Grower Midwest 5.12

May 2012

MidWest n Edition

Section One of One

GROWER

Volume e 11 r5 Number

$2.50

Serving All Aspects of Commercial Horticulture

Greenhouse e • Nursery y • Garden n Centerr • Fruitt & Vegetable e • Farm m Marketss • Landscaperss • Christmas

Marketing fresh beauty directly to customers New report on neonicotinoids and bees ~ Page 3

Classifieds . . . . . . . . . 26 Value Added/Specialty Foods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Today’s Marketing . . . 5

~ Page 2

Marketing fresh beauty directly to customers

Page 2 • COUNTRY FOLKS GROWER MIDWEST • May 2012

by Sally Colby Although Linda Chapman had kept a sizable home garden for quite a while, she hadn’t considered growing anything to sell until she was introduced to the concept.

“Someone asked me if I’d be interested in working on her flower farm on Fridays to get ready for farmers’ market on Saturday,” said Chapman. “I spent several Fridays at her farm, gathering flowers and making arrangements. I discovered in that short amount of time that I loved it, and I wasn’t half bad at it.”

Chapman’s imagination was piqued. She and her partner Deryl Dale arranged to have a local farmer plow a section of pasture on their small acreage, and that was the start of Harvest Moon Flower Farm in Spencer, IN. Chapman says that she was somewhat intimidated by the size of the plowed plot, but was determined to move forward.

“We wrapped part of our porch and made a makeshift greenhouse,” she said.

“Because it had a roof, it didn’t get much daylight. I manually moved all the trays on sunny days, then back inside at night. We got our first market garden going, which was primarily flowers, and were met with fair amount of success that first year.”

Twenty-four years later, Chapman is successfully growing flowers (the primary crop), along with specialty vegetables, culinary herbs and microgreens for local restaurants. Harvest Moon is present at three farmers’ markets every week during the 50week season, and fills subscriptions for flower arrangements 50 weeks a year with nine businesses in nearby Bloomington, IN. Chapman also supplies three Bloomington chefs with veg-

For her first couple of years in business, Linda Chapman grew the usual varities for a cut flower garden, such as zinnias, sunflowers, statice, celosia and asters. Now, Harvest Moon’s gardens are unique due to the number of different varieties grown.

Photos courtesy of Harvest Moon Flower Farm etables, herbs and microgreens every week for 50 weeks a year.

“The first couple of years I was doing a pretty basic job,” said Chapman. “I was growing the usual workhorses for a cut flower garden such as zinnias, sunflowers, statice, celosia and asters. Now our flower garden is unique in that we grow a lot of different varieties. We might not grow a lot of any one, but varieties make the bouquets interesting and textural.”

Linda Chapman tends to a “sea” of tulips.

To ensure a regular supply of fresh flowers and greens for both markets and individual customers, Chapman and her crew start seeds for transplants throughout the season.

For example, the 700 sunflowers planted in trays every other week will be transplanted two weeks later to provide a continuous supply of one of the most popular cut flowers.

Chapman and her daughter, Anna, along with long-time friend and employee Gay prepare for farmers’ markets by cutting flowers in the early morning prior to the market date. “We cut right into water,” she said, “and within 15 minutes the flowers are in the cool barn and in a hydrating solution. We arrange the bouquets, put them in the cooler and take them to market the following day. The biggest goal as a cut flower grower is to make sure you’re selling customers a flower that has the longest vase life so they feel like they’re getting the greatest value.”

Although they sell some flowers, especially sunflowers, in straight bunches, Harvest Moon is known for arranged bouquets.

“Our bouquets have three different kinds of flowers: center

flowers, secondary flowers and filler flowers,” Chapman explained. “The center flower could be a sunflower, a lily or lisianthus, and we fill the bouquet from there.” Chapman’s daughter, Anna, her long-time friend, Gay, and Gay’s daughter, Carmen, all help prepare for market. “All of our styles have their own personality,” said Chapman. “Gay is an amazing arranger, and loves hot, bright festive bouquets.

Anna’s bouquets are romantic.”

Bouquets are transported and kept in buckets of water at the market. Each bucket has what Chapman refers to as a distinct personality. “One might be oranges, yellows and reds, another will be purples, blues and whites,” she said.

“We make one bouquet, then make four others that match it. At market, there will be 20 buckets of flowers, each one distinct from another.”

Although Chapman discourages customers from handling the flowers, she will gladly take bouquets out for closer look. After a customer selects a bouquet, it’s wrapped in damp paper toweling and placed in a baggie with rubber band so it stays hydrated.

“The biggest question people ask is how long will it last,” said Chapman. “With some basic maintenance, the bouquet will look good for a week.”

During lily season, the crew often cuts flowers twice a day and stores them in a cooler to inhibit growth. On warm days, Chapman often cuts peonies three times a day, when they’re in the unopened marshmallow stage, so that the customer has a flower the first day it opens rather than a flower that’s already been open for several days.

Sunflowers are cut every day to provide the longest possible vase life for the customer.

Harvest Moon’s presence at

farmers’ markets led to another sales outlet — weddings.

“Everyone is into ‘local’ and farmers markets have taken off,” said Linda. “In the last five years, weddings have skyrocketed. We now do about 35-40 weddings each year with arranged flowers or buckets of loose flowers for do-ityourselfers.” Chapman says that farmers’ markets typically attract brides who are looking for a middle-class floral wedding, adding that they are still identifying and continually re-evaluating their place in this niche market.

When Chapman had been growing and selling flowers for 12 years, she joined the Association of Specialty and Cut Flower Growers (ASCFG).

“It’s beyond valuable,” she said of the organization. “The first year I went to a conference I couldn’t believe how much I was learning. I saw that I could do things better and realized how much more I needed to invest in the business to work as professionals.

This gave us an amazing leap on our local competition — I now had an incredible resource that I didn’t know existed.” Chapman says that the first year after joining the association, farm profit increased significantly as a result of the changes she made. One important thing Chapman learned is that many of the varieties she thought wouldn’t grow in her zone 6 area would thrive Chapman is an active member of ASCFG and is grateful for what she has learned. “It’s an amazing organization for our profession — great conferences, incredible networking with growers and a national Internet bulletin board where we can share information.”

Visit Harvest Moon on line at www.harvestmoonflowerfarm.com.

Within 15 minutes of being cut, flowers headed to a farmers’ market are in the cool barn and in a hydrating solution.

The Rothenbuhler Legacy Fighting insect damage at the turf level with pesticides while being mindful of collateral damage

by Stephen Wagner Dave Shetlar, better known as The Bug Doc, from Ohio State University Extension, is helping turf managers to fight bugs by going green. “There’s concern about exposure to pesticides,” said Shetlar. “Residents are calling for minimizing use of pesticides, and when they are needed, to use the least toxic available. With insecticides, we have some new technology that allows us to meet those expectations.”

Shetlar compares the use of neonicotinoids — nicotine-based insecticides that affect insects’ central nervous system — with a newer chemistry, anthranilic diamides. When neonicotinoids (pronounced neo-nick-o-tin-oids) came on the market, they were seen as less toxic alternatives to some other insecticides, but their real advantage was that they provided a long window of opportunity for grounds managers to use them. Instead of having to apply insecticides between mid-July and early August they could be applied as early as May. However, neonicotinoids have been linked with the precipitous decline in the honey bee population, according to Shetlar. That alone is a good reason to investigate the new class of insecticides, anthranilic diamides. DuPont is the first company to develop one of these insecticides, under the trade name Acelepryn.

Anthranilic diamides affect how calcium works in the muscle tissue of insects and other arthropods, including centipedes and white grubs, giving the bugs severe muscle cramps — effectively undermining their life cycle. Since calcium is used so much differently in humans and other mammals, anthranilic diamides are the least toxic type of insecticides available — “practically nontoxic,” Shetlar said.

“It’s the same old problem with insects and honeybees,” said Ohio State University assistant professor Reed Johnson as he discussed the role of insecticides and pesticides in Colony Collapse Disorder. “Insecticides are compounds that are designed to kill insects.

Insect pollinators are insects. These insecticides will kill them. So it is important to look at the interaction between these insecticides and the pollinators, because growers who are using the insecticides are using them to kill insect pests.

But they may also be harming the polli-

Apiarist Don Carns of Millersburg PA, freelances at orchard tending with his bees. nators that are needed to produce fruit and other foods. I think more research is needed to look at the interaction here, which is what I’m trying to do.”

Johnson is the relative “new kid on the block,” conducting research on beekeeping and on pollinator toxicology at OSU’s Department of Entomology. He is also focusing on genomics. “The genomics revolution, and the sequencing of the honeybee genome,” he says, “makes

available the tools to really understand how pesticides affect bees on a molecular level.” Authorities have been attributing the CCD problem to factors such as mites and insect diseases, environmental change-related stresses, malnutrition, pesticides and migratory beekeeping.

When asked if the problem has been narrowed down to only the “cides” with other possible causes of CCD falling by the wayside of speculation, Johnson said, “I

don’t think that at all, actually. These are important studies but I don’t think they get to the root of what’s causing Colony Collapse Disorder. Even if you banned all of these pesticides I don’t think you would see a major improvement in the health of honeybees in this country. It’s still the varroa mites, a formidable parasite of honeybees, and the viruses and the other pathogens are still major players. They have banned so many of these pesticides in Germany and France and they still have problems with all these other bee problems that we have here as well.”

So what does the future hold for bee research in Ohio? “I was hired by Ohio State to ‘reclaim the Rothenbuhler Legacy,’” says Johnson, “which is what the job advertisement was seeking.”

Dr. Walter Rothenbuhler was a bee researcher at Ohio State and a “giant in the world of bee research. He was an exceptional scientist because his work was not only scientifically important but of practical use to beekeepers as well. He was the first to show that behavior in animals can have a genetic basis, a monumental finding when it was published in 1964. That work happened to be on the inheritance of hygienic behavior in bees — a topic that has grown substantially in importance since the 1960’s. Living up to the Rothenbuhler Legacy, I intend to pursue research that is both scientifically and practically important. My work is honey bee toxicology, which is of practical importance given the pesticides that bees encounter both out in the landscape and inside the hive. Rothenbuhler worked with the beekeepers doing research that was effective at so many levels, just groundbreaking basic research. And he was still working with the beekeepers to solve everyday beekeeping problems. The range of his research was simply impressive, something I can aspire to.”

Ever mindful of the pesticide dichotomies, Dave Shetlar says that “Neonicotinoids are worthless on caterpillars, but this one is great on caterpillars.

And we can apply it any time from the first week of April and get season-long billbug, white grub and caterpillar control.” Although the product was initially much more expensive than the alternatives, the price is coming down, he added.

by Dr. David Biddinger, Penn State Fruit Research and Extension Center Entomologist A possible link between neonicotinoids and honey bee die-offs has led to controversy across the United States and Europe.

Beekeepers and environmentalists have expressed growing concern about the impact of neonicotinoids, concern based on the fact that neonicotinoids are absorbed into plant tissue and can be present in pollen and nectar, making them toxic to pollinators.

In response to requests from

growers for an update on the issue regarding bee colony decline and possible connections to neonicotinoid use, I have summarized a recent white paper I co-authored with the Xerces Society.

Major Findings Several of these insecticides are highly toxic to honey bees and bumblebees.

Neonicotinoid residues are found in pollen and nectar consumed by pollinators such as bees and butterflies. The residues can reach lethal concentrations in some situations.

Neonicotinoids can persist in soil for months or years after a single application. Measurable amounts of residues were found in woody plants up to six years after application, but so far, only with nonfoliar applications at much higher rates than normally used in orchards.

Untreated plants may absorb chemical residues left over in the soil from the previous year.

Products approved for homeowners to use in gardens, lawns and on ornamental trees have manufacturer-recommended application

rates up to 120 times higher than rates approved for agricultural crops.

There is no direct link demonstrated between neonicotinoids and the honey bee syndrome known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). However, recent research suggests that neonicotinoids may make honey bees more susceptible to parasites and pathogens, including the intestinal parasite Nosema, which has been implicated as one causative factor in CCD.

May 2012 • COUNTRY FOLKS GROWER MIDWEST • Page 3

New report out on impact of nicotinoids on honey bees

Marketing to schools and institutions

by Bill Rose Does it sound intimidating to sell produce to schools and institutions?

Well, it does not have to be, according to David Conner, assistant professor with the Department of Community Development and Applied Economics at the University of Vermont in Burlington.

Schools, institutions and hospitals can provide significant opportunities for diversification and risk management for fruit and vegetable growers.

