Gro 'n Sell creates 'no surprises' plugs

Dave Eastburn, president of Gro ‘n Sell in Chalfont , Pa. , and his team have honed a proactive approach to production, something he calls “predictable quality.” There’s no fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants growing in his houses. His actions are calculated and proficient.

“We produce a product line with predictable quality, since we monitor each process and resolve potential problems before they become an issue,” Eastburn said.

Although “predictable” may sound conservative or commonplace, Gro ‘n Sell’s approach generates a progressive business model.

“Our customers have confidence in our material. They know our liners are lit, bud initiated and aged. Many are grown longer, pinched or cut back so they finish faster,” Eastburn said.

Gro ‘n Sell produces perennial, annual, cut flower and specialty plugs for growers, independent garden centers, theme parks and municipalities. Gro ‘n Sell also provides plant material for breeders to display at the OFA Short Course each year. Up to 97 percent of production is grown to order. The company also grows some finished material for local landscape contractors.

Heavy-duty plugs

Big Burly and Burly Jr. represent Gro ‘n Sell’s vernalized perennial plug program. The Burly line provides heavily rooted plants that growers can finish within narrow windows.

Big Burly and Burly Jr. perennials are grown from seed and cuttings and ready to sell in three to eight weeks after planting. Available in 32-count trays, they’re ready to ship from mid-October until early April. They’re best for potting up in 1- or 2-gallon containers.

Burly Jr. plugs come in 50-count flats and are good choices for transplanting into pint or 2-quart containers. The Jr. line ships from early January until mid-April.

Gro ‘n Sell introduced the Burly line in the mid-1980s.

Other perennials come in a 128-cell tray sold as a 125 count. The 125s are a 1 1/8-inch plug sown in summer, allowing the grower to transplant in summer and overwinter in the greenhouse or cold frame. A 125 vernalized perennial is grown in late summer and cold treated for 10 weeks. The 125s are shipped from early January until mid-April.

Gro ‘n Sell’s vegetative liners, sold under the name Bloomin Plugs, include annuals and specialty crops, such as tuberous begonias, holiday pot crops, cut flowers, herbs and pansies in a 375-plug tray, a 210- or a 125-plug tray.

The plugs are shifted into other production areas where temperature, feed and light conditions are modified to tone and prepare the plants for shipping and “optimum growing for the customer,” Eastburn said.

“Moving them into the shipping area is an extra step, but if we don’t prepare the plant material, we don’t get the predictable quality,” Eastburn said.

Software management

Product movement is an important part of Eastburn’s predictable quality philosophy.

The company built a Rough Brothers greenhouse with the Ro-Flo benching system. Existing houses were retrofitted with the same bench system. The Ro-Flo benches are typically longer, but Gro ‘n Sell resized them into more “manageable sections” because of the large variety of plants grown and shipped at Gro ‘n Sell, Eastburn said.

Gro ‘n Sell uses the PICAS (plant inventory control accounting software) system from Innovative Software Solutions for inventory and fulfillment management. All product is barcoded, and PICAS manages order entry, purchasing, sales, inventory, crop management, broker integration and shipping.

“It’s been a major tool in our ability to manage predictable quality and ensure accuracy of inventory and fulfillment. Without this system, it would be very difficult to manage the complexity of the product line we produce,” said Fred Granja, vice president of Gro ‘n Sell.

Life lesson

Eastburn adopted the predictable quality perspective after a production disaster. In 1985 the company suffered from a growing media problem -- a manufacturing mistake -- and lost everything that season. Losses totaled about $500,000. The company was a day away from bankruptcy, when three major players in the industry -- Fred Gloeckner (Fred C. Gloeckner & Co.), Ron German (H.G. German Seeds) and Clint Miller (Ball Seed) -- gave Gro ‘n Sell a line of credit for seed and told Eastburn to pay them back when he was able.

“We lost momentum, but gained perspective,” Eastburn said.

For more: Gro ‘n Sell, (215) 822-1276; www.gro-n-sell.com.

- Kelli Rodda

Founded: In 1969 as a landscape business by Dave Eastburn.

Location: Chalfont , Pa.

Production space: 2 1/2 acres under cover, 1 1/2 acres of outdoor production and 1 acre of offsite production.

Crops: Perennial, annual, cut flower, vegetative line, herbs and specialty plant plugs, and some seasonal finished material.

Market: Small- to medium-sized growers, independent garden centers, specialty contracts for large growers, theme parks, municipalities and breeders for trade show displays. Plugs are shipped to all 50 states.

Shaky neighbors

Dave Eastburn, president of Gro ‘n Sell, dreams of a glass house range. Then the ground shakes.

Gro ‘n Sell’s neighbor is a rock quarry, which conducts blasting twice a week. The resulting tremors could compromise a glass house.

“Every engineer we talked to wouldn’t guarantee the houses after a blast,” Eastburn said.

Instead the grower uses polycarbonate and acrylic sheets to glaze the houses.

Land costs initiate partnership

Last year Gro ‘n Sell and neighboring Peace Tree Farm in Kintnersville, Pa., formed an alliance, which allows the growers to use each others’ production space, production processes administration, technology software and marketing expertise.

Gro ‘n Sell was looking at 100 acres north of Peace Tree Farm. Fred Granja and Dave Newberry of Gro ‘n Sell, stopped in to say hello to Peace Tree owners Lloyd and Candy Traven. What started as a casual conversation turned into a business deal. The two companies concluded, why buy ground when they could use each others’ space and strengths.

For more: Peace Tree Farm, (610) 847-8152; www.peacetreefarm.com.

Burpee Seed took company from mowing to growing

Dave Eastburn and Fred Granja have been business partners since childhood. When Eastburn ran a landscaping business as a teen, Granja was putting fliers in neighborhood mailboxes at age 11 -- until the mailman caught him.

Later Granja joined the maintenance crew. The business grew to three crews for residential and commercial landscaping. Business was booming, and Eastburn was storing his company’s goods at his parents’ house. When his mom and dad decided to move to Florida , Eastburn had to find a new storage space. He bought an old greenhouse with his brother Bob, and filled it with all of his landscape gear. Eastburn didn’t plan on growing anything, until an influential neighbor knocked on the greenhouse door in 1972. Burpee Seed wanted to lease some of the greenhouse space and asked him to grow a premium package of bedding plants complete with specialty packs, pots and tags. Burpee set up the greenhouse with color-coded trays and carts, and used a wetting agent in the growing medium.

“This was cutting edge and so ahead of its time, but unfortunately, in those days, it didn’t work,” Eastburn said.

That experience sparked his interest in growing. By the mid-1970s he had a highly automated system for hanging baskets. He brought foliage from Florida and sold it to regional box retailers.

In 1978 he scraped together $2,000 and bought a Blackmore seeder.

“I thought this was the wave of the future and I started doing plugs,” he said.

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He was laughed out of a few sales meetings. However, he continued growing plugs and introduced the Big Burly line in 1984.