![Goodhearted cherry tomato [1]](/media/k2/items/cache/3730a6670998b138e614df9b7d017e82_S.jpg)
There are few topics that interest the buying public as much as food. At plant trials, open house attendees are always keen to test out the latest hot pepper. Even the hippest young male is bound to feel compelled to show his worthiness by throwing caution to the wind and chomping down on a pepper heedless of warnings.
SuffOil-X horticultural spray oil emulsion is now registered for use in Canada. The mineral oil-based product is used for the control of insects, mites and fungi - including powdery mildew - in a broad range of greenhouse, nursery and vegetable crops. It works by suffocating eggs, larvae, nymphs, adult soft-bodied insects and mites.
Greenhouse growers looking to enter the organic market may be interested to find that, among a list of requirements, substrate volume is mandated as well.
Nova fungicide by Dow AgroSciences has been approved for use against powdery mildew in greenhouse eggplant in Canada.
Earlier this year, Signify introduced their Philips GreenPower LED toplighting compact to the European market which has since been made available in Canada and the United States.
Proven Winners is entering the pottery market by adding the full line of Michael Carr Designs Pottery, including the new AquaPots line of luxury grade, self-watering containers, to its brand family.
Rockwool supplier Grodan has brought their e-Gro software platform to the North American market.
All-America Selections has announced the first winners from their three-winter Herbaceous Perennial Trial: Echinacea Sombrero Baja Burgundy and Rudbeckia American Gold Rush.
A new growth-tracking tool and mum selector aim to help growers produce the best garden mums from start to finish.
Dümmen Orange has expanded Basewell to include their top-selling perennial varieties, opening up the technology to perennial growers across North America.
Signify (formerly Philips Lighting) recently launched new Philips GreenPower LED toplighting module in Canada, with light efficacy of up to 3.0 µmol/J and an output of 800 µmol/s.
Starter-plant supplier Emerald Coast Growers has released the latest version of its trend-tracking new variety Resource Guide.
There are three characteristics of light you should consider when designing the ideal light environment for your crops: light quality, light quantity and light duration.
The first two floors of 1400 Rue Antonio Barbeau in Montreal look like they belong on any other low-density commercial building – blocky, covered in mottled brown brick and windows gazing into a beige interior. Just over the lip of its roof, though, peeks long walls made of glass and metal, and inside them, rows of vegetables.
With simple automation during propagation, a grower could experience a 25 per cent gain in production. Automating the full process could lead to 50, 60 or 70 per cent gain in efficiency. So what's the main barrier to adopting new automation machinery? Grower acceptance, says Jack Ford of Agrinomix.
What exactly is 'next generation' growing? Pieter Kwakernaak of Hoogendoorn explains how the three plant balances - water, assimilate and energy - should dictate how production practices are carried out in the greenhouse.
"Think about what you're trying to achieve during plant propagation," says Dr. Will Healy of Ball Hort. The goal is to put roots on a plant and try to grow healthy, green leaves. It all comes down to plant moisture and nutrition. But don't water too much! According to Healy, a grower's number one job is to dry out the plants.
What are the benefits to LEDs during propagation? Dr. Youbin Zheng of the University of Guelph talks about the versatility of LEDs. Different spectrums and combinations can change the morphology at different stages of the plants. As LED technology continues to improve and its prices go down, more and more commercial greenhouses are using LEDs to replace HPS.
Armed with the latest greenhouse technology, this Yukon grower is bringing fresh vegetables to Canada’s northern climates.
In January’s issue of Greenhouse Canada, readers were introduced to the concept of ‘Growing by Plant Empowerment’ (GPE). Combining grower experience and knowledge of plant physiology, the goal of GPE is to optimize the behaviour of plants in the greenhouse environment by maintaining critical balances involving energy, water, CO2 and assimilates within the plant.
As energy and production costs continue to rise for the horticulture sector, commercial greenhouse growers need to do all they can to operate more efficiently. One way growers are doing this is by installing energy curtain systems in their greenhouses.
There’s something different about the glass at Freeman Herbs – it’s pink.
With so many other tasks requiring attention, modern greenhouses are beginning to integrate automated systems for crop moisture assessment.
What is plant empowerment? Typically, traditional plant production methods are based on a mixture of blueprints, best practices, common knowledge of plant physiology, as well as the ‘green fingers’ and ‘emotional perception’ of growers. This approach has been successful, but also has several limitations.
The tale of the European corn borer (ECB), Ostrinia nubilalis, is nothing short of interesting. As the name suggests, ECB is a pest of corn and is present in all major corn growing regions in North America and Europe.
