Winter is quickly approaching. It can be a challenging time for greenhouse production and while there is a myriad of challenges, one of the biggest is the cold temperatures outside. While we can heat a greenhouse to create air temperatures conducive to plant growth, therein lies one of the largest costs associated with running a greenhouse in the winter: energy. There are a few steps you can take to try and save on your heating costs this winter.

First, check all of your equipment to ensure it's functioning properly. For example, a vent not functioning correctly and potentially sticking will be no good in the winter. Boiler and unit heater maintenance performed during summer months can pay off by ensuring maximum efficiency during the heating season. But it’s not just equipment that needs checking. Your structure also needs attention. Look for potential gaps and cracks in glazing material that may be allowing heat to escape and/or cold air to infiltrate your facility. For double-poly greenhouses (Fig. 1), this is especially true. Poly film with any cuts or a malfunctioning blower fan will not have the dead air space between layers that helps gives these structures some of the lowest heat loss.

Do you use supplemental carbon dioxide (CO₂) in your facility? During the winter, venting in facilities is greatly reduced. As a result, outside air coming into the greenhouse that serves to replenish the CO₂ in the greenhouse used by plants is restricted, and CO₂ concentration can start to limit plant growth. Additionally, if you’ve done a great job at sealing up the leaks in your greenhouse, as recommended above, the CO₂ entering your greenhouse will be even less (though that is no reason to not seal up your facility!).

Supplemental CO₂, whether from burners or liquid injection, can be used to maintain CO₂ concentrations around ambient levels (~450 ppm) or enrich them up to 800 to 1,000 ppm to boost plant growth. Some research has even shown that when supplemental CO₂ is used, air temperatures can even be reduced by a few degrees with no negative effect on plant growth.

Another strategy you may consider is to grow warmer. At first, this doesn’t sound like a great suggestion, but the logic is counterintuitive. By turning down temperature set points and growing cooler, you would certainly save on heating costs compared to growing with a warmer temperature for that day.

However, the total time it takes to finish a crop can end up taking longer by growing cooler, which can cost you more in the long run. By finishing a crop faster at a warmer temperature, you can delay starting that crop along with the need to heat the greenhouse. Alternatively, the quicker crop time may allow you to increase the number of turns and increase profitability from the extra plants grown and sold.

There is no crystal ball that can predict the future. However, the USDA's Virtual Grower is a great tool to help you make educated decisions. Virtual Grower allows you to model your greenhouse, use customizable inputs to reflect your facility and estimate the costs for heating.

You can also use the program to determine how changes in your facility or environment can affect your heating costs and realize savings. But it is not just heating. The newest version also helps understand how supplemental light can impact crop growth and save energy. And that’s a key part of preparing for the “Big Chill.”

Photo courtesy of Artur Zych

The one constant Artur Zych expects to see in the greenhouse industry is change. From shifting seasons to advancing technologies to new plant and product introductions, every day is a new challenge for growers — and that’s what Zych loves about it.

“Growers can’t be afraid to change because change is always happening,” he says. “That’s one thing that’s certain.”

As head grower at Lennon Farm Greenhouses in Tabernacle, New Jersey, Zych works to stay current with shifting industry trends in order to produce the highest quality plugs and finished plants for wholesale customers. By following his curiosity to explore improved plants and processes, Zych helps Lennon Farm move ahead.

“That’s what keeps me motivated — knowing we bring joy to people,” he says. “When you see a beautiful plant, whether it’s a finished product or perfectly uniform plugs being shipped to the customer, that’s the most enjoyable moment of a grower’s life, knowing these crops will make somebody happy.”

Learning to grow

Zych grew up surrounded by plants in Poland, so pursuing a career in the green industry was a natural choice. After studying agronomy at an agribusiness university in his home country, he wanted to keep learning more. So he applied for The Ohio State University International Exchange Program, and arrived in Columbus 20 years ago. He quickly “fell in love with greenhouse growing,” and built his career around it.

He started out at Metrolina Greenhouses, where he learned the ins and outs of plug production. After a couple of years there, he moved to Plainview Growers in New Jersey to get a feel for finished plant production. About a decade later, in March of 2013, Zych joined Lennon Farm, where he combined both these experiences to oversee the production of plugs and finished plant material.

"When you see a beautiful plant ... being shipped to the customer, that's the most enjoyable moment of a grower's life, knowing these crops will make somebody happy.”

