Coast to Coast with Kelli Rodda - August 2007

Utah 

Discovery of a Japanese beetle infestation created an aggressive control strategy for the state of Utah. About 600 beetles were trapped in a section of Orem, Utah, and the state’s department of agriculture began spray treatments in June. The spray treatments will continue for three summers, and residents in affected areas were asked not to plant vegetable gardens. However, ornamental gardens and turf applications are not restricted. State officials don’t know how the pest got to Orem, but eradication is the department’s goal. No quarantine has been established, but plants can’t be moved out of the affected area. Landscape contractors must clean equipment before they leave the affected area and they can’t remove green waste. For more: www.ag.utah.gov/pressrel/JBInfoPage.html.

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Illinois 

Illinois Nurserymen’s Association voted to change its name to Illinois Green Industry Association. More than half of the group’s voting members returned ballots on the referendum. The name change “more accurately reflects the existing membership of the organization as well as the evolving complexion of the industry,” said IGIA president Carsten Hoffmeyer. “It also is a name that welcomes and invites potential new members from every segment of the green industry.” The association had been one of the few remaining in the nation to retain the gender-specific term “nurserymen” in its name. For more: www.ina-online.org.

Kansas 

The horticulture industry added more than $1 billion in sales and expenditures to the Kansas economy in 2006, nearly double the impact shown by the last survey done in 2000. Nurseries and greenhouses contributed $156.7 million in gross sales in 2006, and florists provided $66.5 million in gross sales. More than 788,000 acres in Kansas are involved in horticulture activities, more than double the 354,000 acres reported in 2000. For more: www.ksda.gov.

Hawaii 

Aqua Engineers and the U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii in Honolulu implemented an advanced wastewater treatment and water reuse facility at the Schofield Barracks that will recycle more than one billion gallons of water per year. The project will provide a sustainable source of high-quality, recycled water for irrigation throughout the military base. Aqua Engineers upgraded the Schofield Barracks wastewater facility with GE’s ZeeWeed Membrane Bioreactor (MBR). The advanced wastewater treatment system combines rugged hollow-fiber, ultrafiltration membranes with biological processes. For more: www.aquaengineers.com; www.25idl.army.mil/usaghi; www.gewater.com.

Postcards

One of the most prolific spammers may end up in the slammer. Robert Soloway of Seattle was charged with mail fraud, wire fraud, fraud in connection with electronic mail, aggravated identity theft and money laundering. After sending out tens of millions of spam messages, Department of Justice investigators dubbed him “Spam King.” … BBL. LMK. NRN. If you know what those letters mean either have a teenager or use text messaging. Have you considered it for marketing your business? Moosejaw Mountaineering (www.moosejaw.com), an outdoor adventure retailer, got a 66-percent response rate from a mass text message to customers. (The customers agreed to receive the messages.) The retailer used Messagebuzz (www.messagebuzz.com) to manage the massive text. The right message combined with the right audience may pay off in revenue and customer loyalty, says Messagebuzz. … I’d like to thank the Mid-Atlantic nurseries and greenhouses that showed me around -- in May no less -- and let me snap pictures and ask questions. I met some wonderful growers, saw some impressive operations and ate some yummy crab. Watch for articles from this area throughout the year.

Quotable:

“If people can understand more about plants and you can help them in choosing what plants will work where, then that just gets them more enamored with plants and more excited about gardening. Then they’ll want to come back to your place of business.”

- Earl Robinson Jr., general manager at MeadowView Growers, a garden center in New Carlisle, Ohio. MeadowView is testing the Gardeners’ Tool Shed, a touch-screen kiosk filled with plant care info. The kiosk was created by Jim Jasinski, an Ohio State extension agent.

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- Kelli Rodda