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Insider Tips for Greenhouse Pros
Episodes
Friday Feb 15, 2019
Friday Feb 15, 2019
Interview starts at 5:38 - Our guest today is Lisa Lacy and she is going to tell us all about a game changing new product that has the opportunity to impact every one of us in horticulture, as well as everyone who gardens and enjoys landscapes. You may have heard clips and stories and seen press releases about cutting edge new impatiens with resistance to the Impatiens Downy Mildew disease that has decimated one of the world’s most important bedding plants – Impatiens walleriana. Well, Lisa is the product manager and leading expert on Beacon Impatiens, a brand new series bred by PanAmerican Seed that’s proven to exhibit high resistance to the Plasmopara obducens microorganism that leads to Impatiens Downy Mildew.
To put this disease in scope, 10 years ago there were billions of seeds of Impatiens walleriana sold worldwide and PanAmerican Seed alone offered 9 impatiens series. Since then, due to the widespread nature of the disease, sales of Walleriana seeds have dropped as much as 50% and this garden mainstay has disappeared from retail shelves and commercial landscapes in a big way.
Now it’s time to hear the story that began in 2008 when PanAm started planning and building a team around the problem and continues to this spring, 2019, when the new Beacon series will debut at California Spring Trials. It’s a story filled with emotion but built on a foundation of science. It’s a story of collaboration. It’s a story with an amazing moral – because a portion of the sales of the new Beacon series will benefit lesser known causes and foundations. And most of all, it’s a story our guest, Lisa Lacy, is proud to share with the STEM listeners because as she clearly states in this discussion, seeing will lead to believing and it will take an industry effort to share the message that impatiens are back!
NEW Beacon Impatiens Website: http://www.beaconimpatiens.com/
Connect Four Article - Garden Design 2019 Trends: https://www.gardendesign.com/trends/2019.html
Contact Links:
PanAmerican Seed Website: https://www.panamseed.com/
Ball Seed Customer Relations: 1-800-879-BALL
Email Host Bill Calkins: bcalkins@ballhort.com
NEW! Connect on Instagram - @STEMGreenhousePodcast
#STEMGreenhousePodcast
Tweet Host Bill Calkins: @billcalkins
Connect with Ball Seed on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ball-seed-co/
Follow The Gardens at Ball on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GardensAtBall/
See Ball Seed Videos on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/BallSeedVideo
Thursday Jan 31, 2019
Thursday Jan 31, 2019
Our guest this episode is Dr. Todd Cavins. Todd is one of our technical services experts at Ball Seed and has been helping professional growers solve greenhouse production challenges for more than ten years in the field and before that was a professor at Oklahoma State University. He was actually my second guest on STEM almost a year ago and shared tons of tips and advice for getting off to a great start with plugs and seed raised young plants. If you missed the episode or hadn’t started listening to STEM yet, I’ll put a link in the show notes. Well, Todd is back in episode 25 to talk about vegetative production – Unrooted Cuttings and Liners – and how to start strong and work to ensure a top-quality saleable crop with few to no losses.
This is a very informative discussion where we cover topics including some ways to be prepared to receive and handle inputs, the importance of maintaining an optimal environment for cuttings, managing conditions that are less than ideal and the overall life of a URC. He shares tips and tricks for creating a replicable process for your production team from high tech systems for misting and computerized VPD to low tech approaches like posting pictures and specs to get everyone involved in young plant production on the same page. We spend some time discussing what to do when things start to go wrong and common times the uh-ohs happen and a reminder to go back to the five factors of plant growth when challenges pop up. Todd ends by sharing specific crops that need to be treated differently and also some of his favorite resources and go to materials if you want to dig deeper into this critical topic. This is definitely an episode you’ll want to share widely within your greenhouse team.
Check out Todd’s previous podcast episode!
