based on feedback from multiple components, including moisture sensors, manual watering and feeding, and evapotranspiration and light watering models.

Argus Controls offers time- and volume-based options to ensure accuracy of watering volume. The system can provide pulsed application to reduce nutrient runoff and automatically adjust to match the drain rate.

Right now, the Bayer Green Solutions team is encountering a lot of mealybugs issues in U.S. greenhouses, says Technical Specialist Aaron Palmateer, Ph.D.

“That seems to be the reoccurring issue everywhere I go. Growers often get plant material coming offshore from these tropical areas where pest pressure is high and mealybugs are everywhere,” he says. “They are just notorious hitchhikers and, just by the waxy outer-coating they have, it’s hard to find chemistry that can get to the right places and be effective enough to kill them.” Palmateer adds that in places like Florida — where he is based — there can also be native mealybug populations for growers to contend with.

Recently, Palmateer was visiting a hibiscus grower dealing with mealybugs and working with that grower to find a solution. As an example of how challenging the problem can be, he says the mealybugs were getting the bud of the hibiscus. In other instances, they are hiding in the leaves of the plant or any small, tight area they can find. As a result, Palmateer says growers have developed unorthodox solutions. Some, he said, have taken to developing bottom sprayers for their insecticides.

“If they have a rampant infestation or an isolated population, growers will send somebody in with a backpack sprayer, but put a nozzle that actually is facing upwards so it can be put under the canopy and get contact on the bottom side of the leaves,” he says.

Palmateer says Bayer has two solutions for combating mealybugs with insecticides made with systemic chemistry that are not neonicotinoids. One product growers can use is Altus, which, according to Bayer testing, is proven to work better as a foliar spray as opposed to a drench against mealybugs. The product he recommends to use as a drench against mealybugs is Kontos, according to Bayer testing. The key to finding the right product, Palmateer says, is understanding what the breadth of the problem is and what application method is best for the plants. He says, though, that it starts with identifying the problem and turning to the most proven solutions available. Bayer can help growers do that with on-site visits and a strong insecticide portfolio. The company has a cost estimate calculator available on its website so growers can estimate how much applying a certain chemical would cost for a specific space.

“When you’ve got a pest that is notorious for getting into the hard-to-reach places, systemic chemistry is going to be the cat’s meow so to speak,” Palmateer says.