GH - November 2021

Trialled lessons

Performance trials reveal the importance of climate and retail decisions in varietal choices.

By: Melhem Sawaya

| Pg. 10

Editorial 4

Industry News 6 & 61

Perennials 15

How to get them flowering on time

Hanging Up the Hat 20 Horticultural giant retires

Northern Expansion 38

Growing Canada’s northern most vertical farm

New Perennials 44

Top choices for 2022 and sneak peeks for 2023

Inside View 62

Power in diversity

Digital horticulture

There’s a critical first step to every autonomous growing journey.

BY KENNETH TRAN & JOHN CHANG

Waste not Innovative companies curb food waste at the production level

BY ANNE-MARIE HARDIE

Smart business decisions

From debt restructuring to interest rates, staying agile is key next season. BY

SANDRA EEDY

Extended BPV reporting deadline for Ontario

In response to stakeholder feedback, the Technical Standards and Safety Authority in Ontario has extended the deadline for reporting existing agricultural boilers and pressure vessels to Nov. 30, 2021.

The regulatory exemption on agricultural BPVs was revoked last year and took effect on July 1, 2021.

Owners and operators must report existing agricultural BPV equipment by either completing the online form, or downloading the form and mailing

the completed submission to the TSSA.

For existing devices (installed before July 1, 2021): First Safety Assessment Inspection – min. $345 + $172 hourly inspection rate. Minimum includes one hour of inspection and one flat travel fee.

For new devices (installed after July 1, 2021): First inspection – $365 flat fee per new device. Includes inspection and one follow-up.

More details on greenhousecanada.com

Source: TSSA

MUCCI FARMS HEADS WEST WITH HOUWELING

Mucci Farms has entered an exclusive marketing agreement with Casey Houweling to market all produce grown in its Camarillo, Calif. facility under the Mucci Farms brand.

As part of the agreement, Mucci Farms will also be opening two new distribution centres in Camarillo and Delta, B.C.

“Partnering with the well-respected Houweling’s team gives us a strong starting point in the region as we look to expand our reach across the continent,” said Bert Mucci, CEO of

Mucci Farms.

Year-round production of a variety of tomatoes and cucumbers were planned to start this fall.

Both are secondgeneration growers with a passion for advanced growing practices.

“It was important to us that we chose a marketer who understands not only what it takes to market, but also understands what it takes to grow great quality produce,” said Houweling, who will oversee the growing operation alongside his daughter, Monica Paulson. “We also focus

GISC goes virtual

The Green Industry Show & Conference (GISC) will be proceeding as a virtual event, Nov. 18-19, 2021.

Originally planned for in-person attendance in Alberta, conference organizers pivoted to ensure the health and safety of attendees, exhibitors, and staff as the COVID situation changed in the province.

The conference will feature 14 hours of virtual conference sessions, cancelling the tradeshow component.

“It became clear that we would not be able to provide the robust experience that exhibitors, attendees and speakers have come to know and expect – we pride ourselves on decades of success with this annual event and that continues as we plan for a live event in 2022,” states organizers.

To register, visit greenindustryshow.com

heavily on growing in a sustainable manner by using waste energy, closed-loop recycling systems and biological pest controls to minimize the impact on the planet.”

With Mucci’s first 75acre U.S. expansion in Huron, Ohio complete, the partnership with Casey Houweling will help them strategically grow within the United States and establish a presence on the West Coast. This effort is further supported by the Company’s two new distribution centres in Michigan and Texas.

Houweling’s was originally founded in 1956 by Cornelius Houweling who began with a floral greenhouse and berry farm in Langley, British Columbia. His son Casey joined the family business in 1976 and spearheaded growth and expansion leading to U.S. expansion into California in 1996.

Mucci Farms’ headquarters are based in Kingsville, Ont., and is vertically integrated with a combined acreage of over 2,000 acres across a global grower partner network.

Source: Mucci Farms

BY THE NUMBERS

Change is in the air

53% of Gen Z and 49% of Millennials want to cut back on Amazon shopping

MEN UNDER 35 showed the greatest increase in backyard gardening

Social media mentions of ‘front yard’ or ‘front porch’ reached a 5-YEAR HIGH in 2021

75% of gardeners are expected to keep gardening post-pandemic

Flowers Canada (Ontario) golf tourney raises over $8k for floriculture research

Flowers Canada (Ontario) Inc. (FCO) held their 49th Annual Golf Tournament on Aug. 31 at the Peninsula Lakes Golf Club.

Described as a perfect “made-to-order” summer’s day, the numbers of those who turned out reflected that.

“After having to cancel last year’s golf tournament, and with the current COVID-19 climate, we were unsure of what the reception would be for this year’s tournament,” commented Andrew Morse, FCO’s executive director. “We were very pleasantly surprised that the tournament was not only wellreceived but was completely sold out.”

With support from the generosity of the tournament’s players, sponsors, and staff, FCO raised over $8,000 for floriculture research – a significant amount considering the tournament was not quite business as usual. This year’s tournament had staggered tee times for the 127 players in attendance rather than the usual shot gun start to ensure that the proper COVID-19 protocols were followed for the safety of all golfers.

As part of the day’s festivities, all golfers were treated to a takeaway specialty pack of Cowbell Brewing Company’s award-winning craft beer. The Cowbell Brewing Company was established in Blythe, Ontario in 2016 and was recently named one of Canada’s Greenest Employers.

Here were this year’s winning golfers.

The lowest scoring team was from Jeffery’s Greenhouses made up of Rodd Gibson, Ryan Gibson, Mathew Gibson, and Scott MacArthur. The low scoring team (age over 200) went to Barrie Ogilvie, Dave DeHaan, Doug Smith, and John Edgar. The ladies longest drive and closest to the pin went to Hannah McGregor. For the men, the longest drive was made by Mathew Gibson while the closest to the pin went to Jerry Weber. Closest to the Wand was Cathy Goodman and the Closest to the Restaurant was Jim Slappendel.

Congratulations to all winners.

