Photo courtesy of Multi Packaging Solutions

Greenhouse Management: What makes Multi Packaging Solutions – WestRock experts on tags and labels?

Kristi Huffman: Our start as The John Henry Company brings a long history of horticulture expertise. We love to say that our legacy is 107 years young, and we now couple that legacy with the new footprint and scale of MPS – WestRock. Being a part of a true leader in the global print and packaging industry has been fantastic — it’s made our horticulture group that much stronger. In North America, we have five tag facilities producing billions of tags, and nine label facilities producing billions of labels. This expansion has even allowed us to begin providing automated label application equipment to our clients, making the process easier and more efficient. Tags & labels really are our bread and butter — we know them, and we know them very well.

GM: Why is tagging and packaging important in horticulture?

KH: First and foremost, tagging and packaging is relied on by the consumer to give them answers to their most basic questions. “What is this is, what should I do with it, how do I care for it?” These are living products, and consumers want to keep them that way.

The other reason packaging is important is something many don’t often consider — it’s a silent salesperson. It not only helps alleviate the need for staff by directly answering questions, but it can also create that impulse buy. In some areas, the plant is just stunning; it sits on the bench and sells itself. However that’s not the case for all plants. When you think of something like a blueberry bush… you don’t generally wake up in the morning saying, “I’m going to buy a blueberry bush today.” But if the consumer goes to a garden center and happens to walk by a blueberry bush with a pot wrap or some sort of large tag with a recipe for blueberry muffins, that’s exactly what’s going to attract them to walk over to the bench and bring that plant home.

GM: What content do consumers want on their tags and labels?

Photo courtesy of Multi Packaging Solutions

KH: They of course need the basic information — price and care requirements like sunlight. But they also want to dig a little deeper. What are good companion plants? If this plant blooms in the summer, what’s going to bloom in early spring? Is this deer-resistant? Does it attract pollinators?

I also think water and fertilizer are attributes we need to focus on a little more as an industry. As we continuously survey consumers, we find that they’re increasingly seeking more information on these topics.

GM: What else is trending and what’s coming next?

KH: If a retailer is trying to bring price, bar coding, care and handling into one element, a locking tag or an adhesive works well. The important thing is to secure the information directly to the pot. It can’t be a stake tag that can easily be moved from Point A to Point B.

The other thing that we’re seeing a lot more of is true packaging. Clear, plastic cartons are the new trend because they provide a lot more real estate — a lot more opportunity to show what you can do with the plant or what it’s actually going to look like season to season. It can also work to transform that plant into a gift. We’ve worked with a client who has packaged their Venus flytrap and put it in a very unique plastic carton. It has a great cartoon-like character of the plant on the front that really draws the consumer in. It’s been an enormous success and has led to a significant boost in sales for that client.

With modern technology, growers have to consider every component of their greenhouse when building a new structure.And that includes factors such as heating, cooling, benching and more. Below, Nexus/RBI Systems Engineering Division's Michael Walsh and Adam Chalasinski discuss buildinging a modern greenhouse.

Greenhouse Management: What are the upsides of building environmentally controlled systems together?

Adam Chalasinski: Modern greenhouses tend to have multiple suppliers for heating, cooling, dehumidification, growing systems, benching, plumbing, etc. Partnering with a greenhouse provider that engineers and integrates this equipment helps minimize hidden costs that occur due to holes in the project scope between independent suppliers. By having the design under one roof you can eliminate the duplication of equipment and control systems — it’s common for various pieces of equipment to have an independent sensor and control. This not only saves you initial capital expenses but future maintenance costs. Having the entire greenhouse operation designed by one team, rather than in bits and pieces by multiple companies, creates ease of mind for owners and growers.

Michael Walsh: Our sales and design team will design the entire greenhouse and systems package. We will control all equipment inside the house both structurally [roof ventilation, sidewall roll curtains, etc.] and secondary [heating, shade curtains, nutrient injection, etc.]. This allows us to create a cohesive package built around the needs of the crop.