Says Conner, “Institutions tend to really be very stable markets. They buy pretty much the same amount of things in the fairly large amounts, and many farmers find they're really a great outlet for their number two produce-not quite cosmetically ideal stuff.” This is because much of the produce used by institutions gets sliced and diced and processed in-house. Farmers should also realize that schools provide more potential sales than just school

meals. Once you are an established vendor at a school, there may be opportunities to sell produce at fundraisers, and at concession stands. You may also be able to use the schools for CSA networking, or to sell directly to school staff and parents. Be creative!

According to Conner, you can recruit schools and institutions as produce customers if you understand their special policies and requirements. For instance, there can be a lot of paperwork involved with institutional sales.

Also, many schools want delivery to more than one location, which can really drive up delivery costs. Schools can be slow to pay-often 30 days or more. And even though they will pay a fair price, they usually will not pay top dollar due to budget and funding constraints. Conner points out that schools typically get less than $3 in funding per student meal. Of that, only about a dollar is the actual food cost, and of that, only about 10 or 20 cents

Cover photo by Harvest Moon Flower Farm Linda Chapman successfully grows primarily flowers, along with specialty vegetables, culinary herbs and microgreens for local restaurants.

Country Folks The Monthly Newspaper for Greenhouses, Nurseries, Fruit & Vegetable Growers (518) 673-3237 • Fax # (518) 673-2381 (ISSN # 1065-1756) U.S.P.S. 008885 Country Folks Grower is published monthly by Lee Publications, P.O. Box 121, 6113 St. Hwy. 5, Palatine Bridge, NY 13428.

Periodical postage paid at Palatine Bridge, NY 13428.

Subscription Price: $22. per year. Canada $55 per year.

POSTMASTER: Send address change to Country Folks Grower, P.O. Box 121, Subscription Dept., Palatine Bridge, NY 13428-0121.

Publisher, President..................................Frederick W. Lee V.P., General Manager ....................Bruce Button, 518-673-0104 ....................bbutton@leepub.com V.P., Production ................................Mark W. Lee, 518-673-0132 .........................mlee@leepub.com Comptroller .....................................Robert Moyer, 518-673-0148 ....................bmoyer@leepub.com Production Coordinator ................Jessica Mackay, 518-673-0137 ..................jmackay@leepub.com Editor ...........................................Joan Kark-Wren, 518-673-0141 ...............jkarkwren@leepub.com Page Composition .........................Allison Swartz, 518-673-0139 ....................aswartz@leepub.com Classified Ad Manager ...................Peggy Patrei, 518-673-0111 ...................classified@leepub.com Shop Foreman ..........................................Harry DeLong

Page 4 • COUNTRY FOLKS GROWER MIDWEST • May 2012

Palatine Bridge, Front desk ................................ ....................................518-673-0160 Accounting/Billing Office ...............518-673-0149 .....................amoyer@leepub.com Subscriptions ..................................888-596-5329 ..........subscriptions@leepub.com Web Site:................................................................ .............................www.leepub.com Send all correspondence to: PO Box 121, Palatine Bridge, NY 13428 Fax (518) 673-2699 Editorial email: jkarkwren@leepub.com Advertising email: jmackay@leepub.com

AD SALES REPRESENTATIVES Bruce Button, Ad Sales Mgr . . . . . . . bbutton@leepub.com . . . . . . . . . . .800-218-5586, ext. 104 Dan Wren, Grower Sales Mgr . . . . . . . .dwren@leepub.com . . . . . . . . . . . 800-218-5586, ext. 117 Jan Andrews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . jandrews@leepub.com . . . . . . . . . . . 800-218-5586, ext. 110 Dave Dornburgh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .ddornburgh@leepub.com. . . . . . . . . . 800-218-5586, ext. 109 Laura Clary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . lclary@leepub.com . . . . . . . . . . . . .800-218-5586, ext. 118 Steve Heiser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sheiser@leepub.com . . . . . . . . . . . 800-218-5586, ext. 107 Tina Krieger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . tkrieger@leepub.com . . . . . . . . . . . 800-218-5586, ext. 108 Ian Hitchener . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .ihitchener@leepub.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 802-222-5726 Kegley Baumgardner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . kegleyb@va.net . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 540-255-9112 Wanda Luck / North Carolina . . . . . . . . . .luck@triad.rr.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336-416-6198 (cell) Mark Sheldon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . marksh500@yahoo.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 814-587-2519 Sue Thomas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .suethomas@nycap.rr.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 949-305-7447

Lee Publications 6113 State Hwy. 5, PO Box 121, Palatine Bridge, NY 13428 We cannot GUARANTEE the return of photographs. Publisher not responsible for typographical errors. Size, style of type and locations of advertisements are left to the discretion of the publisher. The opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher. We will not knowingly accept or publish advertising which is fraudulent or misleading in nature. The publisher reserves the sole right to edit, revise or reject any and all advertising with or without cause being assigned which in his judgement is unwholesome or contrary to the interest of this publication. We assume no financial responsibility for typographical errors in advertisement, but if at fault, will reprint that portion of the ad in which the error appears.

“The idea of farm to institution and farm to school is increasing the sales and consumption of locally grown foods and vegetables at a variety of institutions, schools, universities and hospitals.” ~ David Conner goes toward the fruit and vegetable component of each serving.

Questions to ask yourself about marketing to schools and institutions: Do you have adequate liability insurance?

Many institutions require at least a million dollar liability policy. Do you have third party food safety certification? Many schools don't require it-yet, but the demands for such certification from institutions will only increase, given current trends. Are you willing to show up in person at the school for educational events to put a “face” on farming? If you are willing, this can be a great way of promoting your farm and your brand in the community. Are you willing to host field trips to your farm?

If you are considering taking the plunge into institutional produce sales, a good source of ideas is the 47-page Michigan Farm to School (MIFTS) marketing guide from the University of Michigan. It is available as a free downloadable pdf file at www.mifarmtoschool.msu.edu. In it, you will find a host of helpful resources, such as a farmer self-assessment for school sales, samples of product availability, pricing and bid questionnaires, and an example of a questionnaire that schools use to screen vendors. On such a questionnaire, they might ask you to fill in a product availability chart, including information such as variety,

New report

count, how it's packed, condition, price, quantity, delivery details, and when the product is available. The questionnaire might ask if you are willing to deliver to more than one location, how much liability insurance you have, whether you expect to be paid at the end of the month or for each delivery, whether you are willing to go to the school and meet with the students, or to host field trips.

For those who want to investigate further, another helpful resource is the National Farm to School Network, whose website is at www.farmtoschool.org/states.php. This website has links to farm-to-school contacts in all 50 states and 8 regional lead agencies. Of these regional agencies, the mid-Atlantic farm-to-school leader is the Food Trust, based in Philadelphia.

According to Conner, “The idea of farm to institution and farm to school is increasing the sales and consumption of locally grown foods and vegetables at a variety of institutions, schools, universities and hospitals.

What really excites me about this and why have spent a lot of time on it is, it can really help address the big lingering problems in our food system.” Chief among these is the under-consumption of food, fruits and vegetables, which leads to much diet related illness.

Continued from A3

Many neonicotinoid pesticides that are sold to homeowners for use on lawns and gardens do not have any mention of the risks of these products to bees, and the label guidance for products used in agriculture is not always clear or consistent.

Additional Comments Note that most of these studies were done on honey bees and most from seed treating crops that are not bee pollinated. As expected, neonicotinoids as insecticides can kill bees, but not all are the same, with Assail and Calypso being safer. We have a study we are submitting soon showing significant synergism of neonicotinoids on bees when they are tank mixed with SI fungicides like Nova that can complicate the situation in fruit. Most of the problems are centered around the seed treatments, injections and homeowner uses at rates much higher than allowed in orchards.

For tree fruit, I would summarize by

cautioning never to use clothianidin or thiamethoxam (Actara) prebloom, or post-bloom until all the blossoms are gone. Eighty percent petal fall still means 20 percent bloom and, for growers relying on wild bees, this can really wipe them out. Pre-bloom, I would only recommend Assail or Calypso at pink and early pink, if possible. Clothianidin is a more toxic breakdown product of thiamethoxam.

Never use Assail at bloom, even though it is legal. Synergism with Nova can make it 15 times more toxic than when it is used by itself. One other lab study shows up to 1,000 times synergism of Calypso with an SI fungicide tank-mixed. Other fungicides do not appear to synergize, although mancozeb and captan to a lesser extent can be toxic to wild bee larvae that feed on the pollen. Imidacloprid can only be used post-bloom, but that means when all petals are off.

Source: Penn State Extension

Voice of the customer

by Melissa Piper Nelson Customer feedback stands as one of the most important business tools. Known in marketing strategies as the voice of the customer, feedback uncovers problems, generates new ideas and helps meet production objectives. Businesses that fail to utilize the power of feedback may produce a product or service, but never fully connect with their target audiences.

Before the Internet and social media opened new lines of communication between buyers and sellers, obtaining good customer feedback represented a more complex

and costly system of market research tactics, such as hiring third party analyses organizations to develop surveys, focus groups and point of sale interviews.

Today, even small businesses are able to tap into new feedback mechanisms like online quick survey sites, information exchange services and informal response accounts that pinpoint rapid-fire customer feedback. While these more immediate feedback centers may not produce the formal results gleaned through more scientific research methods, they do offer a window into customer likes, dislikes and

trends.

Most businesses understand the importance of finding out what their customers like about a product, or what must be done to meet customer needs.

Using advertising responses, online survey systems, in-store interviewing services, couponing, and other feedback mechanisms are also almost universal as well. The real question for many businesses is what to do with the information once you have gathered it?

Using customer feedback represents a potential trapping point unless a business has already planned the

Today’s Marketing Objectives By: Melissa Piper Nelson Farm News Service News and views on agricultural marketing techniques. next steps. Depending on the information gleaned, would your business be ready to retool if necessary, change packaging, include more user-information, extend a growing season, add more labor, change hours of operation, or develop new marketing incentives?

An owner or manager should plan for these types of changes, depending on the voice of the customer and what he or she says about the product. Another issue is how quickly a business is able to respond to necessary changes and how that will be communicated with customers.

National pizza chain stores are producing commercials on a daily basis talking about how they are responding to customer feedback — better pizza crusts, more cheese, better toppings, shortened delivery times and online ordering and tracking.

Just a month ago, a major national department store advertised its new logo and strategy to lower prices daily

instead of competing with other stores which feature weekly specially themed sales.

As consumers we recognize these changes as businesses responding to customer feedback in a very competitive environment. We could order pizza or shop at any number of department stores, but we gravitate to those operations that seem genuinely interested in what we have to say about their product or way of doing business. If our feedback was not important to them, they would continue to operate as they think works best for them. Profitable businesses, however, know that customer response dictates the playing field.

Agricultural-based businesses are competing with other food, fiber and service stores that do listen and respond to the voice of the customer. While we may have produced the same product for generations and sold it the

same way as our parents and grandparents, owner -operators see customers trending to the new and rapidly changing way in which they make decisions about purchases.

With many new and easier ways to get customer feedback, businesses are able to use this information to make changes along the way that keep them competitive and able to either adjust to target audiences, or seek new customer bases in their communities.

Making sure you are gathering feedback, deciding how best to use the information and responding in a meaningful way, signals to your customers that you value their opinions and feedback and that their voice is important to you as a producer.

The above information is intended for educational purposes and should not be substituted for professional business and legal counseling.

Joe Lamp’l announced as OFA Short Course keynote speaker perspective that challenges product relevance, marketing messages, and if we are even using the right vehicles.

With his eyes and ears on today’s home gardener, Lamp’l helps homeowners succeed with a wide variety of home garden projects. You can see and hear Joe on “Fresh from the Garden” on DIY Network, “GardenSMART” on PBS, and his latest series, “Growing a Greener World,” also on public television. Joe also shares his knowhow on NBC’s “TODAY SHOW” and ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

Ball Horticultural Company is sponsoring Lamp’l’s participation.

May 2012 • COUNTRY FOLKS GROWER MIDWEST • Page 5

How to find and influence today’s consumer will be the focus of the keynote presentation that TV personality Joe Lamp’l will give during this summer’s OFA Short Course, horticulture’s premier convention and marketplace.

Joe’s presentation, “Can You Hear Me Now? Voices from Beyond the Greenhouse,” will be on Sunday, July 15 at 8 a.m.

Lamp’l, aka joe gardener®, will share strategies to reach today’s consumers and what to say when you do. Joe will take a look at the products and services we sell, and offer a valuable consumer

Health care — what’s going on, what’s next?

by Craig Regelbrugge The United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments the week of March 26 in the cases challenging the constitutionality of aspects of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).

