Growing media pH and water treatments are focus of greenhouse seminars

“Correcting for Low and High Media pH” and “Advanced Water Treatments and Sanitizing Agents” are two of the educational sessions that will be presented on Dec. 7 during the Michigan Greenhouse Growers Expo, Dec. 7-9. The media session will focus on the common problems of iron/manganese toxicity at low pH and iron deficiency at high pH. These can be avoided by designing an appropriate fertilizer strategy. Also to be discussed are practical steps for raising the pH using liming materials when the pH is too low or how to lower the pH ands supplement micronutrients when the pH is too high.
The water treatment session will discuss the technology options available for dealing with biofilm, pathogens and algae. This session will also cover new research and the pros and cons of different methods to sanitize water.
The seminars will be presented by Bill Argo of Blackmore Co. and Paul Fisher of the Environmental Horticulture Dept. at Univ. of Fla.