GM: What are some of the greenhouse technological developments that have become available in the past few years?

MW: Mechanical cooling in greenhouses has been one of the biggest developments over the last few years. Compared to standard natural ventilation or pad/fan cooling, more sophisticated mechanical cooling systems can control temperatures and humidity levels regardless of the outside conditions. Greenhouses using positive pressure cooling equipment can provide another option to traditional cooling methods. Integrated nutrient injectors are also a great tool. If they are built into the main control system, optimal nutrient recipes mixes can be created and sent to each irrigation zone.

GM: Why does it benefit growers to have the same company that designs and manufactures your greenhouse also design and install your environmental control system?

AC: Greenhouses operate like sophisticated machines when designed properly. Equipment such as vents, exhaust fans, walls, piping, conduit and sensors placement all have their optimum placements. To compare a modern-day greenhouse to another machine, an iPhone wouldn’t operate seamlessly if everyone sourced their own screens, batteries, and processors. Partnering with a greenhouse company that offers single-source solutions helps minimize hidden costs and optimize equipment layouts for operational efficiency.

GM: Tell us a little bit about the Systems Engineering Division.

MW: Our greenhouse projects aren’t designed with a “one- size-fits-all” philosophy. We understand the needs of the plant, the location, weather conditions, and the performance of our structures, and the needs of the grower. We can focus on specific areas such as heating/cooling, irrigation, growing systems and structural design. The Systems Engineering Division currently has five mechanical and environmental engineers on staff working hand-in-hand with our customers to balance these needs and provide optimal solutions.

Photo courtesy of Fine Americas

Greenhouse Management: Why isn’t my ethephon PGR working effectively?

Dudley Dabbs: As we approach summer and warmer temps, we hear from more growers asking for support on ethephon products (such as Collate and Florel), which are used for increased branching. Many of the larger commercial greenhouses prefer overhead boom applications for ethephon where the 6X more concentrated Collate has a better fit than Florel. The increased concentration of the Collate formulation eliminates the boom overwatering issue with Florel because it takes so much of the less concentrated formula to achieve the desired results. In addition, Collate increases storage and shipping cost while reducing the number of containers needed to do the job.

Every year we hear about failures — whatever product they’re using, we get the call. We have identified two of the most common pitfalls to avoid.

First, make sure your spray tank water is buffered so that the pH is between 4 and 5. Ethephon is stable at low pH, but at higher pH levels, it will destabilize and not be as effective.

Second, avoid high temperatures at application. That means making late evening or early morning applications during warm weather so that you can avoid doing applications at temperatures higher than 79° F.

We have confirmed this through Fine Americas-funded studies conducted by Dr. Roberto Lopez at Michigan State University.

If you make sure these two factors are addressed, you can avoid failures and increase your chance of success with ethephon PGRs.

GM: What’s the best way to start tank mixing PGRs?

DD: As growers mature in their PGR use, they often advance to tank mixing two or more PGRs together to achieve the results they’re looking for. Before doing that, it’s very important that you understand what the different PGRs do. Understanding the different plant growth regulators’ modes of action is the first step toward success with tank mixing.

GM: How can I successfully use the Trifecta tank mix I’ve heard about?

DD: Some very experienced users are tank mixing three PGRs — Dazide, Collate and Configure — to achieve the utmost precision: Dazide for height control, Collate for branching and Configure for branching through a different mode of action. These growers have coined the phrase Trifecta as a nickname for this three-way combination.

Using these three products together does achieve excellent results, but it is not for the inexperienced PGR user. It takes great knowledge and careful management to succeed. One of the most critical aspects of mixing PGRs is proper application timing. Using these three PGRs together really optimizes your outstanding plant production if you can achieve the proper plant growth stage timing.