There were six hours of presentations over three days. While the Court traditionally takes a break over the summer months, and a decision is possible in late June, there is no guarantee the justices will issue their opinion then. The Court is considering a series of constitutional questions: • Whether Congress

had the power under Article I of the Constitution to enact the minimum coverage provision.

• Whether the suit brought by respondents to challenge the minimum coverage provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is barred by the Anti-Injunction Act. • Does Congress exceed its enumerated powers and violate basic principles of federalism when it coerces states into accepting conditions that it could not impose directly by threatening to withhold all federal funding under the single largest

grant-in-aid program, or does the limitation on Congress’s spending power that this Court recognized in South Dakota v. Dole, 483 U.S. 203 (1987), no longer apply?

• May Congress treat states no differently from any other employer when imposing mandates as to the manner in which they provide their own employees with insurance coverage, as suggested by Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority, 469 U.S. 528 (1985), or has Garcia’s approach been overtaken by subsequent cases in which this Court has

WNA awards scholarship to UW horticulture student The Wisconsin Nursery Association awards an annual scholarship of $1,000 to a UW-Madison student who is pursuing a degree in the field of horticulture.

This year’s recipient is sophomore Taylor Schaub from Whitewater, WI. She is active in the UW Horticulture Society, serving as treasurer this year, and also enjoys hockey.

Taylor spent last summer as a horticulture intern at the Olbrich Botanical Gardens, and currently takes care of the indoor plantings at Union South on campus in addition to her school work. Taylor’s goal is to work in plant propagation.

Page 6 • COUNTRY FOLKS GROWER MIDWEST • May 2012

No more hoeing!

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explicitly recognized judicially enforceable limits on Congress’s power to interfere with state sovereignty.

• Does the PPACA’s mandate that virtually every individual obtain health insurance exceed Congress’s enumerated powers and, if so, to what extent, if any, can the mandate be severed from the remainder of the Act? • Whether the PPACA must be invalidated in its entirety because it is non-severable from the individual mandate that exceeds Congress’ limited and enumerated powers under the Constitution.

• With respect to the Anti-Injunction Act

(AIA), it was passed in 1867.

It currently states: “No suit for the purpose of restraining the assessment or collection of any tax shall be maintained in any court by any person, whether or not such person is the person against whom such tax was assessed.” What this means is that you have to wait until a tax is paid and then file suit for a refund or to stop enforcement. If the penalties in PPACA are “taxes,” then the Supreme Court could opt to “kick the can down the road” since the penalties do not begin until 2014 and the first penalties would actually be paid in 2015.

• Of the questions before the Court, perhaps the most interesting from the small business community’s perspective is, if the individual mandate is found to be unconstitutional, does the rest of PPACA have to be invalidated because the rest of it depends on the individual mandate?

If the Supreme Court rules the individual mandate is unconstitutional, but also decides it is severable, the employer mandates would stand.

This summary was produced by the American Nursery & Landscape Association in collaboration with the Small Business Legislative Council.

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Loan prospects widen during Congressional Action Days The Society of American Florists push for more access to capital for floral industry and other microbusinesses made a big stride March 20 when Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-OR) announced he will sponsor a bill that would allow credit unions to extend more loans to companies with fewer than 20 fulltime employees.

During a breakfast at SAF’s Congressional Action Days, just before

attendees left for their appointments with legislators, Schrader shared the news of his support for the bill, soon to be introduced in the House.

The bill would exempt certain brick-and-mortar “Main Street” businesses from the cap in current law that limits credit unions to loaning a maximum of 12.5 percent of their total assets to commercial members.

Schrader, a fruit and

Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-OR) planned to introduce legislation to exempt very small businesses from the credit union lending cap, easing their access to capital.

vegetable farmer and veterinarian before he was elected to Congress and joined the House Small Business and Agriculture committees, told CAD attendees he identifies with the risks small businesses take.

“When you go to your banker, or talk to folks here in Washington, D.C., you might as well be from Mars in some cases,” Schrader said.

“You’re always the last person, right, on the payroll to get paid?”

The bill, still being finalized, is called the “Restore Main Street’s Credit Act.” It differs from legislation already introduced in the House and Senate, HR 1418 and S 509, the “Small Business Lending Enhancement Act,” which would raise the cap from 12.25 percent of assets to 27.5 percent for credit unions that meet safety and soundness criteria.

Schrader co-sponsors

HR 1418.

Schrader described the Restore Main Street’s Credit Act to CAD attendees as “thoughtful,” “straightforward” and “simple,” adding jokingly that it is “something that Congress people don’t have to think a whole lot about.”

Oregon retailer Doug Fick, of Broadway Floral Home and Garden in Portland, can vouch for that. He and the rest of the Oregon delegation didn’t have to make much of a pitch for the bill when they presented it to legislative aide John O’Neill in Sen. Ron Wyden’s (D-OR) office. “He read through it and said, ‘What’s the catch? Why hadn’t we thought of this before?’”

Fick said. By the time the Oregon group made it to their meeting in Schrader’s office, O’Neill had called Schrader’s deputy chief of staff to verify the simplicity of the legislation. Fick said O’Neill was receptive to its intent.

Schrader acknowledged that bills from the minority party, currently Democrats, often don’t get beyond the introduction phase, but said the Restore Main Street’s Credit Act “might just be some-

thing that (Congress) can pass.” He pointed out that another bill he sponsors (HR 4121, the “Early Stage Small Business Contracting Act”) recently emerged from the House Small Business Committee with bipartisan support.

SAF Senior Director of Government Relations Corey Connors said exempting microbusinesses from the cap, instead of increasing the cap — which the banking industry opposes — might have greater chances of becoming law. Schrader echoed that sentiment, saying that exempting “really small businesses from any lending cap” is an approach that won’t “scare our bank friends.”

“Huge conglomerates unfortunately drive a lot of what’s happening on Main Street — or not, as the case may be,” Schrader told CAD attendees.

Neither HR 1418 nor S 509 would guarantee credit unions would increase loans to microbusinesses, Connors said. Schrader’s proposal, on the other hand, would direct the National Credit Union Administration to issue guidelines recommending what percentage of

May 2012 • COUNTRY FOLKS GROWER MIDWEST • Page 7

a credit union’s loan portfolio should be made up of microbusiness loans.

SAF took the issue to Capitol Hill through the National Main Street Business Coalition it formed in December, which represents more than 150,000 businesses belonging to the National Association of Convenience Stores, Retail Bakers of America, North American Retail Dealers Association, American Specialty Toy Retailing Association and National Newspaper Association.

Connors told CAD attendees that independent businesses of their size have not been directly helped by previous attempts to address the problem, such as the “Troubled Asset Relief Program,” and the “Small Business Lending Fund.”

“We sustain local tax bases,” Connors said.

“We contribute to the economy in different ways,” yet cash flow is a challenge due to the sales peaks and valleys of the floral industry, so florists need access to capital.

“A lack of available credit risks stalling a nascent economic recovery,” Schrader said in a letter to other potential co-sponsors.

Unlike medium and large businesses, which have begun to get loans, small businesses are “still suffering,” Schrader said. Banks often aren’t interested in loaning relatively small amounts to very small companies, he said, but credit unions are “excited” about doing business with them.

If retail florists, growers and wholesalers aren’t already credit union members, it’s likely they could fairly easily join one, Connors said.

The act “looks like a modest change,” Schrader told CAD attendees, yet “it could make a huge difference for you. It could open up another avenue for you to make sure you can get all the opportunities you can to have access to credit.”

Page 8 • COUNTRY FOLKS GROWER MIDWEST • May 2012

NAFDMA convention highlights Celebrate Excellence awards North American Farmers’ Direct Marketing Association (NAFDMA) has announced the winners of its 2012 Celebrate Excellence contests. The contests, held in conjunction with the annual convention, invite members of the association to submit examples of their marketing and innovative practices in various categories.

Member farms and businesses submitted items to be selected as the best in each of 10 different categories. The convention attendees were given the opportunity to review the submissions and cast a vote for the best entry. The secret ballot votes were then tabulated to determine the winners. The winners were announced during the annual Celebrate Excellence Luncheon held on Feb. 16. The luncheon was co-hosted by Anna L yles of Mesilla Valley Maze, Las Cruces, NM, chairwoman of the NAFDMA Membership Participation Team and Becky Walters of Walters’ Pumpkin Patch, Burns, KS. Walters is a member of the Membership Participation Team and the Celebrate Excellence Contest coordinator.

“NAFDMA brings out the best in each of us, and the Celebrate Excellence Contests prove that to be true,” Walters said. “The learning that we each gain from seeing what other farms are doing is top notch” The 2012 winners are: • Best Website: Breckland Orchard of Watton, Norfolk, UK; • Best Radio Jingle and Tag Line: Swank Farm Produce of Hollister, CA; • Best TV Commercial or YouTube Video: Tweite’s Pumpkin Patch of Byron, MN; • Best Maze Design: Coolspring Corn Maze of Mercer, PA; • Best Brochure or Specialty Literature: Patterson Farm Market of Mount Ulla, NC; • Best New Event: Barnyard Church at Carolyn’s Country Cousins of Liberty, MO; • Best New Attraction: Carroll’s Corn Crib at Walters’ Pumpkin Patch of Burns, KS; • Best Employee Ap-

preciation: Carolyn’s Country Cousins of Liberty, MO; • Best Something from Nothing Idea: Tweite’s Pumpkin Patch of Byron, MN; and • Best Vendor: Maize Quest of New Park, PA. The top honor for

“2012 Best of Show” went to Tweite’s Pumpkin Patch of Byron, MN. Tom Tweite and his daughter, Maggie, accepted the award that rewards participation and consistency in excellence. Every year, the contest entries from one

farm stand out for making the biggest impact of participation, education and innovation. As the top winner in two categories and runner up honors in several others, Tweite’s Pumpkin Patch submitted many quality examples to this

year’s contests.

The Celebrate Excellence contest categories change over time to include timely trends in general marketing as well as farm direct marketing and agritourism events. The Celebrate Excellence Program is

based on three NAFDMA objectives to stimulate learning, celebrate excellence, and advance best practices. More details about the contests, including the honorable mention winners in each category can be found at www.nafdma.com.

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MSU study: Food and agriculture contributions to Michigan economy top $91 billion EAST LANSING, MI — Michigan’s food and agriculture business sector has emerged from the recession with flying colors. An updated Michigan State University (MSU) study on the impact of the food and agriculture supply chain shows the industry contributes an estimated $91.4 billion to Michigan’s economy. That’s an increase of nearly 50 percent between 2004 and 2010.

Chris Peterson, director of the MSU Product Center, announced the findings from “The Economic Impact of Michigan’s Food and Agriculture System” during a Michigan Agriculture and Rural Development Commission meeting April 11 in Lansing. The study is based predominately on 2010 data — the latest available.

Though the largest dollar growth came from the wholesale and retail distribution portion of the supply chain, the largest percentage of growth came from farming. The farming line encompasses food, energy and horticultural crops, as well as animal production and turf production.

“The impact of Michigan’s farms and the commodities they produce is 12 percent of the overall total, and their economic contribution has nearly doubled from less than $7 billion to more than $13 billion,” Peterson said. “You’d be hard-pressed to find another busi-

ness sector that has pulled through the recession with those kinds of numbers in just six years.”

Peterson attributes the growth to a substantial increase in the value of food and agricultural products throughout the world.

“The global population increase and the dramatic expansion of the middle class worldwide mean that more people are consuming more food and, at the same time, pushes the food price higher,” he explained.

Keith Creagh, director, Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) says Michigan’s food and agriculture industry remains core to the state’s economic recovery and reinvention.

“As a $91.4 billion industry, it would rank 47th if it were on the list of Fortune 500 companies. Thanks to Michigan’s crop diversity — coupled with our fresh water access and business innovation — this study further highlights that food and agriculture will be centric to Michigan’s economic reinvention and lay the foundation for regional economies,” Creagh said. “From having an educated talent bank to cultivating a fair regulatory platform, Michigan has worked hard to create an environment where businesses have an opportunity to grow.”

According to the report, Michigan

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value to $71.3 billion. The newest study shows that the food and agriculture system is on a consistent growth trend.

That’s a surprise to Bill Knudson, product marketing economist with the MSU Product Center and the study’s lead technician.

“Unlike manufactured goods and tourism, food is a necessity, so we knew this sector had the potential to fare better than other industries in an economic downturn,” he said.

