People, Events and News

Plan now for guided tour of California Spring Trials

For the fourth year, a tour of several of the main stops along the Spring Trial route in California is being organized by floriculture/greenhouse specialists Dr. Mark Bridgen and Dr. Neil Mattson of Cornell University. The tour will take place April 8-10.

Guests will visit the major horticultural companies that distribute plant materials and supplies and get a first-hand look at the products and new varieties that are available to the floriculture industry. This excursion is designed specifically for members of the greenhouse and floriculture industry, other horticulture professionals, and academics. It is an opportunity to meet fellow growers, breeders, and other plant company representatives to share ideas, update your understanding of what’s happening in our industry, and travel with trained professionals.

The first day includes vists to Proven Winners, Syngenta Flowers, and Sakata Seed.

The next day will include visits to Dümmen USA, including Red Fox and HGTV Home, and also the group of Fides, Oro, Ecke Ranch, Oglevee, and Bartels brands; this stop includes GreenFuse Botanicals. A stop at the California Polytechnic State University is also included on this day. That night will be spent at the Crowne Plaza Ventura located on a Pacific Ocean beach.

The trip concludes with a visit to Ball Horticultural Co. in the morning and to GroLink Plant Co. in the afternoon. Other stops includes Athena Brazil, Flamingo Holland, Florist Holland B.V., Florensis, Hort Couture, and Plant Haven International, Inc., Royal Van Zanten, Schonoeveld, and Sequoia Group International.

For more: http://goo.gl/1I3Y01
 

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Shinoda Memorial Scholarship applications now available

Applications for the annual Shinoda Memorial Scholarship are now available.

Named in honor of California floral industry pioneer Joseph Shinoda, the awards recognize high-performing students of floriculture and related fields.

Undergraduates in accredited colleges, universities and California community colleges are eligible.

Preference is given to applicants who have indicated a strong commitment of furthering their education in the field of floriculture (production, research, retail, floral education, floral design, and sales and marketing).

College students planning careers in floriculture and related fields can visit www.shinodascholarship.org to download applications and detailed information on the 2014-2015 scholarships.

To be considered for the Shinoda scholarships, students should complete and return applications by March 30, 2014. Winners are announced by the Joseph Shinoda Memorial Scholarship Foundation in the spring.

The foundation began awarding scholarships in 1965. Through its five decades of generous giving, the foundation has awarded scholarships valued at more than $777,000 to 650 floriculture students and incentive grants of over $186,000 to college and university floriculture and related programs across the nation.

For more: www.shinodascholarship.org
 

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AmericanHort officially debuts

The industry’s new trade association, formally debuted Jan. 1, following the consolidation of the American Nursery & Landscape Association and OFA – The Association of Horticulture Professionals.

AmericanHort will represent the whole of the plant industry, including breeders, greenhouse, and nursery growers, garden center retailers, distributors, interior and exterior landscapers, florists, students, educators, researchers, manufacturers, and all of those who are part of the industry supply chain. AmericanHort will have its primary office in Columbus, Ohio, and an office in Washington, D.C., to facilitate government relations and research activities, including the management of the Horticultural Research Institute. AmericanHort will also continue to manage America in Bloom, the industry’s community beautification initiative.

The group’s website launched with information on membership and basic services. Enhancements to the site and additional membership features will roll out over the coming months.

For more: www.americanhort.org
 

People Halleck Horticultural, LLC, announces Nikki Rosen as Accounts Coordinator and Content Designer. Rosen started her career more than 12 years ago as a freelance art director, graphic designer, and production artist for retail giants CompUSA, HiT and many smaller Dallas advertising agencies. In 2005 she entered the world of horticulture when recruited by Leslie Halleck as Marketing Manager for local IGC, North Haven Gardens; there she honed her skills in green industry marketing and gardening.     Syngenta announced that Robert Berendes, Head of Business Development, will leave the company at the end of the first quarter to become co-owner and partner of a-connect, the global consulting firm specializing in strategy implementation, growth projects, and change management. Berendes joined Syngenta in 2002 from McKinsey & Company where he was a partner, and became a member of the Syngenta Executive Committee in 2007.   The Soil and Plant laboratory (SPL) a division of Laboratory Management Partners (LMP) , a California-based horticultural laboratory and consulting service, announces that Al Toops, former Pacific Northwest Territory Sales Manager with Syngenta Flowers Home and Garden, has joined their team as the Director of Business Development. Toops joined the company on Jan. 1, and is an experienced project administrator and manager with more than 25 years of experience in horticulture sales and management.   Emerald Coast Growers founders and longtime industry members Dave and Wyona Babikow have officially retired from the business as of December 2013. In the early 1980s, Dave became interested in growing ornamental grasses. In 1991, Dave and Wyona, along with sons Paul and Mark, established an ornamental grass nursery in Pensacola, Fla. The newly formed company, Emerald Coast Growers, quickly expanded to become a leader in ornamental grass starter plants and eventually included a line of perennial starters. With their retirement, Dave and Wyona leave the company fully in the hands of its current owners: son Paul and daughter-in-law Maureen Babikow, son Mark Babikow, daughter Cheri Markowitz, daughter Bonnie Mietling and brother-in-law Albert Mueller.

