July 27, 2020
Tech On Demand: At Risk Crops - Overview
This episode kicks off a miniseries on At Risk Crops. For a high-level overview of this topic, we’re joined by Dr. Will Healy, senior technical manager for Ball Horticultural Company. To start off our look at At Risk Crops, Dr. Healy digs into ways to manage the Disease Triangle – Pathogen, Host and Environment – and overall strategies to use when producing crops with inherent challenges. Continuous management of the disease triangle, throughout the entire production process, is required to ensure crop success.
Resources:
At Risk Crop Resources: https://www.ballseed.com/QuickCulture/ProductionGuides/
At Risk Crop Video Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRWIFgcRZVIylFIk-me3R1Q
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![Holding & Delaying Greenhouse Crops]()
July 20, 2020
Tech On Demand: Holding & Delaying Greenhouse Crops
Although this season is an anomaly, the first time North America has experienced pandemic-related quarantines and sheltering, holding crops due to market challenges like weather impact growers more often than not. Today, we catch up with three experts covering a wide range of greenhouse crops from a technical and cultural perspective to learn strategies greenhouse professionals can use when product can’t be shipped on time. What crops respond well to holding and delaying strategies from cutting back to temperature manipulation and chemicals to lighting? How can you best make those kinds of decisions? What data do we have to determine how to treat specific crops? Are there any that you absolutely should not hold in certain ways? We tackle all of this and much more for seed annuals, vegetative annuals and perennials with PanAmerican Seed's Jerry Gorchels, Gary Vollmer from Ball FloraPlant and Selecta One and Chris Fifo with Darwin Perennials and Kieft Seed. The goal is to keep annual and perennial crops alive and saleable longer.
Resources:
Holding & Delaying Crops - Excel Tool and Strategies Document: https://www.ballseed.com/QuickCulture/ProductionGuides/
Subscribe to GrowerTalks Magazine: https://www.growertalks.com/Subscribe/
Join the Greenhouse Tech Team closed group on Facebook and connect with more than 1000 greenhouse professionals | Log onto Faceboook and search: Greenhouse Tech Team in groups.
![Greenhouse Sanitation]()
July 14, 2020
Tech On Demand: Greenhouse Sanitation
Our Tech On Demand topic du jour is Greenhouse Sanitation. This time, we’re joined by Dr. Todd Cavins. Todd’s one of the technical services experts at Ball Seed and has been helping professional growers solve greenhouse production challenges for more than ten years in the field and before that was a professor at Oklahoma State University. You may have seen the hashtag #startcleanstayclean in hort posts recently. We all know it’s true. But does your greenhouse really have a sanitation plan? You don’t have to answer that, but you do have to listen all the way to the end of this episode because Todd covers a lot. From how growers (especially managers) traffic pests around a greenhouse to best practices for keeping greenhouses clean, Todd takes us from spring cleanup through crop production in all stages to help determine where problems lie and most importantly, how to clean them up.
Resources:
GrowerTalks Article: Start Clean. Stay Clean. https://www.growertalks.com/Article/?articleid=24573
Subscribe to GrowerTalks Magazine: https://www.growertalks.com/Subscribe/
Join the Greenhouse Tech Team closed group on Facebook and connect with more than 1000 greenhouse professionals | Log onto Facebook and search: Greenhouse Tech Team in groups.
![Poinsettia Disease Control]()
July 13, 2020
Tech On Demand: Poinsettia Disease Control
In this episode of Tech On Demand brought to you by GrowerTalks, host Bill Calkins is joined by Aaron Palmateer, Senior Technical Representative with Bayer Ornamentals, to talk about managing disease on poinsettias. When it comes to disease identification and management, Aaron’s a pro – with a background in plant pathology. He looks into his crystal ball and talks about diseases growers can expect on poinsettia crops this season, regionally and across all of North America. He also spends time on best practices and general guidelines to reduce the threat of pathogens and maximize the chance of success, as well as the importance of diagnostics. He covers pythium, botrytis, rhizoctonia, phytophthora, powdery mildew and a whole lot more. And in terms of solutions, the newest technologies in broad spectrum controls are covered giving growers solid information on new tools for the toolbox.
Be sure to listen all the way to the end of this episode to learn about a new resource available from Bayer, a user-friendly Spanish language pest identification guide that’s sure to be a critical tool for all greenhouse operations.
Resources:
Bayer Ornamentals Website: https://www.environmentalscience.bayer.us
Spanish Pest Identification Guide: https://www.environmentalscience.bayer.us/turf-and-ornamentals-management/production-ornamentals/portfolios-and-solutions/Spanish-Pest-Identification-Guide
GrowerTalks Magazine Website: https://www.growertalks.com/
![Poinsettia Insect Control]()
July 10, 2020
Tech On Demand: Poinsettia Insect Control
In this episode of Tech On Demand brought to you by GrowerTalks, host Bill Calkins is joined by Aaron Palmateer, Senior Technical Representative with Bayer Ornamentals, to talk about managing insects on poinsettias. The discussion centers on insect challenges greenhouse professional face when producing poinsettias. Aaron takes listeners on an action-oriented journey from starting strong in the early stages of propagation through to finishing this critical holiday crop with minimal insect pressure. Regional specifics are covered, as well as how to avoid challenges from common and less-common pests. With challenges come solutions, and Aaron shares the latest technologies available to combat insects when they’re found.
Be sure to listen all the way to the end of this episode to learn about a new resource available from Bayer, a user-friendly Spanish language pest identification guide that’s sure to be a critical tool for all greenhouse operations.
Resources:
Bayer Ornamentals Website: https://www.environmentalscience.bayer.us
Spanish Pest Identification Guide: https://www.environmentalscience.bayer.us/turf-and-ornamentals-management/production-ornamentals/portfolios-and-solutions/Spanish-Pest-Identification-Guide
GrowerTalks Magazine Website: https://www.growertalks.com/