“But even we were surprised to see the size of the increase, despite the global recession.”

The full report and an executive summary are available at www.productcenter.msu.edu.

The MSU Product Center provides coordinated, university-wide assistance to help Michigan entrepreneurs develop and commercialize high-value, consumer–responsive products and businesses in the agriculture, food, natural resources and bioeconomy sectors. For more information, visit www.productcenter.msu.edu or call 517-432-8750.

Everbearing strawberry guide available online Publication available online: season-long strawberry production with everbearers The primary purpose of this 70page guide is to provide the opportunity for growers in the eastern United States to grow everbearing strawberries profitably.

Information gained from research trials are shared with growers in addition to the observations and experiences of the guide’s authors and other significant contributors.

Authors are Willie Lantz, Harry Swartz and Sherry Frick from the University of Maryland, and Kathy Demchak from Penn State University. The guide can be downloaded and from the SARE website. This publication was made possible with funds from SARE Project LNE06-241 “An integrated approach to developing a day neutral strawberry production industry.”

To download the guide, visit www.nesare.org, and enter ‘Strawberry guide’ in the search area.

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has more than 73,000 full-time farmers and farm workers. That’s 12 percent of 618,000 direct jobs in Michigan’s food and agriculture business sector. Food and agriculture account for 22 percent of all jobs in Michigan when direct, indirect and induced jobs are considered.

The total jobs line showed a downturn overall from 2004 to 2010 with most job losses coming from food wholesale and retail. Jobs in food processing and agricultural production rose more than 6 percent in the same time period.

“It’s not surprising that there were job losses in the service sector,” Peterson said. “Fewer people are eating out, which leads to fewer waitstaff, cooks, restaurant hosts, etc. However, we’re seeing the numbers of new jobs created in food processing plants and on farm continue to increase.”

The study was first conducted in 2006 using 2004 data. Then, the food and agriculture sector was determined to be valued at $60.1 billion. An interim study in 2009 showed an increase in

New cherry tree highlights 100th anniversary of Japanese gift

Page 10 • COUNTRY FOLKS GROWER MIDWEST • May 2012

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has released a new cherry tree variety named for former First Lady Helen Taft to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Japanese gift of cherry trees that now are a celebrated landmark of the nation’s capital.

Helen Herron Taft and Viscountess Iwa Chinda, wife of the Japanese ambassador, planted the first two of the cherry trees at the Tidal Basin in a ceremony on March 27, 1912.

The “Helen Taft” variety is part of a series of flowering cherry tree varieties being developed by the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington and named in honor of first ladies.

The new variety was created by crossing a Yoshino cherry (Prunus yedoensis) with a Taiwan cherry tree (Prunus campanulata).

The Yoshino parent, currently growing at the arboretum, is a clone of a tree originally planted

by Chinda.

The arboretum is part of the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), USDA’s principal intramural scientific research agency.

Growing to as much as 35 feet tall and 35 feet wide over 30 years, “Helen Taft” has large,

pale pink single flowers that turn darker in the center as the flowers mature. While most Yoshino flowering trees’ blossoms are white or fade to white, the “Helen Taft” flowers retain their pink color.

“Helen Taft is an invaluable addition to the cadre of ornamental cherry trees,” said U.S. National Arboretum Director Colien Hefferan.

“Unfortunately, cherry trees have a narrow genetic base, especially in this country. That can make them vulnerable to attack by a single insect, disease or environmental stress.”

Ornamental cherry trees have a beauty and range of sizes and habits that serve urban gardeners well. Superior urban trees help provide energy savings, cleaner air, better storm water management, and higher property values for home owners.

Landscape plants, including ornamental trees, are a $14.3 billion-a-year industry in the United States.

“That’s what makes the arboretum’s research — expanding the genetic base by creating hybrids with species not often grown here — so important,” said geneticist Margaret Pooler, who runs the cherry tree breeding program at the U.S. National Ar-

boretum.

“Stronger, well-adapted cherries also require less fertilizer and pesticides, making them even more functional in the landscape. The arboretum fulfills an important role with its long-term breeding program to improve ornamental cherry trees.”

With 76 different varieties, the U.S. National Arboretum is home to the Washington area’s most diverse array of ornamental cherry trees.

The U.S. National Arboretum has also helped preserve the genetic lineage of the surviving Yoshino cherry trees from the original 1912 gift by propagating 500 trees from them. The new trees were presented to the National Park Service in 1999.

“Helen Taft” is the second variety in the First Lady series. The initial, a 25-foot-tall, upright tree with dark pink, single, semi-pendulous flowers, was released in 2003 and is named “First Lady.”

Historical materials documenting Japan’s gift of cherry trees to the city of Washington, D.C., are available in the Special Collections of the National Agricultural Library and online at http://riley.nal.usda.go v/cherrytrees.html.

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Helen Taft, a new flowering cherry tree, is being released by ARS to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Japanese gift of cherry blossoms to the country.

May 2012 • COUNTRY FOLKS GROWER MIDWEST • Page 11

Page 12 • COUNTRY FOLKS GROWER MIDWEST • May 2012

WNA 2012 Winter Workshop covers NR 40 and more The Green industry is faced with lots of issues right now, and one of the biggest concerns to growers is the impact of NR 40, Wisconsin's Invasive Species Identification, Classification and Control Rule.

Luckily, George Radtke of W & E Radtke Inc. and Mike Yanny of Johnson’s Nursery, both WNA member companies, sit on the Species Assessment Group (SAG) committee. Their Winter Workshop presentation provided attendees with the latest information on the rule from their unique standpoints, and the plants being reviewed.

Dave Wanninger, the Horticulturist in Charge at Boerner Botanical Gardens, was on hand to talk about his favorite woody ornamentals.

He spoke about several hybrid elm trees, including New Horizon and Patriot, that are more resistant to insects and DED. He also spoke glowingly of a number of pines that are not bothered by diseases and pests that ravage other pines.

Included on this list were Swiss Stone and Korean Pine, among others. And, Wanninger spoke about Intersectional Hybrid Peonies as a favorite. However, no matter which ornamental one chooses, Wanninger encourages all to plant lots of different cultivars and keep our urban forests diverse.

Social media was given a thorough review by Shane Fell, vice president of Business Development for Top Floor Technologies. He has helped many companies successfully plan their online marketing initiatives — advising them in the areas of Web site usability and design, search engine marketing, conversion strategies, and ROI measurement as well as in the use of social media. Shane described the importance of social media for small businesses, marketing opportunities, and talked about several applications that one can use

to manage their social profile.

Dr. Chris Williamson’s presentation provided the audience with an update on five especially bothersome insects that can be a nuisance in the nursery, including Japanese beetles and gypsy moths, in addition to some strategies to control the problem.

Wanninger returned to the podium for an analysis of the candidates for the Plant of the Year election. Afterward, all attendees were invited to vote for their favorite Woody Ornamental and Perennial to receive Plant of the Year status. The ballots were counted and the winners were announced: Spiraea betulifolia ‘Tor (Tor birchleaf spirea) and Echinacea ‘CBG Cone 2’ (Pixie Meadowbrite™) will be the Plants of the Year for 2014, giving growers a chance to establish their supply over the next two years.

WNA held its general membership meeting during the lunch break, with a review by President Scott Johnson of the financial and membership figures and the activities of WNA. He also spoke about the recently completed survey that was partially fund-

ed by WNA and how it is being used to inform the decisions being made regarding NR 40.

The upcoming Summer Field Day & Trade Show, set for Aug. 9 hosted by Wayside Nurseries in Mequon was announced, along with WNA sponsored scholarship awards, legislation critical to the Green industry, and the importance of membership in WNA. Since several board officers’ and members’ terms were expiring, a slate of officers and directors was nominated by the board. The general membership elected the following officers to serve WNA for their first one-year terms: President Dan Krueger Jr. of Northwoods Nursery, Vice President Jason Jacobs of Northern Christmas Trees, and Secretary/T reasurer Tom Bergan of McKay Nursery Company.

Scott Johnson moved to the position of past president. Liesl Thomas of W & E Radtke and Jeff Edgar of Silver Creek Nurseries were both elected to the WNA Board of Directors to serve three-year terms.

Erin Maurer of Lied’s Nursery, stepped down from the board this year, but will continue to volunteer on the

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Scott Johnson and Erin Maurer both received awards recognizing their years of service to WNA. It was then time for an examination of diseases in the nursery by Dr. Brian Hudelson, director of the Plant Disease Diagnostics Clinic at UW-Madison. Hudelson gave a comprehensive breakdown of several troublesome diseases, including Hosta

Virus X, Rhizosphaera Needle Cast, Boxwood Dieback, and many others. He spoke about causes, hosts, transmission and control and extended an invitation to contact him at the Clinic for help with identifying plant diseases and their control.

Two new features were inaugurated at the Workshop. First, Board Vice President Jason Jacobs described his workplace Northern

Christmas Trees & Nursery, from his perspective as production manager in the new Nursery Spotlight. Following that, the New Idea/Gadget Spotlight opened the floor to all attendees and their cost saving and labor saving discoveries.

Those who contributed were rewarded with extra raffle tickets. The drawing for the free raffle finished the day’s events.

Attendees listen to a presentation at the Winter Workshop, presented by the Wisconsin Nursery Association.

What’s so special about Pomona’s Universal Pectin?

Submitted by Mary Lou Sumberg, Partner, Workstead Industries Pomona’s is a unique pectin because it jells well with low amounts of any sweetener. With Pomona’s, I’m free to make cooked jam and jelly and freezer jam sweetened to my taste. I usually sweeten with honey or agave or xylitol (or a combination), but other possibilities are sugar, stevia, fruit juice concentrate, or any artificial sweetener.

Pomona’s is different from other pectin because its jelling power is activated by calcium (comes with the Pomona’s), not by sugar content. Regular pectin requires jam or jelly to be 55-85 percent sugar to set firmly.

Pomona’s is also different because it contains no sugar or preservatives - it is 100 percent citrus pectin - and because it allows me to double or triple batches as well as to make small batches. I love Pomona’s because it gives me complete control and allows my jam-making creative juices to flow. To top it all off, Pomona’s is economical - one box makes 2 to 4 batches.

Whether you are a seasoned or a first-

time jam maker, you are likely to fall in love with Pomona’s once you try it, just like I did.

Often strawberries and rhubarb are the first fruits of summer. Together they make a truly tasty, tart and sweet, luscious cooked jam. I enjoy this jam with toast and low-fat cream cheese for breakfast.

Cooked Low-Sugar or Honey Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam This recipe is written to be made with Pomona’s Universal Pectin.

Ingredients 2 cups mashed strawberries 2 cups cooked rhubarb (chop rhubarb, add a little water, cook until soft, measure) 2 Tablespoons lemon juice 1/2 to 1 cup honey or 3/4 up to 2 cups sugar 2 teaspoons calcium water (included in the Pomona’s box) 2 1/2 teaspoons Pomona’s Pectin powder Directions 1. Prepare fruit and measure into saucepan with lemon juice.

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2. Add 2 teaspoons calcium water to the fruit (see Pomona’s directions for making calcium water) and stir well.

3. Measure sugar or cold/room temperature honey into separate bowl.

Thoroughly mix 2 _ teaspoons of pectin powder into sweetener.

4. Bring fruit to a boil. Add pectinsweetener mixture to fruit and stir vigorously 1 to 2 minutes while cooking to dissolve the pectin. Return to boil and remove from heat.

Fill jars and process 10 minutes using the water bath method. Makes about 5 cups. Lasts about 3 weeks once opened.

Another favorite recipe for earlyripening cherries.

Cooked Low-Sugar or Honey Sweet Cherry Jam This recipe is written to be used with Pomona’s Universal Pectin.

Ingredients 4 cups pitted, chopped, and mashed sweet cherries 1/4 cup lemon or lime juice 1/2 to 1 cup honey or 3/4 up to 2 cups sugar 4 teaspoons calcium water (included in the Pomona’s box) 3 teaspoons Pomona’s Pectin powder

Directions 1. Prepare fruit and measure into saucepan with lemon or lime juice.

2. Add 4 teaspoons calcium water to the fruit (see Pomona’s directions for making calcium water) and stir well.

3. Measure sugar or cold/room temperature honey into separate bowl.

Thoroughly mix 3 teaspoons of pectin powder into sweetener.

4. Bring fruit to a boil. Add pectinsweetener mixture to fruit and stir vigorously 1 to 2 minutes while cooking to dissolve the pectin. Return to boil and remove from heat.

Fill jars and process 10 minutes using the water bath method. Makes about 5 cups. Lasts about 3 weeks once opened.

