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Pests and diseases can wipe out a cut flower crop fast—but the biggest mistake growers make is waiting too long to notice them. Ball's cut flower specialist Dave Dowling breaks down the pests and diseases that hit cut flower farms hardest, and the scouting habits that can save an entire season before damage becomes irreversible.

Dave spent more than two decades growing cut flowers before moving to the supply side, and he brings that field-tested perspective to everything from low-cost startup advice to the realities of selling top-quality stems. If you're thinking about adding cuts to your operation, or you've already planted them and want to protect your investment, this conversation gives you the practical playbook.

Some of what Dave covers in this 30-minute discussion includes:

• How to spot aphids, thrips, Japanese beetles, lily leaf beetles, tarnished plant bugs, spider mites and cabbage moths before they take over
• Why certain crops like gladiolas, dahlias, zinnias, lilies, peonies, ranunculus and chrysanthemums are especially vulnerable
• What actually works for control, from neem and horticultural oils to beneficial insects, Bt and labeled chemical options
• The difference between prevention and rescue, especially when dealing with powdery mildew, Botrytis, root rots and viruses
• Why crop rotation, airflow, drainage and relentless scouting matter more than most growers realize

Dave also breaks down the hidden traps that catch new growers off guard, like introducing beneficial insects too late, using Japanese beetle traps in the wrong place or overlooking early damage that won't show up until weeks later—when blooms are ruined and the crop is lost. Dave explains how small decisions at the start of the season can determine whether you harvest a clean, salable crop or lose your crop and your profits.

This is essential listening for greenhouse growers, cut flower farmers and anyone expanding into a new product line without wanting to learn the hard way. If you grow cut flowers for profit, the advice in this episode can help you protect your crop, your customers and your bottom line.

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Resources

Ball Seed Cut Flowers

Greenhouse Tech Team Facebook Group

Throughout 2026, host Bill Calkins has been catching up with different people in the professional horticulture space and find out a little bit about their careers, passions, journeys in the world of plants and much more. He sent each potential guest a list of 12 questions and they picked four to answer and discuss.

This episode, Bill is joined by his friend Coy Butner, a Sales Representative with Ball Seed Company in the Midwest. It’s a fun episode because Coy is not only a fantastic partner to his customers (greenhouses of every size and shape) but also a great storyteller with a long history in horticulture that spans more than three decades and includes owing a retail greenhouse and then as a sales rep for more than 20 years. But Coy didn’t start off in hort, which is where the episode begins.

Coy shares the importance of listening, working with customers to identify challenges and bring solutions, what he looks for in new varieties (and some of his favorite plants like gomphrena, zinnia and echinacea) and how to stay engaged and enthused. He also makes an analogy comparing growing vegetative annuals to raising hogs. You’ve got to hear this!

Here are the four questions Coy chose to answer:

Q: How do you explain our industry to strangers, friends, family?

Q: What are your top 3 favorite annuals? And perennials?

Q: What advice would you give to an industry veteran currently dealing with burnout?

Q: What do you love most about your job?

 

This episode is sponsored by Prospiant—leaders in greenhouse design, manufacture and build. Learn more and connect with the expert team at prospiant.com.  

Host Bill Calkins was joined for this episode by Steve Larson from Envu. Steve and Bill sat down to chat about something that just about every greenhouse owner and manager deals with each year—but a topic that probably doesn’t get the press it deserves (probably because it doesn’t generate the same level of excitement as new plant varieties ...) But when it comes to saving money and securing the crop protection products needed for a successful season—Early Order Programs (EOPs) are definitely one of the most critical topics.

Steve and Bill talked about the history of EOPs, why growers should be motivated to buy from an EOP, tips for making smart purchase decisions (not over-buying or under-buying) and the importance of leveraging the terms that often come from early order programs.

Steve also discussed Envu’s EOP program, which kicks off on September 1, 2026. Everything you need to know about this program can be found at https://www.us.envu.com/ornamentals/programs - including the EOP calculator Steve mentioned in the podcast.

 

Resources

Envu Early Order Program for 2026: https://www.us.envu.com/ornamentals/programs

Envu Ornamentals: https://www.us.envu.com/ornamentals

Envu Ornamentals Team: https://www.us.envu.com/ornamentals/find-your-envu-rep

ADAPT OR DIE: RECONNECT YOUR WEBSITE

ADAPT OR DIE: CONNECT ONLINE SHOPPING TO YOUR STORE

FROM THE JULY AND AUGUST 2026 ISSUES OF GREEN PROFIT MAGAZINE

WRITTEN BY JOHN STANLEY, SID RAISCH & DRIES JANSEN

NARRATED BY BILL CALKINS

 

EXCERPTS: Your website isn’t a brochure; it’s your store open 24 hours a day and now it’s also your application for AI recommendation. Most importantly, begin with connecting your email, text and every other marketing effort to the customer with the invitation to learn, be inspired and buy. If your customers are arriving at dead ends on your website right now, fix them and make it easy to click to send you money. 

 

Before you sell a single plant online, your shop is already talking. A site with stale photos from two springs ago, no way to buy anything and an “Under Construction” page tells customers loud and clear: “We are not ready for you.” A clean, current online shop with real products, real prices and a “Buy Online, Pick Up In Store” button tells them the opposite: “We’re open for business, we respect your time and we’re ready to serve you right now.”

 

Read the Digital Editions:
July— https://www.ballpublishing.com/magazine/gp_26_07/index.aspx
August— https://www.ballpublishing.com/magazine/gp_26_08/index.aspx

This episode is sponsored by Prospiant—leaders in greenhouse design, manufacture and build. Learn more and connect with the expert team at prospiant.com.