More photos from the day are available at greenhousecanada.com. Source: FCO

PHYTOSANITARY CERTIFICATE REQUIREMENTS FOR FRAGARIA, ROSA AND RUBUS

Begun Sept. 14, 2021, exports of Fragaria spp., Rosa spp. and Rubus spp. from Canada into the U.S. will require a phytosanitary certificate with an additional declaration. This was announced by the United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS) to prevent the introduction of strawberry blossom weevil (Anthonomus rubi) into the U.S. According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), an additional declaration is required for export of these

plants, indicating:

“The plants have been produced and certified by the National Plant Protection Organization (NPPO) of Canada as a pest-free place of production or a pest free production site for the strawberry blossom weevil (Anthonomus rubi) following the requirements of the International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures-10. The shipment has been inspected and found to be free of the strawberry blossom weevil (Anthonomus rubi).”

For more information, producers are asked to contact their local

CFIA office. According to the USDA, “Strawberry blossom weevil is a serious pest of strawberry (Fragaria spp.) and raspberry (Rubus spp.). Blackberry (Rubus spp.) and rose (Rosa spp.) are considered occasional hosts. When imported as plants for planting these hosts represent a pathway for the entry of this pest into the United States. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) reported strawberry blossom weevil populations being detected in British Columbia, Canada. This detection is the first confirmed report of this pest in North America.”

“The strawberry blossom weevil females lay eggs in unopened flower buds of their hosts. The female will then chew through the stem just below the bud, and the bud will drop from the plant. Eggs, larvae, and pupae are found inside closed flower buds of host plants. The larvae feed and develop in the “clipped” bud, which will reduce the total number of viable buds on the plant. The lost bud will not be able to produce a fruit once clipped. In Europe, this pest has caused up to 80% loss of the berry crop.”

With files from: CFIA, USDA-APHIS

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Garden Trialling: Let There Be Lessons

More than just genetic performance, trials reveal how varieties should be used.

BY MELHEM SAWAYA

After 21 years of coordinating the Sawaya Garden Trials, you would think you know what to expect.

Attending them, you may see a new colour to replace or add to your products, as well as varieties with different habits for your mixes. Of course, you also get to see what is new and every year, there is a very large number of new varietal introductions, but there are certain things you learn that you never expected to.

Sometimes, you will be looking at an old variety that existed for many years and you were not aware of their performance. This could be because the company sales representative does not carry it or is not aware of it, so you are missing out on an excellent performing item that could have generated good attention for your business and your customers.

There are some other revelations that you might surprisingly acquire, and we will see

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that later on. COVID put a damper on these experiences for the last two years, but with our outdoor trials, the virus became only an inconvenience to which everybody graciously adjusted.

There are several important reasons to keep informed about the different cultivars firsthand.

Some varieties will look great at purchase time, but in a matter of a few short weeks, this variety loses its lustre. More importantly, some varieties do not look great at purchase time, especially if sold early in the season, but within a few short weeks they shine.

Many recipe combinations look great in the greenhouse, but within two to three weeks, one of the cultivars in the mixes will take over and it ends up being a combination of one cultivar.

Some varieties look great in March and April when it’s cooler, but they still get sold in late May.

Some plants do not show their potential

Even after more than 20 years of coordinating these annual performance trials, greenhouse consultant Melhem Sawaya still finds new surprises and unexpected lessons in every aisle.

PHOTO CREDIT: GREENHOUSE CANADA

because they are grown in a small container. Considering the vigour of the cultivar, the grower must then apply strong PGRs and often that will put the plant into a coma from which it might wake up in August.

KEY EXAMPLES FROM TRIALS

In this first part of my Sawaya Garden Trials coverage, I will share examples with you of the key ideas just mentioned. These are based on my observations in the greenhouse at springtime, as well as their end result in the actual performance trials.

Bacopa MegaCopa White (1) is usually one of the best for flowering through the summer heat, but this past summer, MegaCopa and all the other Bacopas lost their flowers until the nights cooled off towards the end of August. Before it gets hot, Bacopa looks great in the spring, so do we grow plants to sell knowing the consumer is going to

be disappointed? Some areas have cooler summers compared to southern Ontario and there Bacopa will do just fine, which proves that you must be aware of your customer’s climate and grow the cultivars that will perform for most of their gardening season.

Begonia Mistral Red Dark (2) and most of the vigorous Boliviensis cultivars do not look their best, but when they are out in the summer under full sunlight, they are a breathtaking show.

Bidens Sun Drop Double Yellow (3) is great in cool conditions grown individually or in combinations. Even though Sun Drop does better than the other Bidens, the flowers will disappear in the heat of the summer. Meanwhile, Bidens Bee Happy Red (4) will look thin while growing in the greenhouse, but when it is exposed to the summer heat, it will flourish with a full body, covered with flowers that will last a long time.

Brachyscome Brasco Violet (5) is a slow grower in the greenhouse, especially in larger pots. But when grown in smaller pots and advertised for rock gardens or garden front edge, it becomes a very sharp choice. It will take the heat and the rain without the need for deadheading.

Bracteantha Mohave Yellow (6) was one of the most resilient plants in the trials, but growers had a bad experience with growing Bracteantha due to downy mildew on the old varieties, which has been corrected with new breeding. Growers also used to put three cuttings in a 10” pot or hanging basket where it tends to split. The solution is easy – just use one cutting per pot, which is more economical, and you will get a full pot with flowers that hardly need to be deadheaded. Plus, the rain, wind, and hot or cool weather make it look great.

Dahlia City Lights Golden Yellow (7) and almost all begonias look great

in the greenhouse, but when they are sold as a patio pot and put on consumer display as is, the summer heat will heat up the root ball and the dahlia will have no chance. In southern Ontario, dahlias are to be sold for landscape and planted in gardens. It can also go in combinations where other plants shade the pot sides or in a pot that is somewhat heat insulated, like moss or fibre baskets.

Salvia Mystic Spires (8) is one of my favourite plants for its superb garden performance, and hummingbirds love it. Sales will be much higher if Mystic Spires and varieties like it are grown in larger containers with more growing time so it can show its potential. Likewise, it can also be grown in smaller pots but be given less growing time.

Sedum Gold Mound (9) is like the Mystic Spires-type salvia. It needs a full-grown specimen displayed with the smaller pot sizes.

Verbena Beats Red+White (10) like many of the compact verbenas, it looks great at sales if planted and sold on time. But these extremely floriferous cultivars need lots of garden maintenance, and if that does not happen, the plants become less than desirable.

Dianthus Rock Violet (11) is another cool crop that looks great but cannot take the heat. It becomes a consumer disappointment if this information is not communicated to them. Especially when there are Dianthus varieties that can take the heat like Dianthus Interspecific Jolt Pink (12), which looks good when grown properly and is great in the landscape – hot weather or not. Many species are cross bred to address their garden performance.