If you have Sour Cherries, you don’t need to add the lemon/lime juice and you only need 2 teaspoons or pectin and 2 teaspoons of calcium water for 4 cups of mashed fruit.

Optional: to soften firm fruit, bring to a boil with _ cup of water, simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

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Food product contest can make a dream come to life It is not very often when one gets a unique chance to take an idea and make it a reality.

However, that very opportunity is here with the start of the 5th Annual Food Product Development Contest. The Center for Innovative Food Technology (CIFT) is sponsoring the contest which showcases local food products ready for actual product development.

Great homemade recipes often remain a staple item enjoyed within close-knit groups of families and friends. Often these cherished foods are passed down generation-to-generation and enjoyed throughout the year. But rarely does an item, such as a mouthwatering salad dressing, tangy barbeque sauce, or delicious cookie, begin mass production for the general public to experience.

Few have the resources to make their creation a reality — until now.

This friendly competition helps encourage and

foster additional business within the region by way of the food industry.

The economic output can be significant considering the number of people employed by a typical food company, the increased income potential realized by a restaurant advancing a “signature item” consumers recognize, and the trained base of resources already available within the region.

“Consumer interest in local food products is at a peak right now,” Rebecca A. Singer, vice president and director of agricultural programs, CIFT. “The entrepreneurial spirit associated with taking a recipe and preparing it for the marketplace can fuel local economic activity. The Food Product Development Contest is perfectly timed to show the depth of many new, innovative food products from the region.”

Contestants will submit a form outlining the basic details of their recipe, and food industry experts will judge each based on the viability of

the product, commercialization potential, business strategy, marketability and overall appeal to the marketplace.

Later, finalists will be invited to the CIFT office to present their business concept and food product to a panel of judges.

The contest winner will receive technical and business development assistance which is essential for the advancement of a product into the marketplace, as well as production of product to be used for consumer feedback.

Following this education, product production will take place at the Northwest Ohio Cooperative Kitchen (NOCK), located at the Agricultural Incubator Foundation in Bowling Green, Ohio. The NOCK is a nonprofit commercial facility that educates and advises new and growing businesses, provides access to a commercially-licensed kitchen, networking opportunities with other similar entities, and technical assistance.

Deadline to submit the

completed application is Friday, May 25, (only one product per applicant). Contact Paula

Ray, small business coordinator, CIFT, at 419535-6000, ext. 117 for more information, or ob-

tain an application form along with rules/regulations at www.ciftinnovation.org.

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Specialty Foods/Value Added Direct Farmers Market annual conference

by William McNutt Of the almost 300 farmers markets in Ohio, nearly a third were represented at the Direct Farmers Market annual conference, held for the first time at the Nationwide and Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center. Increasing attendance over the past few years fostered the move to central campus from the state’s Department of Agriculture headquarters.

The importance of farmers markets was highlighted by kickoff speaker Bernadine Prince of Farmers Market Coalition, a nationally recognized group representing direct farm marketing interests. She pointed out that over $4 billion was spent in the U.S. last year on specialty crops sold at local markets, compared to $33 billion for agronomic field crops. In

the last 20 years, direct farm markets have grown from 2,000 to 7,000 in number.

Most of that growth has come in the eastern part of the country. Prince is cofounder and director of FreshFarm Markets, started in 1997, now operating eight producer -only markets in Washington, D.C., and Maryland, working with 75 farmers operating 6,500 acres in the Chesapeake Bay area.

This eastern trend is primarily due to urban population growth and reduction in the number of farms and acreage planted. The producers who remain began turning to higher value crops sold directly to consumers in order to maintain their income level.

In Ohio, a third of farmers markets provide the only produce sales outlet, while

almost 80 percent of producers are selling less than $10,000, an indication that part-time sales may remain static, with full-time marketers growing larger and assuming a larger market share.

Younger people’s emphasis on improved nutrition through locally grown foods seems made to order for direct farm marketing. Another factor to consider is that $65 billion a year is spent using food stamps, primarily at retail food markets by a population lacking transportation to conventional shopping centers. Direct marketers equipped to handle such sales are moving into those areas, in many cases supplying produce to already existing outlets, such as convenience stores and small

Conference 16

Bernadine Prince is co-founder and co-director of FRESHFARM Markets, a cooperative of eight direct farm markets located in Washington, D.C., and Maryland. The cooperative represents about 75 growers and 6,500 acres of produce.

Photo by William McNutt

May 2012 • COUNTRY FOLKS GROWER MIDWEST • Page 15

Conference from 15 groceries that could not previously store and sell fresh produce.

Ohio State’s South Centers Direct Market Extension Specialist Christie Welch stressed the need to provide training and education to volunteer managers who direct municipal markets, labeling most of them “super volunteers” both overworked and underpaid. As direct marketing of food becomes more prevalent, this is a situation that will have to be addressed when farmers markets begin to offer more competition to supermarket sales.

Local and fresh are terms appealing to younger, more educated people who seek better nutrition and are willing to pay more for the perceived benefits. But all major food chains have moved to counter this by setting up their own in state supply sources.

There are a number of larger Ohio growers that provide in season produce to grocery aisles within two days of harvest and with sufficient

volume to offer lower prices. If there is sufficient community support to bring locally supplied markets and consumers together, under the aegis of that overworked, often volunteer management, success is usually assured.

The argument has been made that farmers markets can benefit local communities as a stimulant for new business by attracting customers and providing access to fresh produce for lower income residents. From the former tailgate sale of sweet corn along the roadside have come more sophisticated sales outlets for growers over the past 40 years.

Locally sourced meats and seafood as well as produce, locally fermented wine from locally grown grapes, ice cream from dairy farmers using their own milk to make specialty sales and bakeries making pies from locally grown fruits.

Sale of these products enables markets to stay open year round. Ohio ranks fifth nationally in

the number of winter markets, according to USDA figures.

Adam Schroeder is president of Farmers Market Management Network, a Columbus, Ohio, based marketing collaborative organized several years ago to assist both large and small direct farm markets. The network has worked with ODA to streamline food handling regulations, resulting in a handbook for Ohio farm marketers. The eventual aim is to develop one set of rules on a statewide basis. Schroeder is also manager of Pearl Market, which operates in downtown Columbus. For two years, an enclosed winter market has successfully extended seasonal sales of produce by relying on high tunnels. Goods such as meats and bakery goods are available, as well as jams and jellies, potatoes, carrots, onions, cabbage, root vegetables and fruits that can be kept fresh through cold storage.

The market has in-

Page 16 • COUNTRY FOLKS GROWER MIDWEST • May 2012

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creased its customer base for the past 15 years, mainly due to baby boomers who are now entering retirement. Last year, 76 million of them turned 65.

They will control more than half of the $700 billion spent on groceries by 2015. A significant sideline is that more than 40 percent of men, young and old, are now cooking at home, double that of 10 years ago. That will expand the opportunity for direct marketing, perhaps through CSAs. Slowly but surely, local food production is making its way into the institutional market of hospitals, retirement centers and, most importantly, schools and universities.

Ohio State’s Executive Chef Mark Newton has requested local Ohio grown produce from his suppliers for the 30,000 meals per day the university serves. Systems for helping make this happen are examined in a new publication from OSU, written by Megan Shoenfelt, titled “Ohio’s

Specialty Crops: A Boost to Food Service Menus.”

OSU and other institutions rely on full service or wholesale distributors who contract with institutions to fulfill food needs. The OSU institutional contractor was told by Newton he wanted specified produce grown with 150 miles of Columbus. But the onus of securing local product falls on the institutional contractor, who is the one growers should be making contact with Growers need to know the level of quality, consistency and their ability to provide the contracted amount in a normal year. Any contract will call for the use of good agricultural practices to assure food safety and should have a disclaimer against abnormal weather or growing conditions that could affect the ability to deliver a specified amount, which would release both farmers and buyers from delivery requirements as originally set.

“Ohio’s Specialty Crops: A Boost to Food

Service Menus” also contains a produce availability chart by months, as well as description of successful produce operations that sell on both a local and wholesale basis. To obtain a copy, e-mail shoenfelt.9@osu.edu.

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Growers Supply announces Hydroponic Workshop featuring the research of Dr. Lynette Morgan DYERSVILLE, IA — Growers Supply, a division of FarmTek, will hold a day-long hydroponics workshop on Wednesday, June 6, at its state-of-the-art Technology Center, 1440 Field of Dreams Way, Dyersville, IA (For GPS use 1440 SW 18th Avenue, Dyersville, IA 52040).

Featuring the research

of Dr. Lynette Morgan, this event will focus on a variety of topics, including an introduction to hydroponics, proper hydroponic plant environment, NFT and salad crops, vine crops, production factors and more.

As a partner at SUNTEC International Hydroponics Consultants, Morgan provides techni-

cal advice to hydroponic growers across the world. She has also written an extensive line of hydroponic guides, which will be available for purchase at the event. Attendees will leave with a wealth of knowledge about running their own hydroponic production from the first-hand experiences of Morgan, as well

as a workbook created by the award-winning doctor herself.

The activities of the day will be hosted by Growers Supply’s greenhouse manager, Sam Shroyer, and attendees will partake in Morgan’s presentation narrated by Shroyer, a tour of their hydroponic greenhouses with hands-on demonstrations and more.

It costs $100 to attend,

which includes lunch and a workbook. Upon completion of the workshop, all attendees will receive a $150 gift certificate to Growers Supply.

For more information, or to find out how to register, visit www.GrowersSupply.com/T echCenter.

Growers Supply was founded in 1979 with the purpose of bringing the highest quality products

at the most competitive prices with exceptional customer service directly to the agricultural, horticultural, building and retail trade communities. Corporate headquarters are located in South Windsor, CT, and its manufacturing and distribution center is in Dyersville, IA. Visit them on the web at www.GrowersSupply.co m.

BioSafe Systems announces new and improved ZeroTol 2.0

Growers Supply’s state-of-the-art Technology Center in Dyersville, IA, will be the location for an all-day hydroponics workshop on June 6.

ZeroTol 2.0 is used to treat and control plant pathogens on ornamental plants and turf.

May 2012 • COUNTRY FOLKS GROWER MIDWEST • Page 17

BioSafe Systems introduces ZeroTol 2.0® Algaecide/Fungicide.

The new labeling provides an updated active ingredient statement, an increased number of controlled pathogens and new labeling instructions for the treatment of artificial turf.

ZeroTol 2.0 is used to treat and control plant pathogens on ornamental plants and turf.

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Expert urges farmers to take lead on food safety

by Rema Rahman, Associated Press DENVER (AP) — A food safety expert told Colorado farmers recently that last year’s deadly listeria outbreak traced to Colorado cantaloupe proved that they cannot rely on third-party inspections to guarantee their produce is safe.

Larry Goodridge, associate professor at the Center for Meat Safety and Quality in the Department of Animal Sciences at Colorado State University, told farmers that they bear primary responsibility for food safety.

“Each farm or processing facility has to be able to assess their own risks,” Goodridge told the governor’s annual forum on Colorado agriculture in Denver. “Everybody who produces food has to be responsible for the safety of the food they produce. You cannot rely on third parties. You just can’t.”

The listeria outbreak traced to Jensen Farms in eastern Colorado last year was blamed for the deaths of 32 people. It infected 146 people in 28 states with one of four strains of the disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Jensen Farms was given a “superior” inspection rating by a third-party auditor just before the outbreak.

Listeria generally is found in processed meats and unpasteurized milk and cheese, though there have been a growing number of outbreaks in produce.

The Food and Drug Administration does not regulate third-party auditors, and a congressional report

Page 18 • COUNTRY FOLKS GROWER MIDWEST • May 2012

Michigan cherry producers OK continuation referendum Michigan’s cherry producers have approved a referendum to continue the Michigan Cherry Promotion and Development Program.

Established in May 1972, the Michigan Cherry Promotion and Development Program was created to improve the economic position of the state’s cherry producers by identifying additional marketing opportunities for Michigan cherries.

It will continue for an additional five years beginning July 1. The current program assessment is $10 per ton for sweet or tart cherries; and $5 per ton for cher-

ries sold for juice.

A total of 130 valid ballots were cast in the referendum. Of those, 114 producers voted yes (88 percent) representing 99,099,704.5 pounds of cherries (91 percent of the production volume represented) and 16 producers voted no (12 percent) r e p r e s e n t i n g 8,887,287.7 pounds (12 percent).

For renewal of the program and its activities, more than 50 percent of the voting producers, representing more than 50 percent of the pounds sold by those voting have to approve it.