FROM HOME GARDENS TO MARKET INSIGHTS

FROM THE AUGUST 2026 ISSUE OF GROWERTALKS MAGAZINE

WRITTEN BY CELINA GOMEZ

NARRATED BY BILL CALKINS

 

EXCERPT: One of the most exciting takeaways from our latest study is the ability to quantify the benefits of gardening on human wellbeing. We often say that plants make people feel better. Now we’re starting to build the data to support that claim. Our findings show measurable improvements in mood, confidence and engagement, all tied to a relatively simple gardening experience. This opens the door for growers and retailers to incorporate wellbeing-focused messaging into their marketing and outreach.

Read the Digital Edition: https://www.ballpublishing.com/magazine/gt_26_08/index.aspx

This episode is sponsored by Mycorrhizal Applications—master distributor of biological and botanical plant support solutions and the world’s leading supplier of mycorrhizal soil inoculants. Learn more and connect with the expert team at mycorrhizae.com.

GrowerTalks Senior Editor Bill Calkins sits down with JC Chong and Dennis Bunkley from SePRO Land to talk about two of the company’s newest crop protection products. BattleLine is a new fungicide effective on a wide range of pathogens and offers long residual activity and flexible application options. Barracuda is a new insecticide with fast knockdown and 21- to 28-day residual activity and is effective on mites at all life stages.

In this recording from Cultivate ’26, JC and Dennis share all the details you need to know and talk through trial results and benefits growers should expect with these new products.

 

Resources:

SePRO Land

BattleLine Fungicide

Barracuda Insecticide/Miticide

SePRO Technical Specialist Contact

 

A RESILIENT INDUSTRY REQUIRES MORE THAN BASIC INPUTS

FROM THE JULY 2026 ISSUE OF GROWERTALKS MAGAZINE

WRITTEN BY LAURA BARTH

NARRATED BY BILL CALKINS

EXCERPT: Like any living system, floriculture requires continuous investment to remain healthy, productive and resilient. Research, workforce development, sustainability initiatives and industry collaboration all play important roles in supporting the long-term strength of floriculture, even if their impact isn’t always immediately visible from the greenhouse floor. For 65 years, the American Floral Endowment (AFE) has helped cultivate the floriculture industry through research funding, scholarships, internships and educational resources designed to strengthen the floriculture industry as it continues to grow and evolve—because healthy industries, like healthy crops, don’t happen by accident.

Read the Digital Edition: https://www.ballpublishing.com/magazine/gt_26_07/index.aspx

This episode is sponsored by Prospiant—leaders in greenhouse design, manufacture and build. Learn more and connect with the expert team at prospiant.com.

This episode was recorded live during the Ball Seed Customer Days event in West Chicago, Illinois. Technical specialists Nathan Jahnke and Nick Flax shared best practices and tips for avoiding common pitfalls with key Fall crops—Mums, Echinacea, Rudbeckia, Celosia, Cabbage, Kale, Pansy and Viola.

Nathan and Nick concisely broke down some of the Fall crop problems they hear about most from growers, including:

• Garden Mums—rootzone and canopy diseases, mineral nutrition deficiencies and crown budding.
• Echinacea & Rudbeckia—Aster Yellows, foliage purpling and creating the right plan for each species.
• Celosia—minimizing stress, EC recommendations, avoiding phyto and knowing what varieties to pinch and which ones not to pinch.
• Cabbage & Kale—managing height, knowing vigor by variety, dealing with caterpillars/worms and managing color/color development.
• Pansy & Viola—Berkeleyomyces (Thielaviopsis), substrate pH management, nutrition, minimizing DIF and how to best use PGRs.

Ball Seed Technical Services: https://www.ballseed.com/Services/TechnicalServices

For this episode, host Bill Calkins is joined by Jeremy Webber, an ornamentals crop team member at Koppert. Jeremy has experience in propagation and finished plant production, as well as more than a decade of leading a team that works with growers across North America to develop holistic IPM approaches customized for each greenhouse and growing situation.

At his core, Jeremy is a plant guy through and through and wrote an excellent article for the 2026 GrowerTalks Biosolutions Guide. For the guide, Bill challenged him to put a unique spin on how bio-IPM strategies lead to plant health, which in turn means fewer crop losses and a reduced need for rescue missions to save plants from pest and disease. Jeremy titled his article “The End of Rotation Anxiety (Stop Playing the MOA Game with EPF)” and explored an angle he’s truly passionate about—that although rotating crop protection products is definitely a key part of IPM and resistance management, it’s sort of an old school way of thinking.

If this sounds bold and raises questions in your mind, we’re with you. Which is why Bill sat down with Jeremy at the July 2026 Cultivate event in Columbus, Ohio … to dig deeper into the article to better understand what Jeremy is advocating for.

Resources

2026 Biosolutions Guide

Reach out to the Koppert Team

Isarid

Nematodes

This week, let’s talk about two of the most common and costly disease issues we encounter in garden mum production: Pythium and Fusarium. Both can cause stunting, chlorosis, wilting and lead to major crop losses, but they are not the same organism. Knowing which one you’re dealing with makes a big difference—particularly when selecting proper tools to prevent disease and respond to symptoms when they appear.

If there’s one takeaway from today’s tech tip, it’s this: rootzone disease outbreaks in mums don’t begin when symptoms appear—they begin days or weeks prior when plants become stressed or protection lapses. Whether you’re dealing with Pythium or Fusarium, the growers who consistently prevail against these pathogens are the ones who focus on sanitation, prevention, root health and stress management.  

This episode is sponsored by Prospiant—leaders in greenhouse design, manufacture and build. Learn more and connect with the expert team at prospiant.com.  

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