Zych feels lucky to have worked at companies where the owners have taken him under their wing to teach him more about the industry.

“They have been like family because they treat their employees like family,” he says. “Since I was far away from home, it was a great experience to find mentors like that.”

Photo courtesy of Artur Zych

Evolving tools

Driven by a passion to keep improving, Zych continues to explore new tools and technologies to enhance Lennon Farm’s operation.

“My job has evolved from just following the growing protocols they had to improving with new protocols and new techniques to ensure that our quality specs are met,” he says.

For example, Lennon Farm had just built a brand-new 60,000-square-foot greenhouse before Zych joined the company, and they implemented boom irrigation soon after. Zych immediately set out to make the most of the new equipment.

“Working with our boom supplier, I designed a special bar that I connect to my injector, and then I use that to apply PGRs,” he says. “Believe it or not, we humans make errors. When you spray manually, especially PGRs, you can miss spots — so spraying with a boom improves the crops.”

Adjusting applications

Zych constantly adjusts Lennon Farm’s application programs as he explores new chemistries to improve plant health and address customer concerns.

“Even though we are not OMRI certified, I do like to be conscious of what I’m applying. I don’t use hard chemistry on our vegetables, so our customers can be reassured that it’s safe to consume these crops,” Zych says. “Biological control agents are getting more popular because the general public is getting more educated about neonicotinoids, so we’re trying to be more cautious and use more BCAs.”

Recently, Zych started dipping plugs before they get transplanted. He customizes special blends of insecticide, fungicide and PGRs to dip plugs into — giving plant material better coverage at a lower cost than drenching.

“So far this year, I’m very happy with the outcome,” he says. “It saves us money (compared to) the dollar value of the chemicals we would use if we had to do these same applications as drenches. I know chemical companies won’t like me saying this, but every penny counts. We’re trying to be mindful of cost because the competition is tough.”

Running a tight ship

Like most growers today, Zych’s biggest challenge is finding enough talent to meet demand, especially as the economy improves.

Lennon Farm’s production space spans 160,000 square feet under glass, 80,000 square feet of rollouts to expand the production area in the spring and 25 acres of outdoor production space for fall crops and grasses.

“For as big as we are, we only have 16 people working. There are only two growers right now,” says Zych, who’s currently down one grower and searching to fill the opening.

The small team size allows him to be more hands-on as head grower, and it forces him to be innovative to maximize limited resources.

“We’re running a rather tight ship,” Zych says, “so we need to use the technology there is to work smarter, not harder.”

The author is a freelance writer based in Cleveland and a frequent contributor to Greenhouse Management magazine.

Photo © Dave | Adobe Stock

Flowering annuals are the mainstay for many growers and landscapers in the industry. Yet, many of this year’s SOI survey participants are making a shift away from annuals. What accounts for your shift? You may have decided to grow more foliage and houseplants instead of annuals or are simply looking for new and better annuals to add to your production. But some of you may simply be searching for answers as to why your annuals just aren’t selling.

Is it you?

I’ll just hit the tough question right out of the gate. Many growers are resistant to changing their product selection — often for years and years. Let’s look at your offerings. Are they the same as last year? How about five years ago? A stale availability list could be behind that dent in annual bedding sales. Sure, there are staples that your customers need and want from you, that can be strong sellers year after year. But there are also items that might serve you best by being culled from the herd. Strategically chosen new plant offerings can help reengage customers and help them solve new challenges with their customers.

Go big

As I was thinking about other factors influencing consumer plant preferences, I had a realization about a noticeable consumer trend I see in my own marketplace. In my work with clients across the horticultural spectrum, there’s a funny pattern I’ve seen emerge with residential consumers — and it clearly runs along economic lines.

“They don’t want pentas ... or any other plant with clusters of small flowers. They only want big flowers.”

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard this from the landscapers I consult for on high-end properties — or directly from my high-end residential clients. Wealthier property owners, at least in my market, don’t seem to like small-flowered plants — any of them. They only want big flowers and high-impact color. Do you know how hard it is to get through the summer in Texas with a good resilient annual color show without pentas, angelonia, firebush, scaevola, salvia or lantana? Nightmare.

Perennial conversion

In such situations where big flowers are a must, “annual” often ends up translating to larger plants such as tropical hibiscus or mandevilla — or even colorful tropical foliage such as croton — planted in place of traditional annual bedding crops. (Don’t miss the new Thai Dye croton series from ForemostCo, Inc.). However, once the property owner has spent significantly more on such material for several seasonal paintings, the annual beds may get converted to permanent perennial or shrub plantings.

