Are some of your cut flowers too early and others too late? Many cut flowers are daylength sensitive and providing the correct photoperiod during the plug and finishing stages can greatly impact time to harvest, stem length, and number of harvestable stems. Dr. Lopez will also show you how the light quality provided by supplemental lighting can influence time to harvest and quality of crops requiring long day lengths.

Plant diseases are one of the most important problems faced by the cut flower industry. Given the high expectations for product quality, appropriate disease management practices are necessary to both secure yield and meet the high aesthetic standards that consumers expect. The availability of environmentally sound, broad-spectrum, effective disease management options that can be integrated in sustainable farming is a high priority for this multi-million-dollar industry. This webinar will review the use of a non-pesticide-based soil disinfestation technique, known as anaerobic soil disinfestation (ASD), for its potential to reduce soilborne disease damage in cut flower production.

Most commercial cut flower production in the United States occurs in hydroponic or soilless production systems. Dr. Chris Currey will provide an overview of hydroponics systems and substrates commonly used, as well as nutrient, irrigation, and crop considerations.

In this webinar, Dr. Chong will review the best management practices for controlling whitefly on poinsettia, including scouting, understanding how different whitefly “biotypes” will influence your management decisions, insecticide rotation and understanding mode of action, biocontrol options for whitefly control, and how to develop a practical management plan for your poinsettia crop.

Successful greenhouse sanitation occurs when operations have clear standard operating procedures (SOPs) and a defined workplace culture where everyone plays a role in selling healthy crops. Dr. Rosa Raudales will provide information on how to start clean and remain clean in your operation and ways to develop a sustainable culture of sanitation in your organization.

Postharvest handling is key to great customer satisfaction. Learn the latest postharvest research that you can use on your farm: long-term storage techniques, optimal time of day for harvest, selecting proper postharvest solutions and an in-depth look at a couple of our most challenging species.

Supplemental lighting is often necessary for year-round production of greenhouse crops. However, the expenses associated with lighting can be high. That includes both the capital expenses associated with buying or leasing lights, as well as the electricity costs associated with running the lights. Capital expenses are easy to determine, based on quotes from suppliers. However, operating expenses are much harder to estimate, since electricity use depends on the lighting needs of the crop, greenhouse configuration, and local weather conditions. This webinar showcases free tools that can be used to estimate both capital and operating expenses associated with supplemental lighting in greenhouses.

The use of LED lighting in greenhouse production is continuing to grow and new advancements in technology are happening at a rapid pace, especially as concerns of energy savings continue to rise. Dr. Erik Runkle will cover the latest advancements in LED lighting and controls and what these advancements mean for growers. Dr. Runkle has been evaluating LED lighting since they were first available to the greenhouse industry and simplifies their selection and use in different production settings.

Dr. Josh Henry will provide an overview of different fertilizers on the market, information on nutritional monitoring, and best practices and recommendations. Additional information can be found at fertdirtandsquirt.com.

The growing media industry continues to face many challenges that can impact growers. Dr. Jackson will give the latest updates on the current geopolitical and regulatory status of different media and media components, insights on new materials and methods that are being researched and used in production, and what growers need to know when selecting a growing media.