TECH ON DEMAND brought to you by GrowerTalks

Talking Tropica Mandevilla & Dipladenia with Maria Bolinger

Ball FloraPlant released the Tropica collection of mandevilla and dipladenia at 2024 California Spring Trials with more than 15 colors carefully sorted into five collections. The flowering tropical plant category is booming with consumer demand and Tropicas seem to be entering the market at the right time. Host Bill Calkins is joined by BallFloraplant’s Southeast and Southwest regional territory manager, Maria Bolinger for a fun discussion about what makes Tropica different and why it’s cutting-edge breeding and carefully curated collections creates opportunities for growers producing tropicals to meet market demand.

 

The Tropica assortment includes a range of colors (solid, as well as unique) with different profiles and habits selected to fit into a variety of container types and landscapes. There are compact, bush types (Tropica Modesto collection); medium-vigor bush profiles (Tropica Medio); medium-vining (Tropica Grande); large vining (Tropica Grandiosa) and a collection of novelty types (Tropica Unico). Maria explains the best uses for each and how to select and grow them for maximum retail appeal and optimal sell through. She also shares some of her favorites and how to use them in jaw-dropping combinations.

 

Maria and Bill have been friends and coworkers for years, so you can expect a fun and dynamic discussion. Be sure to listen all the way to the end of this episode for tons of retail ideas and help putting together the best assortment possible.

 

RESOURCES:

 

Ball FloraPlant Website: https://www.ballfloraplant.com/

 

Tropica Collection & Grower Specs: https://www.ballfloraplant.com/pdf/Tropica-Mandevilla-SellSheet-BallFloraPlant-2024.pdf

 

Ball FloraPlant at California Spring Trials 2024 (video): https://youtu.be/7J8tPDV-Aio?si=TPqPZ-e7H0Mgd0wi

Audio Files BONUS DOUBLE EPISODE: Keep Your Points Disease Free & A Quick Review of Poinsettia Downy Mildew

KEEP YOUR POINTS DISEASE-FREE

FROM THE MAY 2024 ISSUE OF GROWERTALKS MAGAZINE

WRITTEN BY KURT BECKER

NARRATED BY BILL CALKINS

 

AND TO CELEBRATE AUDIO FILES #50! WHEN THIS ONE ENDS … JUST KEEP LISTENING FOR …

 

A QUICK REVIEW OF POINSETTIA DOWNY MILDEW

WRITTEN BY NORA CATLIN

ALSO FROM THE MAY 2024 ISSUE OF GROWERTALKS

 

EXCERPT 1: Poinsettia Bract Edge Burn is a common occurrence in this Christmas crop. Brown necrotic lesions occur on the bract margin. The primary cause for this is low levels of calcium in the bract. Some poinsettia varieties have difficulty translocating calcium to the bract margin as the bract expands. Once necrosis begins, Botrytis can follow, often leading to more plant damage.

EXCERPT 2: After a long while of not seeing powdery mildew on poinsettias, several cases were seen last season. Perhaps that was a fluke and we won’t see it again—let’s hope that’s the case. But let’s use the mildew seen last year as a reminder and take the opportunity to review this disease.

 

Read the digital edition of GrowerTalks Magazine—MAY 2024: https://www.ballpublishing.com/magazine/gt_24_05/index.aspx

Audio Files: It's Time to Fall for Mums

IT’S TIME TO FALL FOR MUMS

FROM THE AUGUST 2020 ISSUE OF GROWERTALKS MAGAZINE

WRITTEN BY NANCY RECHCIGL

NARRATED BY BILL CALKINS

 

EXCERPT: While every greenhouse and nursery operation are different, one consistent factor common to all is that preparation is key to success. Growing mums for fall sales means having to deal with the challenges summer production can bring. By planning ahead with an agronomic program, growers are prepared when the expected and unexpected arise.

 

Read the digital edition of GrowerTalks Magazine—August 2020: https://www.ballpublishing.com/magazine/gt_20_08/index.aspx

The Best Poinsettias For ... (Part 3)

PART 3 OF 3 (discussion starts at 1:35): Best by color; most unusual; what each guest wishes was in their assortment but is not; what’s an old variety you wish would come back; the most challenging poinsettia requests from growers and retailers; BEST POINSETTIA OF ALL TIME.

 

For this 3-part episode of the Tech On Demand Podcast, host Bill Calkins turns the golden TOD mic over to Chris Beytes, editor-in-chief of GrowerTalks magazine. Let’s all welcome “Bossman Beytes” to his first-ever podcast!

 

Chris asked three poinsettia experts—Gary Vollmer of Selecta One, Rebecca Siemonsma of Express Seed and Steve Rinehart of Rinehart Poinsettias—to share what they think are the BEST poinsettias for a wide range of grower and retailer needs.

 

Chris asks about just about every use—early- to late-season, small to large pots, best core and novelty colors, best varieties for regions from Fairbanks to Miami—and he asks them to pick regardless of breeder! He even asks which variety they wish was in their catalog, which variety they wish had never been bred, and which variety is the best poinsettia of all time.

 

Gary, Rebecca and Steve have more than 100 years of poinsettia experience between them and know almost every variety introduced since St. Louis Red!

 

The Best Poinsettias For ... (Part 2)

PART 2 OF 3 (discussion starts at 1:35): Best for poinsettia “trees”; best for large containers; best traditional straight-ups; best poinsettias as cut flowers; best for independent garden centers; best florist type; best for fundraisers; poinsettias for landscape (?); energy-efficient varieties for cool growing; best for natural, compact finishing; varieties less-prone to whitefly (?); variety with longest shelf life, sturdiest varieties.