Artemisia FanciFillers Sea Salt (13) is a cultivar that foliage lovers gravitate to when they see the potential. Again, a full-grown plant or picture of a full-

grown plant will increase the sales of Artemisia, especially now where many of the consumers are looking for just foliage plants.

Begonia I’CONIA Upright Salmon (14) is not one of the great shows in the greenhouse due to its poor ability for branching, but it has great garden performance in full sun with full body and flowers.

Lobelia Hot Blue (15) is one of the more heat-tolerant lobelias, but it still cannot take the summer heat and will go into a stage of dormancy. If this is one of the better cultivars of the species, why do we grow lobelia for the summer? Lobelia in combinations is great in the greenhouse, but count on it to disappear from the combination in the summer.

Begonia Megawatt Red Bronze Leaf (16) is one of the many vigorous fibrous begonias on the market, but the consumer is still not aware of their potential. Some landscapers are catching on and using it more. And up to this point, fibrous begonia is still labelled as a shade plant. The tags should say it is shade-tolerant and loves the sun and the heat.

Celosia First Flame Red (17) is a plumed type flowering celosia that will perform great when it is started under long days so it will have the vegetative vigour to put on a great display in the garden. This is true for the spike and the crested types too, like Celosia cristata Brainiac Robo Red (18). Because these are facultative short-day plants, they need to be started under long days to get the maximum effect.

Angelonia Aria Alta Purple (19) is one of many great cultivars among the Angelonia species. A great plant for the landscape that thrives in the heat, unfortunately early May could bring cool weather where Angelonia does not do well. If grown in a gallon or larger pot to be sold in late May or early June, Angelonias would work well for landscape or larger containers as patio pots where customers will get to see and enjoy one of the great summer species. The common name for Angelonia is summer snapdragon for a reason. In contrast, Snapdragon Snapshot Burgundy Bicolor (20) is one cultivar of snapdragon (Antirrhinum) that is not for the summer.

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Vinca F1 Valiant Punch (21) is heat loving with F1 breeding that is resistant to diseases. This should be the number

one bedding plant as it flourishes during the summer with loads of flowers. And yes, Ontario summers are very hot and that suits Vincas very well.

Fantastic Foliage Hibiscus Mahogany Splendor (22) is a hibiscus that is mainly grown for its foliage from seed. It makes an excellent center piece for planters or grown alone in gallons, but no smaller for landscape as centers or back planting for plant stepping design.

Osteospermum ecklonis

Tradewinds Lemon Zest (23) is one cultivar of a species that has had a major

22

transformation in the last 10 years. Many cultivars of this species flower through the whole summer, but since the early varieties were sold only as cool crops, that is why consumers have not bought it past Mother’s Day.

As you can see from these few examples, lots can be learned from following the plant from growth to garden performance. Using trials, and not show gardens, we can grow cultivars where the consumer will have a better chance at being successful and because of that, the ornamental industry will flourish.

This year, we started a new pointsbased grading system of the cultivars. Criteria include quality and performance of the starting plant materials, at point of purchase, performance in the trial gardens and more. In part two of my Sawaya Garden Trials’ coverage, I will share with you as many highly rated varieties as possible.

Melhem Sawaya of Focus Greenhouse Management is a consultant and research coordinator to the horticultural industry. He can be reached at mel@ focusgreenhousemanagement.com.

Making growing easier.

Flowering perennials on time

Key areas to consider when bulking up growth and initiating blooms.

BY PETER MITHAM

To every plant there is a season. For commercial growers delivering perennial ornamentals, timing is critical.

Dr. Mohyuddin Mirza, former greenhouse crops specialist with the Alberta government and now an independent consultant, says the goal is to encourage vegetative growth during establishment, then generative growth in time for market.

“All perennials require that the plants are well established before flowering,” he explains. “We don’t want to set flowers on a very young plant.”

Cooler temperatures will affect bud set in the fall, while warmer temperatures in the spring will break dormancy. During plant establishment, Mirza recommends keeping root temperatures at around 18 to 20 degrees Celsius and air temperatures at 20 to 22 degrees Celsius.

“Pay attention to day temperature, night temperature, 24-hour average temperature and

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temperature differentials,” he says. “Perennials generally require a narrow differential between day and night temperatures to keep them compact.”

To prepare plants for flowering, Mirza advises growers to pay attention to nutrition. Perennials shouldn’t be fed a rich diet.

“This means high ammonium nitrogen compared to nitrate nitrogen,” he says. “[The] nitrogen to potassium ratio should be 1:1.5 to 1:2. Adjust pH and electrical conductivity closely. Nutritional deficiencies and toxicities can result if the pH becomes too alkaline or acidic.”

Watering should keep pace with growth, something that may take more effort with slowgrowing perennials. Air humidity can be adjusted to manage temperature as well as a plant’s uptake of water through the use of set points that trigger systems to increase humidity or moderate temperatures. The growing medium should be

Plants have different requirements at vegetative and generative stages. To produce the best plants overall, there are key factors to consider at each stage.

moist but not waterlogged. If bloom needs to be accelerated, Mirza recommends letting plants wilt a little. It won’t harm them, and will encourage production.

“Any stress is a generative action,” he said. There are many types of stressors which can be applied, and many of them are related to water availability

“For example, we can withhold water to the wilting point to induce flowering, but when soilless growing media are used, then water stress can be created through the management of Electrical Conductivity (EC). Higher EC will reduce the availability and transport of water. Many growers use cold water during the day time to create a stress to keep plants compact. Similarly, the application of growth regulators is to create a stress on perennials.”

This can’t be done too early for fear of weakening the plant, or too late lest the plants arrive late to market. “If the plant is not flowering despite your best efforts, then what you do is you wilt that plant once or twice.”

THE ROLE OF LIGHTING

During an online presentation to growers at the Pacific Agriculture Show in Abbotsford, B.C. last year, Dr. Roberto Lopez, an associate professor in the Department of Horticulture at Michigan State University, explained how most ornamental bedding plants and perennials fall into one of

three categories: based on their flowering requirements: day-neutral, short-day and long-day. Day-neutral plants, as the name suggests, will flower regardless of whether they are subjected to short or long days.