The control of pests is essential for greenhouse growers. Most implement an integrated pest management (IPM) program, incorporating both biological and chemical pesticide use.
For greenhouse operators, managing crop pests can be both time-consuming and costly, with expenses ranging from thousands to millions of dollars annually. In particular, the need to apply specialist biocontrol agents on a regular basis just to manage a couple of targeted pest species has growers yearning for more cost-effective alternatives.
Mites don’t have the best reputation when it comes to the general public but growers pay thousands of dollars every year to get them into their greenhouses. In fact, most of the greenhouse crops grown in Canada are produced with the help of these very small organisms.
It’s been almost five years since the cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV) was first reported in Greenhouse Canada, but that doesn’t mean growers should be any less vigilant.
Pest management is a critical part of any commercial greenhouse. Despite its importance, tracking its delivery and progress can still be a challenge.
We all know what they say about assumptions. When diagnosing crops with little tolerance for damage, it’s important not to let preconceived notions lead you down the wrong path. Here are some common mistakes to avoid making when diagnosing insect and disease issues in ornamentals.
If you started out using biological control for whitefly in your poinsettia crop this year, you’ve now reached a crucial tipping point. Based on the size of your Bemisia whitefly population in mid-late September, your populations could end up being too high by November to effectively bring under control. Ultimately, this could affect sales.
There might be a weevil trapped on your yellow sticky card, but whether it’s the dreaded pepper weevil calls for a closer look.
Tip burn in greenhouse lettuce might not be as simple as it sounds.
For plants, sulphur (S) is essential for growth and development. Many forms of S exist in plants. These include: sulphate, the main source of S extracted from soil; amino acids important to plant health; and, other compounds needed for plant defence.
Already established in her retail and wholesale ornamental business, Nadine Stielow, owner of Thiel’s Greenhouses in Bruderheim, Alta., considered a number of crops, examined consumer demand and local supply, then reached out to industry consultants before settling on hydroponic lettuce.
Hippocrates, the Greek physician known as the father of medicine, once said “Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food.” This timeless wisdom encourages consumers to cut back on processed foods and revert to whole food diets rich in fresh fruits and vegetables. But to get to this point, consumers must be able to trust their food.
Introduced earlier this year, new rules for agricultural environmental management were put in place for all agricultural operators in British Columbia, including greenhouse growers.
As a new and more ethnically diverse wave of Canadian consumers set up households, their plant purchasing habits are causing shifts in the floriculture sector.
Halfway through another strong growing season in Ontario, a seasonal labour program created more than half a century ago continues to prove its worth and puts fresh, local food on dinner tables across the province.
Whether it’s fashion, food products, gardening or other aspects of life, consumer tastes change. To find out what’s hot this year, what will be in demand for the next, and most importantly, how to best sell it, we checked in with some leading experts from coast to coast.
“I started working part-time for Harster Greenhouses when I was about 15 years old,” says Adrian Kemper. His first summer was spent painting heating pipes. From there, he went on to tackle numerous different roles, ranging from order processing to greenhouse building.
Although skilled tax lawyers may dispute the second half of Mark Twain’s famous claim that “the only two certainties in life are death and taxes,” the death part is hard to avoid. The urgency of succession planning for business owners is particularly acute, as declining health might require others to run the business long before the passing of the founder.
As summer sets in, the entire horticulture industry pivots. Greenhouses prepare for next year, garden centres are in full swing, and horticulture students across Canada take off their graduation caps and head into the workforce.
For the Opaskwayak Cree Nation (OCN) in northern Manitoba, new smart farming technology is improving their access to fresh, healthy food in a big way.
Food fraud is a growing problem, costing the global food trade an estimated $30-$40 billion USD in annual losses, and it can put public health at risk. While the term is typically defined as ‘intentional deception using food for economic gain’ there are seven different types of food fraud, as laid out in the chart below.
The business planning process is a critical tool for the creation, expansion or diversification of any business, and it needs to be updated regularly. A business plan is essentially a game plan – a written record of goals and how to reach them. It should describe the product or service offered, customers and market competition, management and financial arrangements, as well as a marketing plan.
Industry expansion south of the border seems to have slowed for some Canadian greenhouse operators, but others are still building both domestically and internationally.
University of Windsor researchers have teamed with local produce growers to improve greenhouse energy efficiency and decrease operating costs.
Canadian greenhouses are expecting a harsh winter in terms of energy. Rates have been steadily rising for years, but the explosion of the Enbridge natural gas pipeline in British Columbia may be the final straw, as B.C. growers are now facing a shortage of up to 50 per cent during the coming winter months.
Is cogeneration the latest innovation for greenhouse growers or just a passing fad? It’s understandable why growers are assessing the potential.