 

Study evaluates Blight-battling agent

A recent BAAR scientific study evaluated ZeroTol 2.0 by BioSafe Systems, LLC, in controlling Alternaria Blight on red zinnias. Results showed that ZeroTol 2 – a liquid concentrate, activated peroxide chemistry for controlling a broad range of pathogens – works on contact. The study showed it increased the overall vigor of the zinnia by 15 percent and reduced the percentage of leaf area with Alternaria blight symptoms by 63 percent compared to the untreated plants.

Alternaria Blight of zinnia is caused by the fungus Alternaria zinnia. It is the most common disease on zinnias and can affect stems, foliage, and flowers. Affected leaves show brown spots, which coalesce as the disease progresses resulting in dry brown lesions.

On flowers, the pathogen can produce dark brown spots that are unsightly in appearance.
 

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Harvest Automation partners with SBI Software

Robot manufacturer Harvest Automation Inc. and SBI Software, a provider of ERP systems to the nursery and greenhouse industry, have formed a partnership to connect Harvest Knowledge robot data systems with the SBI Grower ERP package.

In 2013, Harvest Automation introduced the HV-100 plant-moving robots. The robots are designed to perform a wide variety of the most demanding and critical plant handling tasks such as spacing, consolidation, and collection. In 2014, Harvest Automation will launch Harvest Knowledge, a cloud-based data collection system, which will allow robots to link the work that is being performed to the fields and plants that they are working with and to report this information back to growers and production planners to provide a comprehensive view of the work robots have completed.

SBI Software’s comprehensive ERP system is designed specifically for the horticulture industry extending critical point of task functionalities from their robust back office program to your desktops, phones, and tablets with their “Any Device Application Suite.” This year, SBI will work with Harvest Automation to help automatically drive reported inventory and production tasks from the robots to SBI. This process will allow growers and production planners to reduce human errors and time spent manually adjusting inventory in the field and their inventory management software.

This collaboration will create a connection between Harvest Knowledge and SBI Grower. By linking these two systems nursery and greenhouse growers and production managers will have an unprecedented ability to plan work on their operation, getting the right work done, on-time, reducing re-work, eliminating waste, and increasing profit margin.

For more: www.harvestai.com
 

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Monrovia acquires Imperial Nurseries

Monrovia has offiicially acquired Connecticut-based Imperial Nurseries.

Monrovia has operations in Visalia, Calif., and Dayton, Ore, and Cairo, Ga. The acquisition should boost total plant production by 15 percent.

Joining Monrovia is Imperial’s Greg Schaan, named vice president of production for the East Coast, overseeing the Connecticut and Georgia nurseries. Imperial’s sales representatives will work in tandem with Monrovia’s sales team to ensure a continuity of service to their garden centers and landscape customers.

This is the second major acquisition for the family-owned and operated Monrovia; the first being the purchase of Wight and Berryhill Nurseries in 2001.

For more: www.monrovia.com

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Fossil shows reproduction in ancient flower

A cluster of 18 flowers from the Cretaceous Period, contained within a well preserved fossil and discovered in a Myanmar amber mine, reveal the oldest known evidence of sexual reproduction in a flowering plant.

One of the flowers, a species now extinct, was reproducing using a process that appears identical to the one used by flowering plants today. Researchers from Oregon State University and Germany published their findings on the 100 million-year old piece of amber in the Journal of the Botanical Institute of Texas. 

Microscopic images show pollen tubes growing out of two grains of pollen and penetrating the flower’s stigma. Researchers said the pollen appeared to be sticky, suggesting it was carried by a pollinating insect. The fossils were discovered in amber mines in the Hukawng Valley of Myanmar, formerly Burma. The newly described genus and species of the flower was named Micropetasos burmensis.

For more: http://bit.ly/1hk3bwT
 

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Two AFE IScholarship programs accepting applications

Applications for two internship-scholarship opportunities, offered through the American Floral Endowment, are now available.

The Vic and Margaret Ball Intern Scholarship Program gives students the chance to intern at a commercial production greenhouse or nursery.

Students will intern for periods of three, four, or six months.

Upon completion of their internship, they will receive a scholarship for $1,500 (three months), $3,000 (four months), or $6,000 (six months).

The Mosmiller Intern Scholarship Program gives students the chance to train at one of the leading retail, wholesale or allied trade operations for 10 to 16 weeks. Upon the successful completion of their internships, students receive a $2,000 scholarship.

Applications for the Mosmiller Intern Scholarship Program and the Vic and Margaret Ball Intern Scholarship Program can be downloaded at www.endowment.org.

Students must be U.S. citizens enrolled in a floriculture/environmental horticulture program at a two-year or four-year college or university in the U.S.

Participants must maintain a “C” average and must complete their internship prior to graduation.

The deadline for application submission is March 1, 2014.

For more: www.endowment.org

 

Calendar February 20-21, USDA Agricultural Outlook Forum, Arlington, Va. www.usda.gov/oce/forum/ 18-19, MSU Integrated Pest Management Academy 2014, Okemos, Mich. http://msue.anr.msu.edu/event/msu_integrated_pest_management_academy_2014 March 04-05, Mississippi State University Greenhouse Tomato Shortcourse, Raymond, Miss. www.greenhousetomatosc.com/ Do you have an event to list in the calendar? Contact cmosby@gie.net.