For plants classified as either short-day or long-day however, they’re each divided into obligate and facultative.

Obligate short-day plants must receive short days and long nights in order to flower. In contrast, their facultative counterparts will flower more quickly under short days but are able to flower under long days, albeit needing more time and likely growing larger in size.

Similarly, obligate long-day plants flower when days are long and nights are short. Their facultative counterparts will again flower under both photoperiod lengths, but flowering will be delayed under short days.

Although the categories refer to the number of daylight hours or photoperiod, Lopez clarifies, “It’s actually the duration of the darkness that induces plants into flower.”

In other words, black cloths serve to lengthen the nighttime period, while photoperiodic lighting is used to shorten the nights. There are two primary ways of achieving the latter.

“We can have day-extension lighting, which is lighting from the end of the day into the desired photoperiod,” he explains. That typically occurs just before sunrise and after sunset. “Or we can

PHOTO CREDIT: ANUBHABROY / GETTY

PHOTO CREDIT: SARA EDWARDS / GETTY

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have night-interruption lighting which is darkness interrupted by low light typically provided between 10pm and 2am.”

So, how much is enough?

Lopez and Dr. Chris Currey, an associate professor at Iowa State University, presented an overview of photoperiodic lighting strategies in a series of e-GRO webinars in 2018, where the recordings can be accessed via Youtube.

As Currey explained, each crop will have a critical photoperiod or daylength which forms a threshold for inducing flowering. “The critical day length is at or below which induces flowering for short day plants. Alternatively for long day plants, it’s the photoperiod at or above which induces flowering.” For illustrative purposes, he gave the example of a long-day plant which remains vegetative at or under 12 hours, but flowers at or above 14 hours. In this case, the critical photoperiod is 14 hours.

A second variable is the minimum number of inductive photoperiods needed to produce a flowering response – this is known as the critical cycle number. To illustrate this, Currey referred to previous work with Dr. John Erwin at the University of Minnesota. The team found that it took a minimum of 18 short days to induce Cosmos bipinnatus to flower. “When only exposed to 12 short days before being returned to long days, the plants were still vegetative and they never flowered.”

A third variable is the amount of light that a plant receives. In general, photoperiodic lighting only requires about 2 µmol/ m2/s or 10 foot candles, which is enough for floral induction and can affect stem elongation. In contrast, supplemental lighting for photosynthesis not only changes the photoperiod, but can also affect plant weight and hasten flowering.

PHOTO CREDIT: MAKSIMS / GETTY

To illustrate this, Currey cited a study conducted by Dr. Neil Mattson at Cornell University, which showed how their chosen Salvia not only flowered under long days, but flowered faster when subjected to higher intensity light. Treatments of 50, 100, and 150 µmol/m2/d each corresponded to earlier and earlier flower induction.

A fourth variable is light quality. Some light sources have more red and far red wavelengths, which also affect floral induction and quality. For this, Lopez gave the example of a long-day lighting experiment in Coreopsis lanceolata. Between the cool white fluorescent lamp, high-pressure sodium lamp, incandescent lamp and metal halide lamp tested, the incandescent lamp’s far-red wavelengths resulted in greater plant stretch. The metal halide, which tends to have a higher amount of red light, produced only one flower compared to four or five in other treatments, illustrating the importance of light quality.

With these strategies, Curry offered, growers can avoid inappropriate or premature flowering, avoid delayed flowering or excessive growth, and ultimately create plants that are more marketable.

THE RIGHT MATCH

Some growers opt not to force plants, but rather match them to location.

Abbotsford-based Van Belle Nursery Inc. is one of British Columbia’s largest perennial growers, producing about 250,000 perennials a year for distribution to major retailers across Western Canada and the U.S. Key plant groups are saxifrages,

violas, pansies, Bellis and sedums.

For perennials, they schedule them using their natural blooming periods, explains Pablo Costa, operations manager with the company’s retail ready division. “We try to classify in three big groups – early perennials, medium-stage (spring), and then late spring or summer.”

To accommodate bloom times, 20 per cent of the crop is transferred to pots in the fall to be ready for shipment in early spring, and the remainder is transplanted between January and March for shipment at later dates.

Any heat and light given to the plants is aimed at mitigating the stress of transplant, and ensuring they’re ready for shipment.

“I didn’t push with supplemental light,” he says. “I can push them with heat and light and everything, but who’s going to buy [and] at what price? It’s not worth it.”

For Costa, they would have to force for a six-week period and fill at least one area of the greenhouse. This would equate to almost an acre in one of their greenhouses, costing an extra $1 to $1.20 per plant.

Since COVID, they’ve seen a growing demand for perennials, rising between five to 10 per cent for early to mid-spring products. For summer perennials, they’ve experienced an 80 per cent increase along with an extended period of demand. “We adapt production and work together with the young plant division to provide plants in the summer,” says Costa, whose department uses Van Belle’s self-designed Rocketliners to speed up the process and meet the rising demand.

Peter Mitham is a freelance writer in B.C.

A LOOK BACK on a career in horticulture

Sales director for Ball Seed, Yves Cournoyer looks back on humble beginnings and shares his outlook for ornamental horticulture.

BY GRETA CHIU

After 36 years at Ball Seed, Yves Cournoyer is hanging up his hat. The sales director retired from his long-time role at Ball Seed at the end of September.

“What I’ll miss the most is interacting with people,” he says, “not only meeting new people, but coaching my sales reps or coming up with new ideas.”

Having known Cournoyer for more than 27 years, Ball Seed sales representative Allan van Staalduinen has seen first-hand how he puts people at ease.

“[His] special skill was always making customers feel important and valued,” he says. “Yves loved to travel from coastto-coast in Canada and has made many friendships over the years that went above and beyond business.”

Cournoyer was known to take sales reps on trips to visit suppliers and production farms around the world, providing them with the experience, information and knowledge they needed to succeed in the field.

“Yves was not only a boss, but a friend to many of the reps,” says van Staalduinen.

Cournoyer first found his way into horticulture almost 45 years ago. During his third year at the University of Moncton in New Brunswick, a friend solicited his help with a newly acquired greenhouse.

The one-hoop 30 x 100 ft. structure was in dire need of repair. Together, they patched it up, built doors and draped on the poly.

“He was just starting to grow poinsettia at the time,” Cournoyer recalls. “I went to help him out and I never got out of the greenhouse after that.”