 

For this 3-part episode of the Tech On Demand Podcast, host Bill Calkins turns the golden TOD mic over to Chris Beytes, editor-in-chief of GrowerTalks magazine. Let’s all welcome “Bossman Beytes” to his first-ever podcast!

 

Chris asked three poinsettia experts—Gary Vollmer of Selecta One, Rebecca Siemonsma of Express Seed and Steve Rinehart of Rinehart Poinsettias—to share what they think are the BEST poinsettias for a wide range of grower and retailer needs.

 

Chris asks about just about every use—early- to late-season, small to large pots, best core and novelty colors, best varieties for regions from Fairbanks to Miami—and he asks them to pick regardless of breeder! He even asks which variety they wish was in their catalog, which variety they wish had never been bred, and which variety is the best poinsettia of all time.

 

Gary, Rebecca and Steve have more than 100 years of poinsettia experience between them and know almost every variety introduced since St. Louis Red!

The Best Poinsettias For ... (Part 1)

PART 1 OF 3: Guest introductions and experience; best early season varieties; best for autumn; best for big box promos/ad flyers; best for late season; best core red by region; best mini.

 

For this 3-part episode of the Tech On Demand Podcast, host Bill Calkins turns the golden TOD mic over to Chris Beytes, editor-in-chief of GrowerTalks magazine. Let’s all welcome “Bossman Beytes” to his first-ever podcast!

 

Chris asked three poinsettia experts—Gary Vollmer of Selecta One, Rebecca Siemonsma of Express Seed and Steve Rinehart of Rinehart Poinsettias—to share what they think are the BEST poinsettias for a wide range of grower and retailer needs.

 

Chris asks about just about every use—early- to late-season, small to large pots, best core and novelty colors, best varieties for regions from Fairbanks to Miami—and he asks them to pick regardless of breeder! He even asks which variety they wish was in their catalog, which variety they wish had never been bred, and which variety is the best poinsettia of all time.

 

Gary, Rebecca and Steve have more than 100 years of poinsettia experience between them and know almost every variety introduced since St. Louis Red!

Creating Your Trial Plan

Our guest today is Jason Twaddell. Jason joins host Bill Calkins to tackle an important topic for all growers. In this STEM Rewind, he digs into the Why, What and When of trialing in an effort to highlight the importance of this critical piece of the growing puzzle. With margins getting narrower and the tolerance for inefficiency and shrink dropping to near zero, trialing and testing new genetics before replacing existing varieties is more important than ever.

Some of the topics he covers include trialing to solve problems and not just to evaluate what’s new; improving labor–intensive processes and the importance of an internal champion to maximize resources. Jason details the steps to take when implementing an effective trial strategy and also how to plan and prioritize to achieve the goals you set. This episode is appropriate for many roles in your greenhouse operation from management to section growers. Getting your team aligned when putting trials in place is critical to the whole process.

Audio Files: Resistance Management

RESISTANCE MANAGEMENT

FROM THE APRIL 2024 ISSUE OF GROWERTALKS MAGAZINE

WRITTEN BY DR. RAYMOND A CLOYD

NARRATED BY BILL CALKINS

 

EXCERPT: Resistance develops when pesticides with similar modes of action are continually applied to manage insect and/or mite pest populations below plant-damaging levels. It’s important to understand that pesticides don’t cause resistance; instead, pesticides select for naturally occurring resistance traits in insect and/or mite pest populations by removing susceptible individuals from the population.

Two strategies that may delay the onset of resistance developing in insect and/or mite pest populations are pesticide rotations (alternations/cycling) and pesticide mixtures (combinations).

 

Read the digital edition of GrowerTalks Magazine—April 2024: https://www.ballpublishing.com/magazine/gt_24_04/index.aspx

Watering: The Rest of the Story (Part Two)

We are once again joined by Ball Horticultural’s retired Senior Technical & Research Manager Dr. Will Healy. The topic continues… watering and water management. This is part two in a two-part series and hese two episodes work best in tandem so try to listen to part one—The Language of Watering—before jumping into this one.

 

In the first part, Will delved into the importance of speaking the same language of watering throughout the company and qualitative and quantitative ways to teach water management so that accuracy and efficiency can be achieved.

 

This episode takes it to the next level getting into specific plant demands, how to determine wet/dry targets, how to optimize any greenhouse for water management and even suggests an inexpensive gift for all of your production team members. 

The Language of Watering (Part One)

This episode of Tech On Demand, brought to you by GrowerTalks addresses one of the most basic tasks in a professional greenhouse, watering. But proving that water management is fundamental and critical, we are joined by Ball Horticultural’s retired Senior Technical & Research Manager Dr. Will Healy—one of the most experienced and knowledgeable experts in all things greenhouse production. He’s also a great storyteller, which you will learn throughout the episodes. And yes—episodes—because this one is a two-parter. Watering and water management is SO critical that we invited a PhD to help us learn as much as possible about it AND will spend two sessions on the topic. The first part will be all about The Language of Watering and this one is perfect to share with your entire production team and others across your organization.

 

As Dr. Healy will help us understand, speaking the same language of watering throughout the company is critical and there are qualitative and quantitative ways to teach water management so that accuracy and efficiency can be achieved. Getting watering right WILL reduce your costs and result in better crops. 

Gather your team, grab a pen and notepad and get ready for part one in a two-part session on watering.