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released in January quoted the auditing company that graded Jensen farms as saying audits are not intended to improve food safety standards.

Retailers often rely on such audits in an effort to make sure food is safe, the report said.

A food safety law passed last year would boost federal inspections of growers - but the money to fund it isn’t guaranteed from Congress. Meanwhile, President Barack Obama’s proposed budget would eliminate the Agriculture Department’s Microbiological Data Program, the nation’s only program that regularly tests fruits and vegetables for deadly pathogens.

Goodridge said that growers who hire auditors often are looking for a thorough assessment of how they are running their operations - but that the auditors might instead perform generic walk-throughs.

He urged farmers to focus on sanitary practices such as keeping equipment and storage areas clean.

He also urged them to educate the public on ways to safely handle produce in the same manner as consumers are advised how to safely handle meat.

The new food safety law requires the FDA to improve third-party audits of food facilities abroad that export to the United States, but it does not address domestic audits.

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Irrigation energy efficiency checklist and tips

by Tom Scherer, Extension Engineering, Associate Professor, North Dakota State University and Carl Pederson, Energy Educator, North Dakota State University Agricultural irrigation is an energy intensive operation. Pressurized irrigation systems, especially center pivot sprinkler installations, use a high flow rate pump and require a large electric motor or engine. The major causes of increased energy use are associated with pipeline

leaks, engine and pump efficiency and well maintenance. Poor uniformity of water application can also affect energy use by increasing pumping time. On center pivot systems, the major causes of poor water application uniformity are sprinkler nozzles that are worn or sized wrong, missing sprinkler heads, and leaking boots. Using a consistent method of irrigation scheduling during the growing season can optimize water

application.

Questions to ask • Do you have a good procedure to determine when to irrigate and how much water to apply? Do you use evapotranspiration(ET) based irrigation scheduling? Do you know how to estimate soil moisture by feel and appearance?

• Do the sprinkler nozzles on your center pivot provide a uniform application pattern along the full length?

Have the sprinkler

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• The average life expectancy of a sprinkler head is about seven to 10 years. The diameter of the sprinkler head nozzle is very important for uniform water application; and the nozzle diameter can grow with use, especially if there is sand or grit in the water.

Poor application uniformity increases water pumping time and therefore energy use.

Replace broken sprinkler heads as soon as possible. Do a “can test” to check the uniformity of the application pattern. Repair all leaks on the center pivot as soon as you notice them.

• Buried pipelines rarely leak, unless they were not pumped out before winter. However, above ground pipelines frequently have worn gaskets and up to 30 percent of the water can be lost before it gets to the discharge point. Replace leaking gaskets and plug any holes in the pipeline.

• The drawdown in a well increases if the screen becomes plugged.

Increased drawdown greatly increases pumping costs.

Screens become plugged due to mineral

incrustation or from iron bacteria. Mineral incrustation occurs over time. By measuring the static and pumping water levels each year, the increase in drawdown can be measured and corrective action taken. Iron in the water usually means iron bacteria are present in the well. Annual chlorination will control the iron bacteria.

• Maintain pumps regularly, including proper greasing and filling oil reservoirs every year. Adjust packing glands and adjusting impellers on deep well turbines regularly for efficient pump operation. Replace diesel engines with electric motors — that can have significant cost savings, depending on the price difference.

• Most electric suppliers offer controlled (offpeak) electric rates for irrigation pumping systems. Using off-peak power rates can reduce pumping costs significantly when compared to regular power rates.

However, off-peak rates should not be used with high-value crops like potatoes and onions.

Talk with your electric supplier to determine if off-peak power rates would work for your operation. Typically, offpeak use will require a well capacity of 1,400 gpm on a 130-acre center pivot or the capacity to irrigate in 100 hours per week. It works best for deep-rooted crops like corn or soybeans.

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heads and nozzles been on the pivot more than seven years? Have you checked nozzle sizes on the center pivot to make sure they match the nozzle sizes listed in the sprinkler package printout from your dealer?

• Do you annually check for pipeline leaks, missing nozzles, and nozzles that are not rotating properly?

• If you have an engine powering the pump, do you change the oil and filter according to manufacturer recommendations? Do the pump and motor or engine receive regular annual maintenance?

• Do you record the static and pumping water levels in the well every year?

• If you have iron in the irrigation water, do you chlorinate the well each year?

• If you have an electric motor, can you subscribe to controlled electric rates (off-peak) from your electric supplier?

Facts and actions: irrigation • Use of a consistent method of irrigation scheduling can often reduce energy use by 7 to 30 percent. Using an ETbased irrigation scheduling system can ensure

Page 20 • COUNTRY FOLKS GROWER MIDWEST • May 2012

Reducing insecticide use by identifying disease-carrying aphids

by Dennis O’Brien In work that could cut back on insecticide use, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists have found a way to distinguish aphids that spread plant viruses from those that do not.

The researchers used protein biomarkers to differentiate between virus-spreading and virus-free aphids. The findings mark the first time that protein biomarkers have been linked to an insect’s ability to transmit viruses.

Aphid-transmitted viruses decrease crop yields and reduce the quality and quantity of fresh foods. Spraying insecticides can control aphids and reduce the incidence of some viruses, but not all aphids transmit viruses, and spraying is expensive and can harm the environment, people and animals.

Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists Michelle Cilia and Stewart Gray have found they can identify disease-carrying aphids by examining the types of proteins in their cells. Cilia and Gray work in the Biological Integrated Pest Management Unit at the ARS Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture and Health in Ithaca, NY. ARS is USDA’s chief intramural scientific research agency, and this research supports the USDA priorities of improving agricultural sustainability and promoting international food security.

The researchers knew from previous work that for aphids to pick up and transmit viruses, the virus must be able to interact with specific aphid proteins that direct movement of the virus through the insect and back into a plant during feeding. By studying greenbug aphids in the laboratory, they discovered that the lab-raised insects’ ability to transmit yellow dwarf viruses was linked to the presence or absence of nine biomarker proteins found in the insect cells.

They then analyzed greenbug aphids collected from cereal crops and non-cultivated

fields and found the aphids consistently transmitted yellow dwarf virus only when they carried most, if not all, of the nine proteins.

Field samples were collected by ARS colleagues John Burd and Melissa Burrows at the agency’s Wheat, Peanut and Other Field Crops Research Unit in Stillwater, OK. The aphid does not need all nine proteins to spread the virus, but there are some that are essential.

The discovery in the lab was published in the Journal of Virology, and the field population study was reported in Proteomics. The findings are expected to lead to development of a test to identify potential disease vectors. Cilia and Gray also are collaborating on an expanded effort to test whether biomarkerpredictor proteins can be found in other insects.

Source: Agricultural Research magazine, April 2012

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Amy Hinkle had her first entrepreneurial encounter with flowers when she was 11 years old, selling them at her local farmers market in Columbus, Ohio.

When she was 9 years old, her family started selling goods from their produce farm at that market.

Hinkle noticed that only one other person there sold flowers — and he could not keep up with the demand.

By the time she graduated from high school, her family’s stand was selling about 20 different kinds of field-grown annuals.

Hinkle, a senior horticulture major with a business production focus, came to Penn State because of its strong agriculture program, and because it was far away from her home.

She is a member of the Association of Specialty Cut Flowers, through which she met the U.S.

Horticulture major ready to watch career bloom representative of a lily bulb sales company based in Holland. He recommended her for an internship at Longwood Gardens, designing, cutting and arranging displays for their flower display “Lilytopia.”

“Lilytopia is a showcase for the products of the Dutch lily-breeding efforts,” said Hinkle. “I got to work alongside the world-class Dutch floral designer Dorian van der Berg as one of her personal assistants.

“I did what she told me to do, which involved designing, cutting and arranging flowers,” she said.

“Dorian spoke English well, but her other assistants did not, so I did a lot of work based on being shown and not told.”

The showcase took place in Longwood’s East Conservatory, an indoor greenhouse, and used over 10,000 cut flowers. Last year, the show attracted more than 55,000

people, and that number increased this summer. It was a one-day event that included huge arches, pillars, vases and other displays.

“The whole space was covered in lilies,” said Hinkle. “We had four days of set up and two days for refreshing the display after the heat started to get to the flowers. We did almost everything while the public wasn’t able to view it.”

She said the most challenging part of the experience was communicating with everyone else working on the showcase.

“There were people from Holland and South America present,” said Hinkle. “Communication sometimes was difficult because we had English, Dutch and Spanish going on — all at the same time.”

She said she learned to have patience, especially when working with other cultures. She needed to

maintain a high level of coordination and endurance throughout the event.

Hinkle has been a teaching assistant for HOR T 352, a class for flower arranging, completed internships with Bear Creek Farms in Stillwater, OK, and spent the remainder of the past summer at a flower farm in Iowa.

She wants to pursue a career in cut-flower growing and plans to go into the floral industry after graduating. In five years, she wants to open her own specialty cut-flower farm and sell her products to florists.

“Hard work is really important in this business,” she said. “You really have to be dedicated. And people are especially important — it’s who you know as much as what you know.”

Lawns of Wisconsin Network names Person of the Year

Each year, the Lawns of Wisconsin Network (LaWN) board has the difficult albeit rewarding task of sorting through the list of candidates submitted by their membership for the honor of LaWN’s “Person of the Year”. The candidates submitted are members of the Green Industry that through their efforts, have demonstrated an outstanding ability to promote profes-

sionalism and progress in the Lawn Care industry.

This past year, there was one candidate that was a clear choice for the award.

In January, the board of LaWN was privileged to present its “2011 Person of the Year” award to Dr. Doug Soldat at the Mid-AM in Chicago.

Doug is an assistant professor in the department of soil science at

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May 2012 • COUNTRY FOLKS GROWER MIDWEST • Page 21

the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He has a B.S. and a M.S. degree in soil science from the University of Wisconsin – Madison as well as his Ph. D. in horticulture from Cornell University.

It was the board’s unanimous feeling that Doug’s outstanding research on turf’s benefits in the urban environment and his test trails on the best fertility methods for quality turf grass made him an easy choice for the award. Besides his extensive work with graduate students, Doug is always willing to help with answers to questions from our industry and has always shown a keen ability to communicate well about turf grass to the general public.

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144 Capitol Hill offices, countless connections — all in a day at CAD Key players in nearly 150 congressional offices are more likely to consider the floral industry’s needs than they were before, after SAF Congressional Action Days attendees made their way through the halls of Congress.

More than 90 retailers, wholesalers and growers came to Washington, D.C., for the March 1920 event and made their way through 144 offices, visiting legislative aides, chiefs of staffs and 27 members of Congress to talk about the floral industry’s top legislative priorities: permanent estate tax reform, immigration reform for agriculture and the National Main Street Business Coalition.

Prior to heading to Capitol Hill, attendees spent March 19 soaking in the advice and insights of several Washington insiders and also boning up on the key legislative issues they’d talk about with members

of Congress.

First-time attendee Tara Prior of Silver Fox Florist in West Lake, Ohio, said the Issues Briefing made her “think upstream, downstream and long-term,” about the national matters that may impact her business. She said she may want to pass her business down to a child some day, which raises her concern for estate tax reform. The immigration issue impacts her because “I prefer to buy American,” she said. “If my growers don’t have the proper workforce, I’m not going to be able to get product.” And while she’s “been lucky so far,” she may need capital as soon as this year, so working to ease access to it “is very personal to me,” she said.

Armed with position papers, CAD attendees headed to Capitol Hill, ready to tell the industry’s story. Here are some highlights from the day:

South Carolinians Manny Gonzales, of Charleston’s Tiger Lily Florist and Catherine Jakaitis, of Floralife Inc in Walterboro, emphasized the need for access to capital for Main Street microbusinesses.

“We do a lot of weddings and events, but right now, it’s slow,” Gonzales said.

This month, he’s doing $35,000 in wedding business, “but I won’t get paid for it until May,” he said. “I need a line of

Page 22 • COUNTRY FOLKS GROWER MIDWEST • May 2012

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phase Brian Wheat, AAF, PFCI, of Lafayette Florist & Greenhouses in Lafayette, CO. “You have to talk to people who don’t agree with you and tell them how it affects you,” he said. “Having a retailer, wholesaler and grower represented made our presentation more powerful.” On the issue of immigration reform, the Colorado delegates received a warm reception. While in the office of Rep. Jared Polis (D-2-CO), the trade legislative aide, Rafael Reyneri, “totally got [that] immigration enforcement and a legal way to get the labor we need have to go hand-inhand,” said Bill Kluth of

Fred’s Water Service

David Mitchell, AAF, of Mitchell’s Flowers in Orland Park, and chairman of SAF’s Government Relations Committee told attendees to ponder the three issues —access to capital, estate tax reform and immigration reform — and share stories from their businesses to illustrate the issues’ importance.