“It’s tough to grow in the winter, especially when you’re a smaller grower like I was at the time,” he says.

In 1985, he took a chance and applied for a sales position at Ball Superior. “And I got the job!” he smiles. “They allowed me to keep my business here because the Ball business at the time in Quebec was fairly low.”

Now Ball Seed, the company had little support available in French back then. Catalogues were only printed in English and orders had to be placed through the sales office in Toronto, Ont. Being bilingual, Surette’s help quickly became instrumental.

In 1998, Cournoyer accepted a sales director position based in Chicago, Ill. – a role that he remained in for over 20 years. At one point, he says, he was responsible for nearly half the sales force, overseeing all of Canada and a large part of the U.S. that stretched from Pennsylvania to Kansas, and down to the Bible Belt.

He and wife Diane Surette bought and sold their first farm in Moncton before acquiring a property in Yamaska, Que., which came with a humble 30 x 150 ft. Harnois greenhouse. They filled it with tomatoes, producing green beans and peppers in the field.

“Slowly we moved into flowers because we realized it was much more profitable growing flowers than tomatoes,” he recalls.

An avid horticulturalist and entrepreneur, it wasn’t long until Cournoyer started expanding his business to include landscaping and running a small nursery – all at the same time.

“There is no doubt in my mind that, not only the horticultural business, but development, taste, [and] customers are all growing... If you look at the dollar amount that people were spending 40 years ago compared to today, it’s not the same at all.”

When he first started, he says, there were no flowers sold at big box and grocery stores like Home Depot, Loblaws, Lowes, and Walmart, among others. “Now, flowers are so easy to get and so attractive to people. You go to the store, and right at the door the flowers are there.”

Even before the pandemic, he noticed a growing number of homes with at least one hanging basket or container. Now combined with a wave of first-time COVID gardeners, he feels these are sure signs that ornamental horticulture will continue to flourish.

“I think that [they] will stay,” he says of new COVID gardeners. Whether they continue to garden at the same quantity remains to be seen, but he thinks they’ve gotten a taste of it and enjoyed it.

As for those residential streets with a couple perennials and some juniper? He feels it’s just a matter of time before they jump on board.

“I have a strong belief in the ornamental sector,” he says. “I

Yves Cournoyer has retired from his long-time position at Ball Seed.

Sage advice

Having seen how COVID has impacted the ornamental industry for two years now, Yves Cournoyer’s advice for next season is to order any plant materials and supplies as soon as possible.

“Product may be hard to get or close to being sold out,” he cautions at time of writing. Some plants, seeds, and plastic supplies may not even be available at this point. “There is a backlog coming from China – it will be a big deal for next spring.”

There’s also the added element of risk. Any unforeseen circumstances could lead to a reduction in supply, such as the lack of freight space they experienced in the first year of the pandemic. “You never know. We can have a disaster [in] production and then [be] sold out or cannot supply for different reasons,” he cautions. “Don’t take any chances.”

think it will just be healthier and healthier and bigger and bigger.”

As for retirement, Cournoyer says he looks forward to spending more time with his grandchildren and focusing on his many hobbies, including birdwatching, camping and painting outdoors.

“When I was at university, my goal was to be [an] ornithologist,” he reveals. He can often be found walking along coastal waters, looking for new species of birds where he and Surette reside in California.

“I want to thank all my friends for their support during my great journey with the Ball family.”

Back in 2020, ornamental products quickly sold out after the initial pandemic-induced panic, he says. Unfortunately, this led operations to expect the same level of demand and many overbought for 2021 as a result.

“Don’t get me wrong – we had a good spring, but we were expecting more and we still had lots on the table that never got sold.”

As COVID policies began to lift around mid-June this year, consumers started devoting more time to other non-essential activities. “Right at that [point], people stopped buying.”

For next year, Cournoyer says it may be necessary for growers to reevaluate their needs altogether.

“Instead of just giving your order and rebooking, look at what sold the most, at what time, and if you can manage your production to [follow] more of those colours or varieties [around] big weeks,” he says, adding that strategic diversion of resources could help reduce shrink and perhaps even allow for an increase in order volume by five to 15 per cent.

Grow with the flow. Climaflow.

Accelerate your growing climate while complying with light abatement legislations.

Growers face significant challenges while trying to create the perfect climate throughout their greenhouse. Reaching an even temperature and the ideal humidity levels without gapping is a complex task. Despite the difficulties, it is a mandated task that more and more growers must comply with in accordance with local light pollution regulations. In addition, when growing in accordance with the Plant Empowerment principles, gapping is not always an option.

This is why we are introducing the next step in climate control: ClimaFlow, a solution that combines Hinova’s VentilationJet System®, and Svensson’s advisory service, Climate House.

Yves Cournoyer with wife Diane Surette [left] at the Canadian Greenhouse Conference in 1996.

DIGITAL HORTICULTURE: An Essential Step Toward Autonomous Growing

What does it take to use artificial intelligence and achieve autonomous growing? There are some critical first steps that many, even data scientists, often miss.

BY KENNETH TRAN AND JOHN CHANG

Through our article entitled “A primer on AI and its rise in the greenhouse,” we learned that a wellarchitected artificial intelligence (AI) system can help growers optimize resource efficiency and achieve higher yields. By uncovering data insights across greenhouse operations, growers can use AI to make more informed decisions, enabling indoor farms to be ultimately more sustainable and profitable.

Unfortunately, amidst the rush to jump on the AI bandwagon, many companies – and even data scientists and machine learning specialists themselves – overlook

the need to build a solid foundation for how data is captured, organized, and shared within the organization. Simply put, in order to use AI and achieve autonomous growing, you need to have a solid foundation in data management and what’s known as information architecture (IA). IA is loosely defined as the structural design of what data to collect and how to ingest data potentially from multiple data sources, preprocess the data, store the data on the cloud, then efficiently retrieve the data in downstream applications.

To use a metaphor, if AI were a rocketship then data is the fuel. The

more sophisticated the rocket ship, the greater the need for clean, quality jet fuel. The same goes for AI and data.

THREE STEPS TO AUTONOMOUS GROWING

To better illustrate the overall journey and to help indoor farms move towards autonomous growing, we have created a technology deployment roadmap. The roadmap consists of three distinct stages, illustrated in Figure 1.