STEM Episode 2: Getting Off to a Great Start
Refer back to STEM episodes on Watering:
Pt. 1 - The Language of Watering: https://stempodcast.podbean.com/e/the-language-of-watering/
Pt. 2 – Watering, The Rest of the Story: https://stempodcast.podbean.com/e/watering-the-rest-of-the-story/
Technical Resources Referenced:
- BFP TV: https://www.ballfloraplant.com/BFPTV/
- Grow a Better Liner Video Series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbUnKHXk07I
- E-Gro Online Resources: http://www.e-gro.org/
Contact Links:
Email Guest Dr. Todd Cavins: tcavins@ballhort.com
Ball Seed Customer Relations: 1-800-879-BALL
Email Host Bill Calkins: bcalkins@ballhort.com
NEW! Connect on Instagram - @STEMGreenhousePodcast
Tweet Host Bill Calkins: @billcalkins
Connect with Ball Seed on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ball-seed-co/
Follow The Gardens at Ball on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GardensAtBall/
See Ball Seed Videos on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/BallSeedVideo
Monday Jan 14, 2019
Monday Jan 14, 2019
Our guest today is Jason Twaddell. Jason was one of the first guests on STEM almost a year ago, episode number 3. And he’s back to tackle a completely different topic this time. Jason is Sales and Marketing Manager with Ball FloraPlant and Selecta One, companies that sit on the cutting edge of new genetics in the vegetative world and also understand the importance of trialing for many reasons we will explore during this episode. Jason will dig into the Why, What and When of trialing in an effort to highlight the importance of this critical piece of the growing puzzle. With margins getting narrower and the tolerance for inefficiency and shrink dropping to near zero, trialing and testing new genetics before replacing existing varieties is more important than ever.
Some of the topics he covers include trialing to solve problems and not just to evaluate what’s new; improving labor–intensive processes and the importance of an internal champion to maximize resources. Jason details the steps to take when implementing an effective trial strategy and also how to plan and prioritize to achieve the goals you set. This episode is appropriate for many roles in your greenhouse operation from management to section growers. Getting your team aligned when putting trials in place is critical to the whole process.
Check out Jason’s previous podcast episode!
STEM Episode 3: Executing Your Plan with Priority and Timeliness
Ball FloraPlant & Selecta One Resources:
- Ball FloraPlant Territory Managers: https://www.ballfloraplant.com/BFP/Team.aspx
- Ball FloraPlant Website: https://www.ballfloraplant.com/
- Ball FloraPlant YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/BallFloraPlant
- Ball FloraPlant Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bfpsocial/
- BFP TV: https://www.ballfloraplant.com/BFPTV/
- Product Growing Culture: https://www.ballfloraplant.com/Culture/
- Current Ball FloraPlant virtual catalog: https://www.ballseed.com/Virtual/2019_BFP/index.aspx
- Selecta One North America Website: http://selectanorthamerica.com/
Contact Links:
Email Guest Jason Twaddell: jtwaddell@ballhort.com
Email Host Bill Calkins: bcalkins@ballhort.com
Tweet Host Bill Calkins: @billcalkins
Connect with Ball Seed on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ball-seed-co/
Follow The Gardens at Ball on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GardensAtBall/
See Ball Seed Videos on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/BallSeedVideo
Thursday Dec 20, 2018
Thursday Dec 20, 2018
This is our first Holiday Episode and my guest definitely represents the cheer and energy of the season and just happens to spend a good part of her current role supporting poinsettias, one of our most traditional holiday crops. I’m welcoming Tanya to STEM to talk about the overall retail experience – what garden centers and nurseries AND the growers who supply them can do to inspire the shoppers of today and tomorrow.
Tanya brings a ton of energy but more importantly actionable ideas for offering in-demand products at retail, presented in inspirational packages. She shares tips and tricks for exciting customers, bringing communities together, putting on dazzling and effective events and igniting the senses. We get into some of her favorite WOW varieties, amazing greenhouse events she’s attended recently – like GLOW festivals – the importance of sharing knowledge and educating and also introduce a concept she calls the “full circle experience.”
When I asked Tanya to be on the podcast I had a feeling it would be a fun episode with plenty of great retail ideas, but I must admit I had no clue that her background includes a stint at Proctor & Gamble and how she brought some of those amazing consumer insights to the world of horticulture. I really enjoyed this conversation and I’m pretty sure you will, too. Definitely share this one widely throughout your organization and encourage your team to think about Tanya’s predictions for the future of horticultural retail. I have a feeling she’s on the right track.
Connect Four Article Link:
Ten Ways to be 10X More Productive at Work from Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/lizryan/2018/02/17/ten-ways-to-be-more-productive-at-work/#649c1580126a
Ball FloraPlant & Selecta One Resources:
- Ball FloraPlant Website: https://www.ballfloraplant.com/
- Ball FloraPlant YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/BallFloraPlant
- Ball FloraPlant Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bfpsocial/
- BFP TV: https://www.ballfloraplant.com/BFPTV/
- Product Growing Culture: https://www.ballfloraplant.com/Culture/
- Current Ball FloraPlant virtual catalog: https://www.ballseed.com/Virtual/2019_BFP/index.aspx
- Selecta One North America Website: http://selectanorthamerica.com/
- Selecta Poinsettia Catalog: http://www.selectanorthamerica.com/Literature/2019_poinsettia/index.aspx
Contact Links:
Email Guest Tanya Carvalho: tcarvalho@ballhort.com
Email Host Bill Calkins: bcalkins@ballhort.com
Tweet Host Bill Calkins: @billcalkins
Connect with Ball Seed on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ball-seed-co/
Follow The Gardens at Ball on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GardensAtBall/
See Ball Seed Videos on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/BallSeedVideo
Thursday Dec 13, 2018
Thursday Dec 13, 2018
We are once again joined by Ball Horticultural’s Senior Technical & Research Manager Dr. Will Healy who I referred to in episode 21 as one of the most experienced and knowledgeable experts in all things greenhouse production. Our topic continues… watering and water management. These two episodes work best in tandem so try to listen to part one – The Language of Watering – before jumping into this one.