The California delegation and SAF’s Lin Schmale met with a staffer in Rep. Elton Gallegly’s (R-CA) office.

From left are Anthony Vollering of Sunshine Floral Inc. in Carpinteria, Gallegly's aide, John Donati of Ocean View Flowers in Lompoc, and Schmale.

credit to get us through.”

Gonzales wonders if his business would have survived the past few years if he didn’t own his building. “A small family business renting space in a shopping mall doesn’t have that equity. So what do they do?” he asked. Jakaitis illustrated the ripple effect of the issue saying, “Small businesses need access to capital to help them through the slow months, so they can turn one busy month into two, two into three and grow the economy.

We shouldn’t let everything fall apart just because people can’t get a $50,000 line of credit.”

Running into expected resistance on estate taxes in one meeting didn’t

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“It was good to talk to the legislative aide (responsible) for immigration,” added Lori Wheat, AAF. Estate tax reform was a key talking point for Mike Franzoia of California Flower Shippers Inc., in Mountain View. Chatting in the office of Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA), he shared the story of a fellow grower. “It was a small family farm, but the city grew up around it,” he said. The state told the family they owed $2.5 million in estate taxes because that was how much tax revenue the state would receive if the family sold the property to a developer. Though he wanted to stay and grow flowers, the owner was unable to come up with money to pay the tax, so he sold his property — and put 30 people out of work. “You shouldn’t have to sell your farm or your business, until you’re ready,” Franzoia said.

Jo Buttram, AAF, of Shirley’s Flowers & Gifts in Rogers, AR, left with a good feeling following her visits to the offices of Rep. Steve Womack (R-AR) and Sen. John Boozman (R-AR).

Womack, the former mayor of Rogers, Buttram’s hometown, is “100 percent in favor of estate tax reform,” as well as “one of the few” who supports immigration reform, Buttram said.

While she didn’t personally speak to either legislator during CAD, “I’ll catch them when I get home,” she said, adding, “they’re great customers,” who use her product for their campaigns, children’s prom

flowers and funeral services.

Bill and Kathy Ardle of Schneider’s Florist in Springfield, Ohio, returned to CAD for a third time because “it’s very important to speak up in this political situation, with this economic uncertainty,” Kathy Ardle said. “Also, CAD gets us outside of the whirlwind of day-to-day operations and helps us see the bigger picture,” such as small business owners’ difficulty getting access to capital — the catalyst for the newly founded, SAF-led National Main Street Business Coalition. “We hadn’t realized what a major issue this is for the industry,” she said.

Although the situation has not personally impacted Schneider’s, the Ardles addressed the point in their visits with Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Rep. Steve Austria (R-7-Ohio) by sharing an anecdote they heard from fellow CAD attendees. To illustrate the objective of the coalition, the Ardles and fellow Ohio delegates told their legislators about Tom McElroy, owner of Newton Greenhouses in New Hampshire, who bought a woodchip boiler because he could see the cost of gas was rising. “It basically saved his business but now he can’t get the boiler refinanced,” Bill Ardle said.

The Illinois delegation managed to visit 21 offices. David Mitchell, AAF, of Mitchell’s Flowers and chair of SAF’s Government Relations Committee, said several of the legislative aides they visited reinforced the importance of what CAD attendees are

doing. “They told us that the most important thing we can do is to go up to the Hill, tell our story and be honest,” Mitchell said. “One aide was so grateful and really thanked us for telling our story.”

Rod Crittenden, a veteran CAD attendee and executive director of the Michigan Floral Association, got some positive feedback from the aide in Sen. Levin’s (D-MI) office about the Main Street coalition. “He said he’d move behind any legislation that comes up in the Senate.” On immigration reform, each of the offices he talked to agreed that reform needs to happen, “but they don’t see anything happening until after the election.”

Dave Self of Wyld West Annuals Inc., in Loxahatchee, FL, and the rest of the Florida delegation made several surprise visits in addition to their scheduled appointments: They had a successful drop-in at the office of Jack Kingston (R-GA), chair of the subcommittee on agriculture within the House appropriations committee — and the congressman was there to greet them. “We always try to see a few others unannounced,” Self said, “and then I always send a follow-up thank you note. It really goes a long way toward building a relationship.”

Outside of the meetings with legislative offices, CAD attendees seized the opportunity to talk shop and swap information. “It’s a diverse group of people, who are all really sharp, which produces a good idea exchange,” Kathy Ardle said. First-

time attendee Doug Thorsen, of Thorsen’s Greenhouse LLC in Delaware, Ohio, echoed that praise for CAD’s educational value: “I would encourage (people) to bring their kids,” he said.

“It felt good to speak up,” Prior said. “I was nervous, but will be more comfortable when I go next year.” To ease her nerves, she had fellow firsttimer Jessica Cosentino of Cosentino’s Florist, accompany her, and joined the Auburn, NY, retailer on her appointments, as well. “We were two chickens,” Cosentino said, “but we enjoyed helping each other make an impact.”

Lorence Wenke of Wenke Greenhouses in Kalamazoo, MI, also attended CAD for the first time, inspired by a letter from Marvin Miller of Ball Horticultural Co. in West Chicago, IL. Wenke and fellow Michigan delegates were encouraged by their visit to Rep. Sander M. Levin’s (D-MI) office. “He was very gracious to us,” said Tim Galea of Norton’s Flowers & Gifts in Ypsilanti, MI. Wenke was less optimistic following a visit to Rep. Mike Rogers (R-8-MI), who co-sponsored E-Verify, but said the representative “gave us the time we needed to say that E-Verify, if passed, would be devastating for our industry.” But overall, Wenke’s inaugural trip left a positive impression.

“We may not change the world overnight,” he said, “but it’s gratifying to help make baby steps in the right direction.”

May 2012 • COUNTRY FOLKS GROWER MIDWEST • Page 23

The Washington delegates met in Sen. Maria Cantwell’s (D-WA) office. Left to right: Sen. Cantwell's legislative aide; SAF Chairman Leo Roozen, AAF, and his wife Michelle, of Washington Bulb Company Inc., in Mount Vernon; and David Boulton, AAF, of Flowers by George, in Arlington.

Important tomato disease management step - disinfecting used stakes Wooden stakes are a place where the bacterial pathogens that plague tomatoes can survive between crops.

In fact, stakes from a tomato planting where research was conducted on bacterial diseases have been used as a source of the pathogen for subsequent experiments! Therefore, it is prudent for growers to disinfect stakes that were in a field where a bacterial disease occurred last year. This step is worthwhile even if there is uncertainty about occurrence considering how difficult bacterial diseases are to manage.

There are three bacterial diseases of concern on tomato: speck, spot and canker. Bacterial canker is sufficiently destructive that discarding stakes is recommended

after an outbreak. Before the field season is in full swing often presents an opportunity to find time for disinfecting stakes.

Step one in disinfecting anything is removing as much dirt and debris as possible because this can protect pathogens and de-activate disinfectant, therefore start by hosing down used tomato stakes.

Clorox or other household chlorine bleach (5.25 percent sodium hypoclorite) is commonly used as an agricultural disinfectant, but it is not the best choice. Use bleach at a rate of 0.5 percent (= 1 part bleach + 9 parts water), and use in a well-ventilated area. Soak stakes for 30 minutes. While bleach is highly effective, it is short-lived after mixing

Page 24 • COUNTRY FOLKS GROWER MIDWEST • May 2012

2012 Irrigation Show and Education Conference slated The Irrigation Show is the only national trade show for irrigation industry professionals. The show is a program of the Irrigation Association, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting efficient irrigation technologies, products and services. The Irrigation Show will be held Nov. 4 and 5, while the Education Conference will run from Nov. 2-6. Both events are taking place at the Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, FL. Manufacturers, dealers, distributors, wholesalers, contractors, designers, installation and maintenance professionals, consultants, growers, end-users and more gather together every year to: • Find smart solutions for agriculture, golf and turf/landscape applications.

• See the latest products, technology and services.

• Meet with current business partners and potential suppliers.

• Increase productivity and profitability with targeted education and technical training.

• Monitor critical water management issues and irrigation best practices.

Irrigation Show Highlights • 200,000-plus square feet with 300 exhibitors of irrigation equipment, systems, services and accessories.

• 5,000-plus attendees from North America and around the world.

• New Product Contest for agriculture, golf, specialty and turf/landscape solutions introduced to the market in the last year.

• IA’s prestigious awards program for individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to the irrigation industry.

• Over 70 presentations at the Education Conference.

• More than 25 education classes that teach skills and knowledge for immediate application.

• Certification exams for irrigation contractors, designers, auditors, specialists and water conservation managers, offered throughout the show.

• For more information, e-mail info@irrigationshow.org.

in water, with a half-life of only 2 hours, and it is especially prone to being inactivated by organic matter, thus precleaning is critical. A disinfectant containing quaternary ammonium chloride salts like Green-Shield is more stable than bleach after diluting with water. Use at 1 Tablespoon (= 0.5 fl oz) of Green-Shield in 1 gallon water. While this disinfecting solution will be more stable than

bleach, it should not be used more than 24 hours after preparation.

Soak stakes for at least 10 minutes. OxiDate is an OMRI-listed disinfectant containing hydrogen dioxide. Use 0.51.25 fluid ounces/gallon water for disinfecting stakes. (Note: Pennsylvania Certified Organic no longer allows bleach for certified organic growers.)

Source: Penn State Extension

Bacterial spot on tomato is caused by a bacteria that can be transmitted by infected seed or stakes.

Photo Dr. Beth Gugino, Penn State Extension

Capitol Comments: Farmland assessments rise again

by Larry DeBoer, professor of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University Here comes this column topic again: Property taxes on farmland are increasing. The base rate for the assessment of an acre of farmland was $1,290 for taxes in 2011. It will be $1,500 per acre for taxes in 2012. And Indiana’s Department of Local Government Finance has announced the base rate will be $1,630 for taxes in 2013.

Farmland is assessed starting with this base rate.

It is multiplied by a soil productivity factor, which varies from about 0.5 to 1.3, based on soil type.

Some acreage is adjusted by an influence factor, a percentage reduction that accounts for factors such as frequent flooding. The result is the assessed val-

Freeze damages fruit crops in Iowa AMES, IOWA (AP) — The cold snap may have taken a toll on some of Iowa’s fruit crops.

Plant experts at Iowa State University say two nights of freezing temperatures damaged fruit blossoms at the Horticulture Research State near Gilbert.

Superintendent Nick Howell says he doesn’t expect much of an apple crop, and there’s dam-

age to the station’s vineyards and strawberries.

Experts say the early spring sped up blooming, which is a sensitive stage for the plants.

Fruit specialist Paul Domoto says it’s too early to tell the extent of the damage until growers can assess the conditions in their areas.

He says site conditions and development stage will affect the outcome.

ue of farmland. That assessment times the property tax rate, less any credits, is the tax bill.

The base rate is adjusted each year with a formula. The DLGF offers the details on its website, at www.in.gov/dlgf/7016.htm. It’s complicated, but three of its features tell the story.

First, it’s a capitalization formula. It divides the estimated net income earned from a farm acre by an interest rate to get the amount that a “rational” investor would pay for that acre. For example, in 2008 the DLGF estimated that a landowner renting the acre, or an operator growing corn or beans, could earn an average of $165. The Chicago Federal Reserve reported several farm-related interest rates that averaged 6.56 percent. Divide the earnings by the interest rate and (after some rounding) the result is $2,508.

Now imagine an auction for an acre that earns $165. The first bid is $1,000. Earnings of $165 on an investment of $1,000 give a rate of return of 16.50 percent. That’s a really great deal, because our rational investors get a rate of return of only 6.56 percent on other investments. They bid more, say $2,000. That’s a rate of return of 8.25 percent, still a good deal. At a bid of $2,508, the rate of return is no better or worse than other investments.

A rational investor would not bid more.

The second important feature of the base rate formula is that it’s a six-year rolling average. For taxes in 2011, capitalization results from 20022007 were averaged together. For 2012, the years are 2003-2008. The base rate changed because the results for 2002 were dropped, and the results for 2008 were entered.

Back in 2002, corn and bean prices were pretty low, and the net income estimate was only $63. The

interest rate was higher — 7.02 percent — so the capitalization result was only $890. That low number was dropped from the average for 2012 taxes.