Stage 1: Connected. The first stage is where environmental

Figure 2. It’s important that users can visualize and analyze data across multiple complex data points easily, in one place. Using sample climate dashboards on Koidra’s Krop Manager app as an example, users can zoom in to see the data in the same time range across multiple data groups (or charts). Moreover, by hovering over one data point at one time, they can see the other data points at the same time. Data can be easily grouped into logical groups such as lighting, CO₂, temperature & humidity, and so forth.

and operational data becomes digitized, what we call Digital Horticulture. Data from multiple silos is unified and stored in the cloud via a data gateway.

To make sense of it, the data needs to be visualized with tools such as operational dashboards which growers can directly use for crop monitoring and decision making. Figures 2 and 3 provide examples of customizable dashboards showing critical growing metrics such as light levels, CO2, temperature and more.

Before investing in a data platform, there are some important questions to ask: Is it another silo in your existing mix of data silos (i.e. isolated, unintegrated data)? Data silos are a disease to your business, even if you don’t see it yet. Can it be integrated with your existing or new control systems? Can the data be turned into actionable insights? Once you find the data useful, can you operationalize upon that data (i.e. can the control system use it)?

Stage 2: Digital Twin. The second stage involves the implementation and customization of a “digital twin”, the term used for a virtual model of the growing environment based on real-world data from other sources.

With scientific computing and machine learning technologies, the digital twin can be used to predict crop growth and other biological indicators such as photosynthesis, transpiration, leaf area, and more (Figure 4). In other words, the digital twin provides growers with new smart biosensors that they didn’t have before, without purchasing or deploying any extra hardware. Scientific Machine Learning + Data = Digital Twin

What if a digital twin differs from reality? Well, then it’s not ready for commercialization yet. Users may not be able to immediately detect the difference in real-time, but they will eventually be able to tell. For example, if the digital twin says

Figure 1: A visualization of a deployment roadmap for an autonomous growing solution. This approach may differ for different suppliers, but we’ve found that this works best.

Figure 3: Helpful apps can allow growers to compare the performance across zones or across seasons. They help growers understand what caused, for instance, higher or lower yields. Using screenshots from Koidra’s Krop Manager as examples: the left shows the differences, in terms of yield and daily light integral (DLI), between the two zones growing the same crop (cucumber) during the same season; and the right shows the differences between the same zones but in terms of yield and CO₂. The metrics growers want to see and compare are fully customizable. This starting point is the basic process of digital transformation in greenhouse growing. Even without AI, this stage can produce high returns on investment (ROI) by itself.

Figure 4: The digital twin enables growers to understand the crop’s growth in real time by modeling and displaying biosensors such as photosynthesis, transpiration, dry weight accumulation, and more.

photosynthesis and crop growth should be this much, but growers get lower than expected yield at the end of the season, it’s probably a bad prediction.

Stage 3: Autonomous Growing. In the third stage, a computer can take over the tedious task of climate and crop control decision-making. By combining AI with a grower’s expert knowledge, the autonomous growing model can imitate how a data-driven grower would make decisions using the same inputs.

Note that each stage of this roadmap is designed to be a standalone success—providing return on investment by itself while the next one is still in progress. Even at the first stage, growers can already improve existing operations and decisionmaking processes with better data management and better data visualization tools.

GETTING STARTED WITH DIGITAL HORTICULTURE

The first stage of our roadmap is all about Digital Horticulture,

i.e. digital transformation in greenhouse growing. Let’s take a closer look at what this means and what is needed for success. A well-designed digital horticulture platform has three key pieces of hardware and software.

The first piece is the data hub that is installed at the site. It reads data from multiple data sources on the ground and sends them to the cloud for persistent storage and anywhere access.

The best data hubs can read data from both your existing control systems (e.g. Priva, Hoogendoorn, Argus, etc.) and from any new sensors that you may want to install at lowcost and low-friction without having to go through the legacy system. This avoids two significant problems:

• Data silos – Standard dataloggers can generally only read data from new sensors. What’s more, you typically need an expert to perform the installation. Although the data logger hardware itself sells in the range of $1,000 to $2,000, a full installation can easily cost up to $15,000 to $20,000. More importantly, once installed, you would end up with two siloed systems: the new data logger and the legacy control system.

• Vendor lock-in – Few companies today can readily help extract data from existing control systems. For most growers, their data is essentially held hostage. This is known in the tech industry as “vendor lock-in”.

These are the main reasons why greenhouse growers have generally not kept up with digital transformation as readily as in other industries. And for growers who want to adopt AI, many are stuck at the starting line.

The second piece is the data management system. This component stores your data in the cloud, potentially in very large volumes. The best data management systems have two important characteristics:

• The system should continue to be usable as the business grows over a long period of time, without incurring significant new costs or the need to delete older data.

• Data Portability – Users, as well as third-party apps functioning on behalf of users, should be able to access the data, either historical or real time, freely and efficiently.

Finally, the third piece is business intelligence tools. Here, growers get easy-to-use interfaces for consuming, understanding, and making sense of data, both historical data and real-time data. The best business intelligence tools can be accessed from anywhere, on any device with internet access.

When considering digital horticulture platforms, the ideal IoT solution should have all of these pieces:

• A data hub that works with multiple sources, e.g. sensors, legacy control systems, auxiliary databases.

• A cloud-based data management system that ensures scalability and data portability.

• Easy-to-use business intelligence tools that provide actionable information from the data.

This is exactly the kind of solid data foundation that’s needed—to make your farming business more efficient today and to move toward autonomous growing and AI tomorrow.

Kenneth Tran is CEO of Koidra Inc., an AI solutions supplier active in horticulture. John Chang is head of software engineering of Grönska, a vertical farm in Stockholm, Sweden. For questions, contact Koidra at hello@koidra.ai.

Redefining Waste

Innovative companies are upcycling food and plant waste into nutritious products.

BY ANNE-MARIE HARDIE

Greenhouse operators are a vital part of the food economy in Canada, growing produce for the grocery and restaurant industries. However, not all food is purchased, and in turn, consumed.

A highly productive crop, for example, could leave the grower with overstock; this is in addition to any misshapen or oversized produce that traditional channels don’t seek out. The grower needs to either quickly find an alternate buyer for the crop or allocate the produce to waste.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported that approximately 14 per cent of food is lost between harvest and retail. Food waste is economically and environmentally expensive, resulting in a loss of water, land, energy, labour, and capital. This negative impact is amplified when the food is placed into landfills, resulting in greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, food waste was found to be responsible for eight per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, as cited by the FAO from the 2012 Emission Database for Global Atmospheric Research.

