Not doing the 'dew

Kristy J. O'Hara

As we traveled the coast of California for Spring Trials a couple months ago, we continuously heard two words: downy mildew.

We knew it was an issue hitting not just growers but landscapers as well. We knew it was a serious problem, but just how serious, we didn’t quite begin to comprehend until we heard experts talking about it at stop after stop.

As such, we wanted to dig in more and look at this disease in depth and talk to experts about how to prevent and fight it. We wanted to talk to chemical companies to find out what they think the best products are to use in your endeavors. In short, we wanted to make sure you had the most complete set of information possible to help you in your growing efforts, so this month’s cover story and Plant Health column are both dedicated to combatting downy mildew.

We also know that while you’re still in the busy season, as summer starts to move in and gardens get planted, business will start to slow down a little. While I’m sure many of you would welcome a moment to breathe — and possibly eat or sleep — others are probably looking for ways to extend your season and bring a little more revenue into your business. We wanted to help you out, so we’ve got a feature looking at 10 season-extending plant options for you to consider.

You’ll also find our annual State of the Media supplement in this issue, where we look at what’s going on with growing media and keep you up to date with what’s happening in this critical facet of your growing operations. You’ll find survey results as well as analysis of those results along with feedback from some of the players in the market about the findings.

As always, we’re here for you. We want to help you grow not just better plants but a better business, so be sure to drop us a line and let us know how we’re doing. If you have story ideas or are seeing things out there that we need to know about, be sure to let us know so we can better serve you. I hope the spring season has been good to you as we turn the calendar and welcome summer.

kohara@gie.net
Twitter: @GMmagEditor