Here’s where a new quirk in the formula comes in. The DLGF drops the highest value of the six from the average. The General Assembly changed the formula for 2011 taxes, to make the increases in the base rate a little smaller. For 2011 taxes, they dropped the highest value of $1,927 from 2007 data. The 2008 value is higher, so now it is dropped, and the 2007 figure enters the average.

For 2012 taxes, the base rate average dropped the value $890 and added the value $1,927. The base rate increased from $1,290 to $1,500.

Without dropping the highest value, the base rate for 2012 taxes would have been $1,670. The calculation change reduced the base rate by about 10 percent.

The third important feature of the formula is the four -year lag. The DLGF used data from 2004-2009 for the 2013 calculation of $1,630. We know the data for 2010 and most of the numbers for 2011. That means we can project what will happen to the base rate for 2014 and 2015. Commodity prices have remained high and interest rates have remained low. So for taxes in 2014, the base rate will be about $1,760. For taxes in 2015, the base rate will be about $2,030.

The six-year average and the four -year lag have another implication. The expected high prices and low interest rates in 2012 will first enter the formula for taxes in 2016 and will remain in the formula for six years, dropping out in 2022. The base rate is likely to increase and remain high for a long, long time.

Alternative choices if downy mildew infested your impatiens last year

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nual impatiens (walleriana,), seed propagated, or vegetative double impatiens (“garden impatiens”) are on the alert for impatiens downy mildew. Producers are taking preventive measures against downy mildew from propagation through the time the plants arrive at retail. In Florida, there has been an outbreak of downy mildew infecting impatiens in both greenhouses and landscapes.

Initially, this disease causes the plant’s leaves to yellow. As the disease progresses, both leaves and flowers drop, leaving unsightly landscape beds.

Landscapers should know the disease symptoms and be scouting all impatiens planting this

season. Early detection is important to help prevent the disease from becoming a permanent fixture in landscape beds. It is also important to recall and assess the impatiens beds that you managed last year.

How did they appear at the end of the season? If the impatiens appeared robust and healthy through the season, then it is unlikely that they were infected by downy mildew. However, if the impatiens were defoliated early (before a frost) then it could be that downy mildew was the culprit.

If downy mildew was a problem in certain impatiens plantings last year, then it is possible that downy mildew spores (i.e.,

mildew seeds) could survive the winter and cause an infection of impatiens walleriana this year. To understand the impatiens downy mildew, Dr. Mary Hausbeck’s article, “Downy mildew on impatiens: disease detected in Florida,” explains the disease and impact to impatiens in the landscape. If you suspect that beds you managed last year had downy mildew, then it would be wise to choose a different plant type to grow there for this season.

If impatiens become diseased while in the landscape, there is a preventive spray program that could be used. Contaminated soil in garden beds must be removed or steamed at 160 degrees for 1 hour or 180 degrees for 30 minutes at the coolest spot. Otherwise, plant an alternate annual plant species that will add color to the landscape beds or add containers to achieve the spectrum of color.

Source: MSU Extension News

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931-473-4740 OAK LINER SALE Call for Prices & Availability

9 pm. Call 330-657-2542 ext. 222.

On Internet at www.cvcountryside.org/far mers/farm-businessplanning-workshops.php JUN 2 Building and Testing Soil Godman Guild, 303 E. 6th St., Columbus, OH. 10 am noon. Call 614-263-5662.

On Internet at http:// go.osu.edu/HZJ JUN 14 UK Nursery Crops IPM Diagnostics Workshop Trimble County Extension Office, 43 High Country Lane, Bedford, KY & Kenton Abrams Nursery, 8206 North Highway 421, Milton, KY. Contact Christi Forsythe 270-365-7541 ext 221, email, cforsyth@uky.edu or Win Dunwell, 270-2619467, e-mail, wdunwell@ uky.edu.

JUN 18-24 28th Perennial Plant Symposium and Trade Show Doubletree Hotel Lloyd Center, Portland, OR. On Internet at http://ppa@ perennialplant.org JUN 19-20 Retail Growth Solutions: A Mini-Conference for Florists Cherry Hill, NJ - Philadelphia Metro Area. Contact Laura Weaver, 800-3364743 or e-mail lweaver@ safnow.org.

JUL 14-17 OFA: 2012 ShortCourse Greater Columbus Convention Center, Columbus, OH. Call 614-487-1117 or e-mail ofa@ofa.org. On Internet at http://ofa.org/shortcourse info.aspx JUL 24 Land for Your Farm Business Boston Store, 1548 Boston Mills Rd., Peninsula, OH. 6-9 pm. Contact Countryside Conservancy, 330-657-2542 ext.222.

On Internet at www.cvcountryside.org/ farmers/farm-businessplanning-workshops.php JUL 30 - AUG 10 2012 Michigan Garden Plant Tour Various locations throughout lower Michigan.

On Internet at http:// planttour.hrt.msu.edu AUG 7 2012 MSU Plant Trial Field Day East Lansing, Michigan (Plant & Soil Sciences, MSU Campus).

On Internet at http://planttour.hrt.msu.ed u/fieldday AUG 8-11 National Christmas Tree Association Convention & Trade Show Sacramento Convention

Center, Sacramento, CA. More than 350 Christmas Tree growers, wholesalers, retailers, Choose & Cut farmers and related industry members from around the world.

On Internet at www.christmastree.org/ convention2012.cfm AUG 8-12 NCTA Convention & Trade Show Sacramento, CA. Contact NCTA, 636-449-5070 or email info@realchristmas trees.org.

On Internet at www.christmastree.org/ convention2012.cfm AUG 17-20 NAFDMA 2012 Advanced Learning Retreat Tanners Orchard, Speer, IL. On Internet at www. nafdma.com AUG 24-25 Wisconsin CTPA Summer Convention Harrisville Park, Marquette County, WI. Contact Cheryl Nicholson, 608-742-8663 or e-mail info@christmas trees-wi.org. On Internet at www.christmastrees-wi.org AUG 26-28 38th Annual FARWEST Show Oregon Convention Center,

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Farm managers and rural appraisers: Farmland prices expected to keep rising WEST LAFAYETTE, IN — A survey indicating that farmland values are expected to continue increasing is more good news for landowners, but could also signal caution for buyers, an agricultural economist says.

The survey was conducted Feb. 15 at the winter meeting of the Indiana Chapter of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers. The results come on the heels of a February 2012 issue of AgLetter in which the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago indicated farmland values in Iowa, and parts of Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois have increased by 22 percent since early 2011. That is the largest annual increase since 1976.

“These numbers tell us that the farmland market is very competitive.

There are far more buyers than sellers,” said Craig Dobbins, Purdue Extension agricultural economist. “People in the market to buy farmland have a very optimistic outlook about the future, and they are willing to pay unthinkable prices.”

According to the survey of 32 farm managers and rural appraisers from 25 Indiana counties, the average estimated price of farmland was $7,533 per acre, and all of the respondents indicated their estimated price was higher than the value in February 2011.

While the increases are good news for landowners, Dobbins said there are dangers associated with paying exceptionally high prices to own farmland.

“One of the dangers is that buyers’ expectations about the future of the market could be wrong,” he said. “If land values or commodity prices decrease, that can really change profit margins. And it doesn’t have to be a drastic decrease.”

More severe problems can occur if buyers borrow a substantial amount of money to finance land purchases.

“Buyers need to be careful because farm debt levels will affect how hard the fall could be if commodity or farmland values decrease,” Dobbins said.

With the strong market, rental prices for farmland also have been on the rise. Survey respondents indicated the average 2012 cash rent was $253 per acre. A majority reported that rate was higher than it was in 2011, and only two reported their rental rates to have stayed the same.

None had decreased.

According to Dobbins, the increasing cash rents have led some landlords and tenants to get creative in lease agreements. While 42 percent of respondents said lease agreements were traditional fixed cash, others were using flexible lease agreements and crop share leases.

In a flexible lease agreement, or variable cash, the landlord and tenant agree on a minimum amount of rent and share a portion of the profits. In a crop-sharing agreement, the tenant and landlord both invest in the production costs and share the crop yields after harvest. Both types of agreements help tenants and landlords share the risk associated with crop farming.

While all of the survey participants agreed that farmland values were on the rise, they did not agree about the change in land values over the next five years. Forty-eight percent of the respondents indicated farmland values would be higher, 31 percent thought there would be no change, and 21 percent expected them to decrease.

“These results indicate that, in the short term, Indiana’s farmland market is expected to remain strong,” Dobbins said. “No one expects farmland values to decline for the year.

But relative to the past few years, respondents expect the rate of increase to be much less.

“Longer term, there is less certainty in how farmland values will change. Most respondents expect farmland values to be steady or higher, but sound risk management suggests that buyers need to explore the effect of a 15-20 percent decline in farmland values on the business.”

Source: Purdue University News Service

Indiana Grown program to promote state’s farm goods INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A new program will brand and promote Indiana produce and farm goods.

The program called Indiana Grown is a cooperative effort among farmers, processors, wholesalers, retailers, restaurants and the Indiana State Department of Agriculture. It will include produce, field crops, and dairy, meat and poultry products.

The state Agriculture Department

says all farm producers, specialty food producers, and others engaged in the production of agricultural products in Indiana are eligible to apply.

Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman announced the program. She says its goal is to help families in Indiana and around the world easily identify and buy Indiana-grown products. Skillman serves as the state’s secretary of agriculture.

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GROWER W and fruit growers, and nurseries in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest and Northwest market areas. Reach your target audience with this monthly publication that is by far the number one media for these industries.

Is our newest publication. Started in 2011 to serve an important and growing segment of horticulture, this newspaper is targeted at businesses active in commercial scale growing and winemaking in the United States. In addition to a six times a year mailing, a searchable version is available to our online readers.

WASTE HANDLING EQUIPMENT NEWS, since 1992, serving asphalt/concrete recyclers, composting facilities, construction demolition companies, wood waste recyclers and scrap metal recyclers with 2 monthly editions that cover the entire United States.

NORTH AMERICAN QUARRY NEWS since 1998, serving the quarry, sand & gravel, hot mix asphalt and ready mix concrete industries with one national edition. This is the fastest growing publication for these markets.

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Malfunctioning greenhouse unit heaters can cause crop problems

by Thomas A. Dudek, Michigan State University Extension Now that the greenhouse season is in full swing, more space is being utilized and heaters that have not

been used for a year are being fired up. Keep the following in mind as you open up more growing space.

Crops grown in greenhouses that utilize natural gas or

propane fired unit heaters can be susceptible to ethylene injury.

Ethylene is an odorless, colorless gas that acts as a plant hormone. Plants are very susceptible to ethylene

injury at levels from 0.01 to 1 PPM or more.

No other air pollutant causes a greater range of symptoms than ethylene gas. Symptoms range from shedding or shattering of flower

petals, misshapen or malformed leaves and flowers, thickened stems, leaf yellowing or chlorosis, stunted plant growth, flower bud and leaf abortion to epinasty or twisting.

May 2012 • COUNTRY FOLKS GROWER MIDWEST • Page 31

The effects on greenhouse crops will vary with the plant species and growth stage, temperature, length of exposure and the concentration of the ethylene.

I have noted plant injury symptoms more often in plastic greenhouses compared to glass greenhouses, due to the airtight nature of poly-greenhouses.

An indicator plant to use for ethylene is a tomato plant. They are highly sensitive and will twist or wilt when exposed to ethylene.

Tomatoes will exhibit injury within 24 hours if ethylene is present.

To avoid ethylene injury, unit heaters need proper ventilation and intake of fresh air from the outside.

One square inch of vent cross section (of outside air) for every 2,500 Btu’s of heater output is recommended. Consider using a laundry dryer vent hose as a fresh air intake. Thus, if you have a 125,000 Btu heater, you would need an 8-inch diameter fresh air inlet pipe that would give you the 50 square inches you need. The newest high efficiency heaters have fresh air intake systems as part of the installation kit.

Also, unit heaters need to be maintained so that the heater itself is running properly, and the distribution tube, vent stack, ventilation louvers and fuel line are all functioning correctly.

Make sure the burner flame is clear blue. Yellow or orange flames represent impurities or a wrong setting.

Most plants will recover from ethylene injury. However, those plants that bloom once (like lilies, tulips and hyacinths) that have been exposed to ethylene when they were in the flower bud stage will likely not bloom.

Remember, ethylene is an odorless, colorless gas that is a harmful pollutant to your greenhouse crops.

Source: MSU Extension News

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Page 32 • COUNTRY FOLKS GROWER MIDWEST • May 2012

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