Biostimulants are products that promise a lot, but do they deliver? Biostimulants include microbial and nonmicrobial ingredients that improve plant health and resilience, leading to better quality crops with increased stress tolerance. Beneficial microbes include bacteria and fungi that can improve the efficiency of nutrient uptake and may allow growers to reduce fertilizer applications and still grow high-quality floriculture crops. These microbial-based biostimulants can also be used to maintain the postharvest quality of cut flowers and flowering plants during shipping and retailing. In this webinar, Dr. Jones discusses how biostimulants work, how to select biostimulants, and how to set up a trial in your greenhouse to determine if you will get the desired effects in your production environment.

Growers know from experience that some plants are more attractive to western flower thrips than others. Why not use that to your advantage! Scientists at the UVM Entomology Research Laboratory have found that marigolds are ideal plants as a foundation for a simple, cost-effective, comprehensive IPM program. They can be used as an indicator plant to detect thrips early, often even before they are found on yellow sticky cards. They can also act as a trap crop to lure the pest from the crop. Lastly, they can serve as a guardian plant that does it all: attract thrips from the crop while supporting biological control agents such as predatory mites and insect-killing fungi on the plant and in the soil to maintain low pest populations. Learn more about this amazing, yet easy-to-grow plant so you can take advantage of its many benefits.

Three fundamentals for growing plants are fertilizer, substrate, and water. In-house nutrient monitoring provides you with key pH and EC values needed for successful crop production. This webinar provides an overview of pH and EC nutritional disorders, discuss monitoring methods, and present available grower resources.

Huge numbers of cuttings are harvested and shipped each year and the value of each shipment can range from hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars. Learn how to handle each shipment to maximize the number of high-quality rooted plants. In particular, we discuss how to handle delayed shipments and avoid the difficult decision of whether to propagate the cuttings and try to maintain production schedules or wait for replacement cuttings.

Powdery mildew is one of the most conspicuous plant disease problems that growers face. If you grow roses, gerberas, poinsettias, rosemary, phlox or verbenas (to name a few!) you are very aware of how rapidly this fungus disease can build up to an epidemic. Plant breeding efforts have provided some cultivars that are less susceptible to powdery mildew. But knowledge of which plants are prone to this disease, how unusual symptoms might fool you, and how best to deploy fungicides is critical for growing healthy flower crops. Cornell plant pathologist Margery Daughtrey gives an in-depth discussion of integrated pest management strategy for powdery mildew—including what to grow, what to scout for, and some effective treatment programs using fungicides and/or biofungicides.

Are you up to speed on the latest in flower care and handling? What should you do to make sure the flowers you present to your customers are at their best? We’re taking you back to the basics of proper care and handling techniques and why it’s important to make sure everyone on the team is trained properly. AFE has supported the development of ‘industry friendly’ handling techniques for cut flowers. Loann Burke AIFD, AAF, PFCI, a highly acclaimed retail florist and event specialist, will demonstrate many of the key steps every florist should use to assure flower quality and longevity. From flower box to finished design, Loann takes you through every step of the process and shows you the tricks of the trade to keep your flowers fresh and your customers coming back.

‘Smart N-Sensor’ technology for floriculture crops will be presented. This technology uses images of plants to estimate whole-plant N content. The technology is reliable, easy to use, and low-cost (minimal to a few hundred dollars). Using the technology, floriculture growers can non-destructively quantify plant N status whenever needed for optimizing fertilizer application in greenhouses. The technology offers either smartphone (for small-scale operations) or micro-controller (for large-scale operations) based models.

Impatiens was once one of the most popular bedding plants until Impatiens Downy Mildew (IDM) devastated landscape plantings around the world. Plants often looked good in production but died once planted in the landscape. After a decade of breeding and technology, impatiens are back with two new series offering a high degree of resistance to IDM. Margery Daughtrey, plant pathologist at Cornell University, discusses the attributes of Beacon (PanAmerican Seed) and Imara XDR (Syngenta Flowers) series and share practical tips to optimize the performance of these plants from propagation to planting in the landscape. You will learn that using protectant fungicides during production is a good idea, even when impatiens are highly resistant to downy mildew.

Work has been conducted over the last few years to determine the efficacy and rotations of various non-neonicotinoids for managing MED whitefly (Q-biotype). Discover how to evaluate the efficacy of biological control agents and pesticides in a commercial greenhouse as a grower.

Work has been conducted over the last few years to determine the efficacy and rotations of various non-neonicotinoids for managing MED whitefly (Q-biotype). Discover how to evaluate the efficacy of biological control agents and pesticides in a commercial greenhouse as a grower.