Nursery success starts with plant health

Terry Mitchell is the production manager of Botanico, a wholesale nursery in central Tennessee that features 300 acres of ball and burlap production, and roughly 60 acres of container production. Terry oversees growing operations for the entire nursery while also managing production employees at the same time. It’s safe to say that he’s a busy man.

On any given day, Terry faces a number of challenges. He is responsible for plants in various stages of the growth cycle which requires significant attention to detail. He has to figure out how to keep these plants healthy and viable in the face of extreme weather challenges like humidity and drought. He is also responsible for managing the time of his employees and the growing business efficiently. 

“We have so much going on at once. So one of our biggest challenges is staying precise,” says Terry. “Sometimes it feels like we have more to do than time to do it. We need programs that are smart and easy to train our staff around.”

To improve plant health across his entire nursery, Terry deployed a number of spray programs, including a fungicide with fluxapyroxad and pyraclostrobin, and another with triticonazole. “ ... [We] hardly see any leaf spots anywhere in our nursery. A routine spray rotation has helped alleviate a lot of our challenges,” Terry explained.

Terry and his management team, (Martin Colunga and Osvaldo Lopez), also use another fungicide with  pyraclostrobin frequently. “We use [it] as a pour-on for our dogwoods. It just works. It eradicates a lot of root hindrances, wipes out issues you can see and problems you might not have even known were there. The effect it has on our plants is more growth, more dense and greener foliage and a much improved look.”

For miticides, Terry and his team use a a miticide-insecticide with chlorfenapyr. “We’ve hardly had any rain this year paired with intense heat and humidity, and it’s helped us control spider mite outbreaks.”

Strong, beautiful and healthy plants are the keys to success in the nursery business and no one understands that more than Terry. “We pride ourselves in making our plants look beautiful and [these] products have taken a load off our shoulders” he explains. “[These products have] saved us time, research and manpower. [The] spray programs have helped us prevent disease and stop things before they start so I don’t have to spend time researching and trying to figure out what’s wrong. But most importantly, we’ve doubled our volume and sales in the past year.”

The right combination of fungicides, herbicides and miticides can provide the formula for success for growers, helping plants start strong and finish strong.