It was ‘Knockout’ Roses that took up residence in these once-annual beds in my market (in both residential and commercial properties) — but since rose rosette has decimated pretty much all our roses here in DFW, hibiscus are taking their place. Calling all breeders of dwarf Hibiscus syriacus — here’s your big opportunity! Hopefully, professionals will put their feet down and encourage more biodiversity in their plantings this time around.

Small wins

On the flip side, when the client comes down in income, high- to low-middle income property owners seem to be just fine catering to the pollinators with clusters of tiny blooms. Biodiversity is cool. They have color preferences, of course, but a much wider variety of flower types are on the menu. It’s more important to these clients that plants be a good value, long-lasting, easy to care for and resilient. Foliage such as coleus is also most welcome in the mix. Most of these customers don’t have the budget to replant when one installation fails, nor do they want to spend top dollar for woodies or higher-priced tropicals to be planted as seasonal annuals.

Trends may be totally different in your market, but it’s worth analyzing what type of properties your landscape and design customers are maintaining. Ask them about any correlating preferences or trends they experience with different clients to see if your annual mix suits their respective fancy. Such trends will certainly impact your annuals business.

What’s an annual?

How consumers define an “annual” may be very different than our conventional definition. Traditional lines of cold hardiness — or lack thereof — and bloom times are being blurred when it comes to differentiating the benefits of annuals versus perennials.

Sunflowers in October? They want that. Check out Monrovia’s SunBelievable Brown Eyed Girl Helianthus. They also want perennials and shrubs that bloom all the time, instead of seasonally. Hence the plant breeder push to get repeat blooming out of everything from azaleas, to lilacs, to clematis. Re-blooming is where it’s at. This crossover of features and benefits will no doubt change consumer perspective — and buying habits — when it comes to annuals.

Hopefully, your shift away from annuals is due to opportunities with alternate higher-margin crops. But if it’s simply due to lagging sales, now’s the time to drill down in your local market to get a fresh perspective on changing consumer wants and needs.

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Photo courtesy of National Garden Bureau

National Garden Bureau announces 2020 "Year of the" program

The National Garden Bureau, the non-profit organization promoting gardening in North America on behalf of the horticulture industry and its members, has announced the four plant classes that will be featured in the 2020 “Year of the” program.

For the bulb crop, 2020 will be the Year of the Iris. For annuals, 2020 will be the Year of the Lantana. For edibles, 2020 will be the Year of the Corn. For perennials, 2020 will be the Year of the Lavender.

And, new for 2020: For flowering shrubs, 2020 will be the Year of the Hydrangea.

The “Year of the” program chooses crops specifically for the North American market that are easy to grow, genetically diverse, and with a lot of new breeding to showcase.

GIE Media Inc. to launch 'Hemp Grower'

In August, GIE Media, Inc. announced the launch of its 18th title, Hemp Grower, which will serve the newly legal U.S. hemp industry and emerging hemp markets in North America. 'Hemp Grower' initially launched on Aug. 20, 2019, as a weekly newsletter and a website at hempgrower.com. GIE plans to publish the first edition of the print magazine in late 2019.

Hemp Grower’s mission is to support licensed hemp cultivators by “providing actionable intelligence in all aspects of the business —from regulatory news to analysis of industry trends and business strategy, as well as expert advice on cultivation, extraction, marketing, financial topics and legal issues,” says Chris Foster, president and CEO of GIE Media

To learn more and subscribe, click here.

Tips on scouting from Metrolina Greenhouses and Buglady Consulting

Last month, attendees of AmericanHort’s Plug & Cutting Conference visited Metrolina Greenhouses in Huntersville, North Carolina. They were greeted by an indoor basketball court, numerous microwaves and break tables for employees, conveyor belts, cutting planters and a vast overlook of where a 40-acre greenhouse expansion is underway.

The Pest Management Workshop for Propagators at Metrolina, a biological controls-focused educational event, was hosted by Juan Ponce of Metrolina, Suzanne Wainwright-Evans of Buglady Consulting, Ron Valentin of BioWorks, Jeff Gabric of BASF and Jaclyn Bennett of Parabug.

The workshop included a presentation on scouting from Buglady Consulting Owner Wainwright-Evans and Metrolina Assistant Grower Carleton Stuecker.

Click here to read the full story.