With dark, short days in winter months, growing in Canada isn’t easy – even in controlled environments like greenhouses. To keep providing markets with high-quality produce, supplemental lighting is top of mind for many greenhouse vegetable producers.
It’s been over a decade since the first ‘Inside View’. So I thought I’d look back to the first heating and energy article. The sixth ‘View’ (Dec. 2007), noted that “Canada is the 3rd largest energy consumer on the planet – demand is up 21% since 1990”.
When it comes to adding energy curtains (sometimes referred to as thermal blankets) to a greenhouse everyone focuses on energy savings. And certainly energy savings should be a major factor in any greenhouse grower’s decision to purchase energy curtains.
June 17, 2017, Mona, UT – In recognition of leading energy saving efforts, Houweling’s Group was among four companies honored recently as part of Utah’s Energy Efficiency Challenge.
March 16, 2017, Simcoe, Ont. – With the Ontario government’s cap and trade program now in effect, many greenhouse growers in the province are quickly discovering the high cost of fighting climate change. To some, that cost appears unsustainably high.
March April 2017 – Spring is a time of hope and renewed energy with longer days of sunshine and warmer weather. It is also a great time to reflect on how energy costs in the past months have impacted your bottom line, and to work with your team to make your greenhouse more cost-effective for the year to come.
March 10, 2017, Guelph, Ont. – Ontario farmers can finally expect some relief with lower electricity bills on the way.
Nov. 25, 2016, Guelph, Ont. – Affordable energy is a serious issue in Ontario. Rural Ontario is the hardest hit by energy inflation with most businesses, residents and farms relying on electricity, propane or heating oil to support their way of life.
Nov. 7, 2016, Guelph, Ont. – The need for natural gas across rural Ontario is a top priority for the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) and rural municipalities.
As a bedding plant grower, you want to grow the item that is most profitable. Unfortunately, demand for that item could be limited. We only can grow items that are in demand and work to make them as profitable as possible.
Arable soil scarcity, climate change and higher recurrence of extreme weather events are prompting a shift from outdoor to indoor farming, which has eco-sustainable methods and a lower environmental impact.
Crop LED lighting provider, Fluence Bioengineering (Fluence), has announced its partnership with Ontario-based organic licensed cannabis producer The Green Organic Dutchman (TGOD).
Cloudy and rainy weather during the past months has resulted in many serious outbreaks of Botrytis grey mold in lettuce and in many other crops. This ubiquitous fungus readily attacks lettuce because of the moist, enclosed microclimate created in the lettuce head. If remedial measures are not taken at the first sign of infection, serious crop losses can occur.
Canadian licensed producer Zenabis has received a cultivation licence from Health Canada for the first portion of their operation in Langley, B.C., growing their annual cultivation capacity by more than 30 per cent.This is expected to increase their operation’s capacity from 32,900 kg to 42,800 kg of dried cannabis.
The Ohio State University cultivar trials were on display once again, coinciding with annual conference and tradeshow Cultivate'19.
Poinsettia don't have many problems, note OMAFRA floriculture specialists Dr. Sarah Jandricic and Dr. Chevonne Dayboll, but when issues arise, they can hit a crop fast and hard.
The 2019 collection of Exceptionnelles highlights vivid plants that will appeal to all generations of consumers. Some attract pollinators and hummingbirds, while others boast spectacular flowers or foliage. Some will add colour to shaded areas and others will brighten flower boxes or add volume to municipal flower beds.
In March of this year I had the opportunity to travel from LA to San Francisco on a Ball-sponsored bus that was inhabited primarily by Canadian sales staff and buyers.
From growing indoor or outdoor to key pitfalls in cannabis propagation, Bill MacDonald of Niagara College talks cannabis production. How similar is it to growing other horticultural crops?
Tulips are a sure sign of spring, and for the Dutch people and their descendants, this could not be more true.
When you think of ornamental grasses, you may think of lush landscapes or creative containers. But today’s newer cultivars, and even some of the species, make a great addition to cut bouquets and arrangements. With a bit of planning and production scheduling, ornamental grasses can be a productive addition to cut flower greenhouses.
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Latest Events
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PMA Fresh SummitThu Oct 17, 2019 |
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Advancing Women in AgricultureSun Oct 27, 2019 |
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Opportunities in Greenhouses WorkshopFri Nov 08, 2019 @ 9:00am - 04:30pm |
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Green Industry ShowThu Nov 14, 2019 |
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Expo FIHOQWed Nov 20, 2019 |
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Great Lakes Growers Expo & Michigan Greenhouse Growers ExpoMon Dec 09, 2019 |