In the first part – which you can find on your favorite podcast player or linked below - Dr. Healy delved into the importance of speaking the same language of watering throughout the company and qualitative and quantitative ways to teach water management so that accuracy and efficiency can be achieved.
This episode takes it to the next level getting into specific plant demands, how to determine wet/dry targets, how to optimize any greenhouse for water management and even suggests an inexpensive gift for all of your production team members.
PART ONE - Episode 21: The Language of Watering https://www.greenhousegrower.com/sponsor/ball-seed-company/the-language-of-watering/
Ball Seed Technical Resources:
Production Guides, Culture, Pests & Diseases, Charts and Tables: https://www.ballseed.com/QuickCulture/ProductionGuides/
Water Management Level 1-5 Training Presentation (English): https://www.slideshare.net/bcalkins/stem-episode-21-ball-seed-water-management-levels-15-english
Water Management Level 1-5 Training Presentation (Spanish): https://www.slideshare.net/bcalkins/stem-episode-21-ball-seed-water-management-levels-15-spanish
Good Scale for Weighing Pots and Trays: https://www.amazon.com/Ozeri-ZK14-S-Digital-Multifunction-Kitchen/dp/B004164SRA/ref=sr_1_5?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1543593422&sr=1-5&keywords=kitchen+scale
Contact Links:
Email Guest Dr. Will Healy: whealy@ballhort.com
Email Host Bill Calkins: bcalkins@ballhort.com
Tweet Host Bill Calkins: @billcalkins
Connect with Ball Seed on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ball-seed-co/
Follow The Gardens at Ball on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GardensAtBall/
See Ball Seed Videos on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/BallSeedVideo
Friday Nov 30, 2018
Friday Nov 30, 2018
The Language of Watering
This episode of STEM: Insider Tips for Greenhouse Pros addresses one of the most basic tasks in a professional greenhouse, watering. But proving that water management is fundamental and critical, we are joined by Ball Horticultural’s Senior Technical & Research Manager Dr. Will Healy – one of the most experienced and knowledgeable experts in all things greenhouse production. He’s also a great story teller, which you will learn throughout the episodes. And yes, I did say episodes because this one is a two-parter. Watering and water management is SO critical that we invited a PhD to help us learn as much as possible about it AND will spend two sessions on the topic. The first part will be all about The Language of Watering and this one is perfect to share with your entire production team and others across your organization.
As Dr. Healy will help us understand, speaking the same language of watering throughout the company is critical and there are qualitative and quantitative ways to teach water management so that accuracy and efficiency can be achieved. Getting watering right WILL reduce your costs and result in better crops.
So gather your team, grab a pen and notepad and get ready for part one in a two part session on watering.
Ball Seed Technical Resources:
Production Guides, Culture, Pests & Diseases, Charts and Tables: https://www.ballseed.com/QuickCulture/ProductionGuides/
Water Management Level 1-5 Training Presentation (English): https://www.slideshare.net/bcalkins/stem-episode-21-ball-seed-water-management-levels-15-english
Water Management Level 1-5 Training Presentation (Spanish): https://www.slideshare.net/bcalkins/stem-episode-21-ball-seed-water-management-levels-15-spanish
Contact Links:
Email Guest Dr. Will Healy: whealy@ballhort.com
Email Host Bill Calkins: bcalkins@ballhort.com
Tweet Host Bill Calkins: @billcalkins
Connect with Ball Seed on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ball-seed-co/
Follow The Gardens at Ball on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GardensAtBall/
See Ball Seed Videos on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/BallSeedVideo
Tuesday Nov 13, 2018
Tuesday Nov 13, 2018
It’s hard to believe that this is the 20th episode of STEM – Insider Tips for Greenhouse Pros. And this time we’re talking to our first returning guest. Ever since the first episode of STEM launched, I’ve thought about more topics to discuss with Marvin, from industry data and research to current product trends and consumer groups. Now, seemed like as good a time as any, with another season of travels under his belt and new industry data and research being released.