You get the plant to maintenance growth, but you also encourage it to branch and fill out the pot, growing wider than taller. You end up with a tight internodes and lots of breaks — a really tight plant. You get that way quicker and with only one application. These plants have nice architecture while maintaining plant growth.

If you’re really interested in delving into more enhanced PGR use, Dr. Joyce Latimer of Virginia Tech University, Dr. Brian Whipker of North Carolina State University, and Dr. Roberto Lopez of Michigan State University will be presenting a Branching Out with PGRs seminar sponsored by Fine Americas at Cultivate’19, Sunday, July 14, at 2:45 p.m. And you can also attend Managing and Improving Plant Vigor with PGRs on Monday, July 15 with Latimer and Whipker at 9:45 a.m.

Photo courtesy of SAKATA SEED AMERICA

At the 2019 California Spring Trials, Brad Smith, retail category manager at Sakata Seed America, showed attendees SuperCal receiving heavy overhead irrigation in a glass box, and not wearing down. He discussed with Greenhouse Management why SuperCal is a top choice for growers, retailers and consumers.

Greenhouse Management: What is the SuperCal series and what does it offer growers with regard to appearance and performance?

Brad Smith: SuperCal is an interspecific cross between calibrachoa and petunia. It takes what petunia and calibrachoa have that are best, brings that to the market and leaves behind the things that aren’t so great with those different [genera].

From a grower’s perspective, what SuperCal is going to bring to the market is two distinct habits. There’s SuperCal and there’s SuperCal Premium. The SuperCal are more of a multiflora look of a petunia with smaller flowers and it is more semi-trailing. SuperCal Premium is going to be more like your grandiflora petunias with bigger flowers — a little more mounding habit. Those are going to let the grower bring petunias to market at times — not just the peak season when everybody can grow a pretty petunia — but the seasons that are more challenging. For instance, in the summer, when other petunias don’t like the heat, SuperCal still holds up so growers can produce for a late-season crop as well as an early-season crop. They can also go into fall with the SuperCal because you can produce them in the summertime.

From an end-use consumer perspective, it’s all about the performance. SuperCal are going to do fantastic. They’re going to do great once they hit the store. It doesn’t matter if it’s overhead irrigation; it’s high winds; it’s cold; it’s heat. It’s going to look good in the store and, more importantly, it’s going to look good for that homeowner for longer than they expected.

GM: Snowberry White and Lavender Star are new colors in SuperCals introduced at California Spring Trials. What stands out about these colors?

BS: The Snowberry White gives us a great white color that works great in combinations as well as mixes. The Lavender Star is our first true novelty color. It’s an eye-catching color that looks great standalone or in mixes with other plants.

GM: How can growers fit these new varieties in their crop offerings?

BS: I think how SunPatiens has hit the market where there’s not a situation anywhere that New Guinea Impatiens will outperform SunPatiens — sun or shade, spring, summer, fall. I think with SuperCal, it’s the same story. If we offer a color in SuperCal, the grower should use it instead of a petunia because it’s going to perform better for the end user.

GM: Spring Trials attendees also saw a demonstration where SuperCals responded well to heavy water. Can you talk about the performance of SuperCal under these or other difficult conditions?

BS: One of the biggest drawbacks of most petunias is they don’t hold up well in heavy rains or overhead watering. SuperCal isn’t affected by it at all. The blooms stay upright; they’re self-cleaning because the foliage isn’t sticky. Petunias usually have sticky foliage, so when the rains come, the blooms get stuck in the foliage, which leads to Botrytis and makes the plant look all kinds of nasty and mushy. SuperCal won’t do that. It’s self-cleaning and the flowers stay up.

GM: What are some other new advancements in the SuperCal series that growers should be aware of?

BS: We’re continuing to breed in both forms of SuperCal — traditional and the SuperCal Premium — and we have great colors that make for wonderful fall colors as well as spring. So we’ll continue to develop the color line to where, eventually, we can have all the key colors in the spectrum.