Increasing Plant Quality Is A Focus Of 2016 Greenhouse Growers Expo

Nov 03, 2016

By Heidi Wollaeger

Greenhouse growers pride themselves on producing high-quality plants that enhance the lives of their customers. Growers need to manage pests and diseases, control plant growth and branching with plant growth regulators, and provide optimal environmental conditions in order to produce high-quality plants. Environmental and cultural management to improve plant quality is a major focus of the 2016 Michigan Greenhouse Growers Expo. The Greenhouse Growers Expo takes place Dec. 6-8 at the Devos Place Conference Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in conjunction with the Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable and Farm Market Expo. There will be 14 greenhouse educational sessions including a three-hour special workshop on greenhouse diagnostics on Thursday, Dec. 8. The sessions that focus on increasing plant quality include:

Nip Pest Problems in the Bud: Cutting Dip Treatments for Greenhouse Ornamentals
Diagnosing Petunia Disorders
Success with Cuttings: From Box to Rooting Stage 4
The Best Strategies for Managing Resistant Greenhouse Pests
Get Ahead in the Greenhouse Disease Control Game
Cutting-Edge PGRs
2016 Greenhouse Trends and Challenges: A Year in Review
Greenhouse Diagnostics Workshop: Symptoms of Cultural and Environmental Challenges (three-hour workshop limited to 50 people; additional $65 fee applies)

The featured speakers of these sessions are well-known experts, including Brian Whipker of North Carolina State University, Roberto Lopez of Michigan State University (MSU), Rose Buitenhuis of Vineland Research and Innovation Centre, Dave Smitley of MSU and Mary Hausbeck of MSU.

“Nip Pest Problems in the Bud” will cover how greenhouse growers can dip their cuttings in biorational products in order to prevent incoming pest populations and thereby reduce pest pressure in their crops. Smitley will cover how to deal with insect pests that are on the crop and may be resistant to some insecticides. He will be giving his research-based insecticide recommendations for the 2017 growing season during this session. Similarly, Hausbeck will cover the recommended products for disease control for 2017.

“Success with Cuttings,” a 1.5-hour session taught by Lopez and Jason Twaddell of Ball FloraPlant Selecta, will help growers understand the factors that impact the rooting of vegetative cuttings from box to stage 4 of rooting.

MSU Extension educators Tom Dudek and Heidi Lindberg (Wollaeger) will offer insights on the greatest challenges experienced in the 2016 growing season and prepare growers for this coming spring. For those growing one of the most common bedding plants, Whipker will discuss how to diagnose common disorders on petunias. For those interested in a more in-depth session on diagnostics of environmental or cultural challenges on plants, the Special Workshop offered on Thursday will help ensure the best plant quality while minimizing plant losses.

Source: msu.edu

Video: Why Invest in Canada’s Seed Future? | On The Brink: Episode 3

Darcy Unger just invested millions to build a brand-new seed plant on his farm in Stonewall, Manitoba so when it’s time for his sons to take over, they have the tools they need to succeed.

Right now, 95% of the genetics they’ll be growing come from Canadian plant breeders.

That number matters.

When fusarium hit Western Canada in the late 90s, it was Canadian breeders who responded, because they understood Canadian conditions. That ability to react quickly to what’s happening on Canadian farms is exactly what’s at risk when breeding programs lose funding.

For farmers like Darcy, who have made generational investments based on the assumption that better genetics will keep coming, the stakes are direct and personal.

We’re on the brink of decisions that will shape our agricultural future for not only our generation, but also the ones to come.

What direction will we choose?

On The Brink is a year-long video series traveling across Canada to meet the researchers, breeders, farmers, seed companies, and policymakers shaping the future of Canadian plant breeding. Each week, a new story. Each story, a piece of the bigger picture.

Episode 3 is above. Follow Seed World Canada to catch every episode, and tell us: Do you think the next generation will have the tools they need to success when they takeover? How is the future going to look?