Dr. Marvin Miller recently celebrated 35 years as Ball Horticultural’s Market Research Manager and he’s quick to remind me that he has been studying our industry for longer than that and also that being a researcher means he has looked at data going back far beyond those 35 plus years. Bottom line – Marvin has a ton of knowledge and ideas to share. And because his first episode was on the shorter side of STEM as we’ve progressed through 20 episodes, I decided to turn off the timer and let him go.
This one’s almost an hour but it’s worth every minute. We start by going through some current industry research and data related to today’s consumer and setting participation and consumption records and quickly move into topics ranging from the current indoor plant trend and potential of the cut flower market to millennials as consumers. We also discuss lessons learned from more than 15 trips to Alaska and what politicians can learn from a pod of whales. Seriously – I’m not joking about that one. We also talk about how social media is like the shopping malls of the 1980s! You’ll want to listen all the way to the end of this one – Dr. Marvin Miller… Unplugged.
Resources:
Ball Seed WebTrack: https://wtlogin.ballhort.com/Pages/Login.aspx
WebTrack To Go Mobile App: http://www.webtracktogo.com/
Catalog Product Search: https://catalogsearch.ballseed.com/
Drama In the Garden – STEM Episode 1 with Dr. Marvin Miller: https://www.greenhousegrower.com/sponsor/ball-seed-company/drama-in-the-garden/
Jamie Kitz on Growing & Giving – with a discussion of cut flower opportunities: https://www.greenhousegrower.com/sponsor/ball-seed-company/jamie-kitz-on-growing-giving/
Contact Links:
Email Guest Marvin Miller: mnmiller@ballhort.com
Email Host Bill Calkins: bcalkins@ballhort.com
Tweet Host Bill Calkins: @billcalkins
Connect with Ball Seed on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ball-seed-co/
Follow The Gardens at Ball on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GardensAtBall/
See Ball Seed Videos on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/BallSeedVideo
Thursday Nov 01, 2018
Thursday Nov 01, 2018
Ball Seed recently hosted a meeting of our supplier partners and rooting stations that featured speakers addressing shared production challenges and offering many technical and cultural strategies. One of the top-rated speakers coming out of our post-event survey work was today’s guest. We asked him to join us on STEM to go through some of the concepts he presented at the meeting. We’re excited to be joined this time by Darwin Perennials’ Karl Batschke who’s going to take us through some new ways to better produce some of the latest and greatest perennial genetics.
But he’s not going to talk about the easy ones. Instead, Karl will address some of the more challenging crops and also new crops that require new cultural and technical regimes. Let’s call them the Perennial Problem Children. And like a good guidance counselor, Karl will treat each one as an individual and create a custom plan to maximize their potential and achieve the results you want – the best crop you can produce.
But since we have Karl on the hook for 40 minutes, we’re also going to ask him plenty of questions about the current market for perennials, what he’s seeing and hearing in his travels and thoughts and predictions for the future. Karl has tons of industry knowledge and experience and we’re really happy to have this chance to pick his brain for a bit.
Darwin Perennial Resources:
Darwin Perennials Culture and Scheduling Tools: https://www.darwinperennials.com/Culture/ProductionGuides/
Tons of Perennials Resources: https://www.darwinperennials.com/
Darwin Perennials Day Event Registration (Open to the TRADE ONLY): https://www.darwinperennialsday.com/register.aspx
Contact Links:
Email Guest Karl Batschke: kbatschke@darwinperennials.com
Email Host Bill Calkins: bcalkins@ballhort.com
Tweet Host Bill Calkins: @billcalkins
Connect with Ball Seed on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ball-seed-co/
Follow The Gardens at Ball on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GardensAtBall/
See Ball Seed Videos on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/BallSeedVideo
Tuesday Oct 16, 2018
Tuesday Oct 16, 2018
In this episode, we talk with one of my favorite industry people, Sakata Seed America’s Jamie Kitz about a whole range of topics. We start with plants – seed annuals, vegetative annuals, cut flowers and vegetables and then transition to industry support, charitable giving and philanthropy. Throughout we share tons of industry ideas and dig into where Jamie gets her energy and inspiration that’s so infectious. We wrap the episode up talking about the Sakata Gives program and actionable ways to bring a similar sense of corporate mission to your organization. And trust me, it’s not the old way of directing employees to give to a charity selected by corporate management. It’s far more grassroots these days.
Monday Oct 01, 2018
Monday Oct 01, 2018
Host Bill Calkins takes the mic this episode to address a challenge he keeps running into when he talks to garden center retailers at industry events – an emerging disconnect between the retail experience they are trying to create and the plants and service available from their wholesale grower suppliers.