ABOVE

According to Impact Canada, over 50 per cent of all nationally produced food is wasted each year. Despite this, one in seven Canadians suffer from food insecurity. It is a paradox; food is being wasted, but it consistently fails to get to those that need it. To address this problem, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada launched the $20 million Food Waste Reduction Challenge under the Food Policy for Canada. This initiative sought out proactive solutions to address the challenges that exist within the Canadian supply chain, including food waste prevention and diversion, as well as technologies that can extend the life of food and transform food waste. It is about pinpointing areas of excess, then identifying and coming up with solutions to keep produce away from the landfills.

LANDFILL DIVERSION

Greenhouse producers can minimize the amount of produce that enters the waste stream by advocating for and adopting solutions. This includes partnering

Produce unsuitable for the traditional grocery chain or restaurant avenue doesn’t have to be composted. The freeze-dried bioflakes pictured can contain 97 per cent of the original nutrients.

with innovative companies that contribute to the circular economy.

“Circular economy to us is the idea of creating value without extracting any resources, or at least using all of the resources that we have already extracted,” said David Côté, cofounder of LOOP Mission.

Based in Montréal, Que., LOOP Mission was developed to provide a proactive solution for curbing food waste in Canada. Their journey began when a wholesale produce distributor approached Côté and cofounder Julie Poitras-Saulnier to develop a solution for using the excess produce.

“He was throwing away an astronomical amount of fruits and vegetables every single day of the year,” said Côté.

Ordering less produce was not an option, as the company, which was one of the major produce distributors in Canada, made it a practice to carry overstock to support the needs of their end consumer. Instead, they were seeking a plan that could divert the excess produce away from the landfill. The solution was to convert the produce into juice products, which were then sold to both online and local grocers.

Now in their fifth year of business, LOOP Mission continues to develop new and creative solutions. In addition to various juices, their products include a line of beer made from day-old bread, gin from potato scraps of a potato chip factory, and hand-crafted soap derived from the cooking oils of a fast-food chain.

“We rapidly become the calling centre for anybody that was wasting any food in Canada,” said Côté. Produce remains their core focus, as it is the one that would have the highest negative impact on the environment if left to rot in the landfill. “Composting, for us, is the last solution that you want to take. It is

a viable option when there is no other solution,” he said.

Solutions like the ones offered by LOOP Mission are a viable alternative for greenhouse growers who are looking to participate in the circular economy.

“Greenhouses never know exactly how much volume that they need to produce; they typically maximize their space, and are stuck with overstock,” said Côté. This is a particular challenge when their primary clients are from the traditional market, which may not accept produce with slight flaws, including oversized or misshapen forms.

“All of those pounds of food that the grower has invested in, including money for seeds, watering and labour, all of that is at risk of being lost, unless the grower sources an alternate purchaser.”

LOOP Mission is currently sourcing organic matter from a radius of 1,000 km from Montréal, including north of Toronto, Ont. and New York, U.S.A. Committed to participating in the circular economy, they use data to develop the best solution for waste diversion and send all of their own waste, including the peels and pulp to a supplier who creates biomass and returns the energy back to the grid.

SHELF-STABLE CONSUMABLES

Based in British Columbia, TrendiTech Inc. is a robotics company which combats food waste at different levels of the supply chain, working with farms, food processors and distributors.

“The heart of our business is Biotrim, which is also the area that I believe would best respond to the needs of the greenhouse community,” said Carissa Campeotto, cofounder and CMO, Trendi.

Operated by Trendi employees, the Biotrim robotic unit carries

out a freeze-drying process. It is brought onsite to wash, dice and convert the produce into a shelf-stable product known as Bioflakes. In turn, this product can be used in food, medicinal products, feed and more.

“Biotrim is able to preserve 97 per cent of the original nutrient density of the produce,” said Campeotto. “The product could be sold as an individual ingredient to the food service industry. It is also easier to transport, and is shelf stable, which opens up the possibility of shipping it internationally.”

Once processed, the final product retains less than 20 per cent of its original size and weight, reducing the emissions related to shipping. This type of solution could be used to respond to growers’ overstock and oversized or misshapen produce.

“The producers and the farmers are often the ones who are squeezed the most and what we really wanted was to find a solution for them, so that they weren’t only governed by grocery,” said Campeotto.

“We process the product and provide the farms and greenhouses a profit share to help create a new revenue steam while eliminating their cost of disposal. The farms don’t keep any product unless they prefer a product share [over] a profit share.”

FROM SOIL TO SOIL

Not all organic waste is upcycled into consumable products. There are solutions in place that can convert organic matter into materials that feed back into production.

Alex Hayman, director of strategic solutions, FoodCycler, sought to close the loop by creating a solution that would divert

waste from the landfill and put it back into the growing medium. Their commercial solution is a self-contained unit that converts organic waste into a nutrient-dense soil amendment. It is an aerobic digestive process, eliminating the methane gases that are typically emitted when organic matter is resting in a landfill.

“The solution reduces methane emissions, both from being released in the landfill and the gases emitted when transporting the waste,” said Hayman. Since it is a highly sterile, heated environment, growers can use the machinery for all organic matter, even those that may have had to be discarded due to infestation, disease, or non-uniform growth. This type of solution is ideal for growers, providing the ability to recycle any unused organic material, into usable nutrient-dense material.

“One of our clients, an indoor grower, is using the commercial unit post-harvest to recycle any organic material that is leftover so that it does not go to the landfill,” said Hayman. “This client is running their machine five times a week and has already identified a cost savings on waste hauling.”

For industrial-scale use, the process takes just 12 to 24 hours to complete. The resulting sterile biomass can then be stored air tight or in an open container for up to one year.

For growers looking to participate in the circular economy, there are a growing number of options. It is about looking at excess material, not as a waste product, but as a resource, and discovering the solutions that will improve resource-use efficiency while expanding into new opportunities.

Anne-Marie Hardie is a freelance writer based in Ontario.

ABOVE LEFT TO RIGHT

LOOP Mission’s cofounders Julie Poitras-Saulnier and David Côté [left] as well as Trendi’s co-founders Craig McIntosh and Carissa Campeotto [right] have proven that it’s possible to upcycle unwanted produce into nutritious products.

