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Grow your best crop ever! Cultural and technical information for greenhouse professionals.
Episodes
Monday Dec 22, 2025
Monday Dec 22, 2025
Conversation with Dwight Deppen starts at 2:20.
California Spring Trials 2026: March 24-27 (Days and time may vary by location.)
https://caspringtrials.us/
Tech On Demand host (and 20-year trials veteran) Bill Calkins collaborated with California Spring Trials registration managers at National Garden Bureau to produce a series of podcasts featuring representatives from just about every exhibiting company in an effort to get you excited about the iconic industry event and some of the new plant introductions you’ll see on display in spring of 2026. California Spring Trials is the horticulture industry’s “fashion week” and with more than two dozen participating companies bringing hundreds of new plants to market for 2027 and beyond, opportunities to get inspired and plan new additions to your crop mix abound!
Registration for this annual even is essential to help hosts create an amazing, customized experience for all attendees. REGISTER FOR CAST 2026 NOW AT https://caspringtrials.us/. You’ll also find a trip planner, location information and more. Be sure to schedule plenty of time at each stop and with each exhibiting company!
Saturday Dec 20, 2025
Saturday Dec 20, 2025
Conversation with Stephanie Vincenti starts at 2:20.
California Spring Trials 2026: March 24-27 (Days and time may vary by location.)
https://caspringtrials.us/
Tech On Demand host (and 20-year trials veteran) Bill Calkins collaborated with California Spring Trials registration managers at National Garden Bureau to produce a series of podcasts featuring representatives from just about every exhibiting company in an effort to get you excited about the iconic industry event and some of the new plant introductions you’ll see on display in spring of 2026. California Spring Trials is the horticulture industry’s “fashion week” and with more than two dozen participating companies bringing hundreds of new plants to market for 2027 and beyond, opportunities to get inspired and plan new additions to your crop mix abound!
Registration for this annual even is essential to help hosts create an amazing, customized experience for all attendees. REGISTER FOR CAST 2026 NOW AT https://caspringtrials.us/. You’ll also find a trip planner, location information and more. Be sure to schedule plenty of time at each stop and with each exhibiting company!
Saturday Dec 20, 2025
Saturday Dec 20, 2025
Conversation with Sjaak Sijm starts at 2:20.
California Spring Trials 2026: March 24-27 (Days and time may vary by location.)
https://caspringtrials.us/
Tech On Demand host (and 20-year trials veteran) Bill Calkins collaborated with California Spring Trials registration managers at National Garden Bureau to produce a series of podcasts featuring representatives from just about every exhibiting company in an effort to get you excited about the iconic industry event and some of the new plant introductions you’ll see on display in spring of 2026. California Spring Trials is the horticulture industry’s “fashion week” and with more than two dozen participating companies bringing hundreds of new plants to market for 2027 and beyond, opportunities to get inspired and plan new additions to your crop mix abound!
Registration for this annual even is essential to help hosts create an amazing, customized experience for all attendees. REGISTER FOR CAST 2026 NOW AT https://caspringtrials.us/. You’ll also find a trip planner, location information and more. Be sure to schedule plenty of time at each stop and with each exhibiting company!
Friday Dec 19, 2025
Friday Dec 19, 2025
Conversation with Kris Carlsson starts at 2:20.
California Spring Trials 2026: March 24-27 (Days and time may vary by location.)
https://caspringtrials.us/
Tech On Demand host (and 20-year trials veteran) Bill Calkins collaborated with California Spring Trials registration managers at National Garden Bureau to produce a series of podcasts featuring representatives from just about every exhibiting company in an effort to get you excited about the iconic industry event and some of the new plant introductions you’ll see on display in spring of 2026. California Spring Trials is the horticulture industry’s “fashion week” and with more than two dozen participating companies bringing hundreds of new plants to market for 2027 and beyond, opportunities to get inspired and plan new additions to your crop mix abound!
Registration for this annual even is essential to help hosts create an amazing, customized experience for all attendees. REGISTER FOR CAST 2026 NOW AT https://caspringtrials.us/. You’ll also find a trip planner, location information and more. Be sure to schedule plenty of time at each stop and with each exhibiting company!
Friday Dec 19, 2025
Friday Dec 19, 2025
Conversation with Robert Bett starts at 2:20.
California Spring Trials 2026: March 24-27 (Days and time may vary by location.)
https://caspringtrials.us/
Tech On Demand host (and 20-year trials veteran) Bill Calkins collaborated with California Spring Trials registration managers at National Garden Bureau to produce a series of podcasts featuring representatives from just about every exhibiting company in an effort to get you excited about the iconic industry event and some of the new plant introductions you’ll see on display in spring of 2026. California Spring Trials is the horticulture industry’s “fashion week” and with more than two dozen participating companies bringing hundreds of new plants to market for 2027 and beyond, opportunities to get inspired and plan new additions to your crop mix abound!
Registration for this annual even is essential to help hosts create an amazing, customized experience for all attendees. REGISTER FOR CAST 2026 NOW AT https://caspringtrials.us/. You’ll also find a trip planner, location information and more. Be sure to schedule plenty of time at each stop and with each exhibiting company!
Thursday Dec 18, 2025
Thursday Dec 18, 2025
Conversation with Sarah Makiejus starts at 2:20.
California Spring Trials 2026: March 24-27 (Days and time may vary by location.)
https://caspringtrials.us/
Tech On Demand host (and 20-year trials veteran) Bill Calkins collaborated with California Spring Trials registration managers at National Garden Bureau to produce a series of podcasts featuring representatives from just about every exhibiting company in an effort to get you excited about the iconic industry event and some of the new plant introductions you’ll see on display in spring of 2026. California Spring Trials is the horticulture industry’s “fashion week” and with more than two dozen participating companies bringing hundreds of new plants to market for 2027 and beyond, opportunities to get inspired and plan new additions to your crop mix abound!
Registration for this annual even is essential to help hosts create an amazing, customized experience for all attendees. REGISTER FOR CAST 2026 NOW AT https://caspringtrials.us/. You’ll also find a trip planner, location information and more. Be sure to schedule plenty of time at each stop and with each exhibiting company!
Thursday Dec 18, 2025
Thursday Dec 18, 2025
Conversation with Bart Hayes starts at 2:20.
California Spring Trials 2026: March 24-27 (Days and time may vary by location.)
https://caspringtrials.us/
Tech On Demand host (and 20-year trials veteran) Bill Calkins collaborated with California Spring Trials registration managers at National Garden Bureau to produce a series of podcasts featuring representatives from just about every exhibiting company in an effort to get you excited about the iconic industry event and some of the new plant introductions you’ll see on display in spring of 2026. California Spring Trials is the horticulture industry’s “fashion week” and with more than two dozen participating companies bringing hundreds of new plants to market for 2027 and beyond, opportunities to get inspired and plan new additions to your crop mix abound!
Registration for this annual even is essential to help hosts create an amazing, customized experience for all attendees. REGISTER FOR CAST 2026 NOW AT https://caspringtrials.us/. You’ll also find a trip planner, location information and more. Be sure to schedule plenty of time at each stop and with each exhibiting company!
Wednesday Dec 17, 2025
Wednesday Dec 17, 2025
Host Bill Calkins took advantage of this opportunity to chat with Joe Brenton from Koppert US and covered a wide range of topics related to biolosolutions—including biological pest and disease management, biostimulants, biocontrol application methods, mass trapping and much more. Joe and Bill spent time recapping 2025 from early spring propagation and production through poinsettia finishing and everything in between from a biological and hybrid IPM perspective.
Joe’s experience as a large-scale production grower, coupled with his ability to break down the realities of pest and disease control and prevention for greenhouse professionals will leave listeners with many new ideas to explore and a better understanding of why it’s critical to work with dedicated experts when implementing biosolutions strategies.
Some Resources & Products Mentioned:
Airobreez—distribute natural enemies
Isarid—biological pesticide
Horiver—trap and monitor flying insects
Tuesday Dec 09, 2025
Tuesday Dec 09, 2025
This episode, host Bill Calkins is joined by two guests representing a company called Brands in Blooms and a solution they’re bringing to garden center retailers—BloomSuite. It’s a click-to-edit website platform built specifically for garden centers, but that’s far from the full story as you’ll hear. BloomSuite also offers an e-commerce component connecting your store to nursery fulfillment partners that ship plants directly to your customers. And if your marketing messages, social media and CRM are disconnected and operating in isolation, BloomSuite ALSO offers a CRM + marketing dashboard to tie it all together with pre-built customer personas, automated content generators, calendars for planning, the ability to send targeted emails and texts, as well as full Meta connectivity to upload your social media to Instagram and Facebook.
Brands in Blooms co-founders Jeff O’Brien and Jon Morrison explain what BloomSuite is all about and why the company is laser-focused on solutions for garden centers. Bill, Jeff and Jon also discuss the importance of having a website you’re proud of, why collecting data is only as good as your plan to use it, the high cost (and confusion) of stacking multiple platforms, how e-commerce opens you up to a new customer base and how advanced tech could possibly allow us to be more human in the near future.
As a listener of this podcast, you’re encouraged schedule a free website audit with the BloomSuite team as a way to learn how these cutting-edge but simple-to-use tools can take your business to the next level. Here’s how: https://brandsinblooms.com/pages/schedule
More Resources:
Brands In Blooms: https://brandsinblooms.com/
BloomSuite: https://brandsinblooms.com/pages/bloomsuite
Next-Gen Consumer Insights Masterclass: https://brandsinblooms.com/pages/course
Tuesday Dec 02, 2025
Tuesday Dec 02, 2025
In this episode of Tech On Demand, host Bill Calkins is joined by two experts from Epicor—a software company delivering comprehensive ERP solutions, as well as CRM tools and a range of supply chain management systems. Epicor truly understands the green industry and partners with garden centers and nurseries to customize business tools.
Kerrie Jordan, Epicor’s chief marketing officer and Sam Kirkland, a national business development strategist are on the podcast to talk A.I. and ways to take the data you have, digitize it and apply A.I. to use it even more effectively. A.I. has the capability to assist in all fundamental business processes—from product procurement and cash flow management to employee productivity and customer engagement. That’s just a snapshot of what Kerrie and Sam share in this episode.
Bill and his guests spend time discussing what exactly A.I. means for green industry businesses and applications from other industries can be transformational, as well as ways A.I. can help personalize businesses to level up the customer experience. They close looking to the future and what might be possible as this technology continues to evolve.
PODCAST: Artificial Intelligence in the Green Industry (Part 1): https://techondemand.podbean.com/e/artificial-intelligence-in-the-green-industry-part-1-ft-clint-albin/
MORE RESOURCES:
Epicor—Artificial Intelligence: https://www.epicor.com/en-us/solutions/technology/people-centric-ai/
ARTICLE: AI—Gaining Back Time: https://www.greenprofit.com/Article/?srch=1&articleID=27602
ARTICLE: Why You Need AI, No Matter Your Size: https://www.greenprofit.com/Article/?srch=1&articleID=27544
ARTICLE: Using AI to Shorten the Customer Journey: https://www.greenprofit.com/Article/?articleid=27702
PODCAST: Next-Level Engagement, Growth & Brand Building with Sam Kirkland: https://youtu.be/P_VMRu0wTHU?si=fBJr9uzxOT4UZu3C