PHOTO CREDIT: LOOP MISSION

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To learn more about this cost-effective, Canadian-made solution, please contact a Reliable Controls

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QUICK TIPS FOR GERMINATING SEEDS

Ed Bloodnick Grower Services Director, Premier Tech

GROWING MEDIA IS AN IMPORTANT TOOL FOR STARTING SEEDS AND THE START OF A SUCCESSFUL SEASON. HERE ARE A FEW TIPS FOR SEED GERMINATION MEDIA.

USE FRESH PRODUCT

As growing media ages, wetting agent degrades, certain starter nutrients draw down and limestone may activate. If your growing medium is more than 8 months old, send unused samples to a laboratory for testing and discuss with your media manufacturer for recommendations to achieve the best growing results.

Check the manufacture date. Cold temperatures can delay aging, since microbes are less active.

PEAT - PERLITE OR PEATVERMICULITE GROWING MEDIUM

Aggregates are added to complement the air porosity or water holding characteristics of the growing medium. Peat-perlite growing media hold less water and are typically better for slow germinating seed, like begonia and water sensitive varieties. Peat-vermiculite growing media hold more water, take longer to dry out and are perfect for geranium, marigold, and most vegetable seeds.

TRY BEFORE YOU BUY

Before the season starts, trial any new growing medium to see how it dries out and holds water. Most manufacturers will offer samples for you to try and evaluate with their technical team, allowing you to get accustomed

to the watering and fertility needs before growing an entire crop.

USE ACTIVE INGREDIENTS

Biostimulants are great ingredients to have in your germination growing medium. Bacteria, such as Bacillus pumilus, stimulate root growth, shorten time on the bench and can improve the quality of your seedlings. You can add a biostimulant yourself, or even easier, have it incorporated in your growing medium.

CHECK THE EC AND PH OF THE GROWING MEDIUM

Calibrate your EC and pH meters frequently to assure accuracy of the readings.

Check with your growing media manufacturer for fertility levels and pH. An EC of 0.5 – 1.2 mmhos/cm (SME) is

a good range for seed germination.

A pH of 5.8 is a good target pH. Test EC and pH of growing media and fertilizer solution at the start of the crop and monitor throughout the crop cycle.

CHECK YOUR WATER

Test irrigation water at least twice a season to determine the alkalinity and nutrient content. Water alkalinity is a measure of the bicarbonates and carbonates in the water, the higher the content, the faster the pH of the growing medium will rise. The ideal water alkalinity is 40-80 ppm CaCO3 for misting and irrigate plugs or cutings. Discuss with your fertilizer manufacturer the best fertilizer blend for your water alkalinity. Also check water for high levels of salts and specific elements, such as sodium, chloride, fluoride, boron, since young plants are more susceptible to injury than mature plants.

If you have questions about growing media, consult with the manufacturer to be sure you are well informed about the product’s specifications, intended use and the expected results. Manufacturers can assist and provide technical support to be sure you get the best growing experience.

PERFORMANCE

Awards in Technological Innovation

The 2021 Greenhouse Technology Awards made their debut at the Canadian Greenhouse Conference this year.

BY GRETA CHIU

Hosted by Greenhouse Canada and sponsored by the Canadian Greenhouse Conference, the winners of the new program shared their thoughts during a special segment back in October.

The driving force behind the program is to recognize technology demonstrating a high level of innovation in advancing the greenhouse and controlled environment agriculture sectors in Canada. It also presents an opportunity to help spur greater advancements and commercial adoption.

Judged by sector stakeholders across Canada, each entry was evaluated based on four criteria: innovation, importance, effectiveness and impact. Here were the three winners and one honourable mention, first revealed in the GCC program guide.

SOLLUM

SMART

LED LIGHTING

BY

SOLLUM TECHNOLOGIES WINNER, PRODUCTION

What it does: Driven by artificial intelligence,

ABOVE

Sollum Technologies has created the only smart LED lighting solution on the market known to dynamically recreate, modulate and perfect the full spectrum of the Sun’s light, as opposed to oft-seen blue and red wavelengths. The fixtures are paired with their cloud-based SUN as a Service (SUNaaS) platform where smart algorithms allow growers to create an infinite number of light recipes adapted to each plant at each stage of growth. Different light recipes can even be applied to different crops in the same greenhouse using the same fixtures. The system collects live data from sensors, calculates the difference between ambient and desired light spectra and intensities, then compensates for the sunlight differential in real-time while minimizing energy use. Trials have shown energy savings of over 30 per cent compared to HPS, as well as productivity increases of up to 40 per cent compared to other LED solutions. Commercial trials have shown accelerated production, improved quality and

Quebec-based Sollum Technologies’ smart LED lighting system was named Winner in the Production category for the debut of the 2021 Greenhouse Technology Awards.

TOP TO BOTTOM:

Ontario-grown IPM Scoutek was named Winner in the Pest Management category [top], while Netherlands-based Blue Radix took home the winning title in the International category [middle]. American entry Luna by iUNU was named honourable mention [bottom].

new crop opportunities. This past year, Sollum’s technology successfully allowed for winter pepper production on a commercial scale, and research trials have shown potential in a wide variety of other crops. Advanced monitoring tracks the state of all lighting fixtures, enabling recalibration and preventative maintenance to extend their lifespan.

Winning areas: Judges were taken by the technology’s unique ability to replicate the Sun’s output while holding onto the efficiencies of indoor production. They appreciated the results and examples of deployment highlighted in the entry form, showing usage and breadth of application. The use of lights for winter pepper production was highlighted as a novel approach, and with LEDs, even more so. The ability to integrate the lighting and platform with existing sensors and systems was another winning point.

Location: Montréal, Québec

IPM SCOUTEK

WINNER, PEST MANAGEMENT

What it does: Seeking to improve the errorprone, analog recordkeeping ways of traditional greenhouse scouting, IPM Scoutek created a mobile scouting platform designed to improve the efficiency and efficacy of the process. Scouting data can be directly relayed to growers and external consultants in real-time, reducing lag time between reporting and taking action to minimize economic injury to the crops. The platform can also correlate input spend with efficacy to help growers gain better visibility on costs, streamline pest management programs and produce healthier crops as a result. Consulting with numerous growers, scouts and IPM managers, software designers created the platform to ensure ease-of-use and actionable insights. Highlighted outcomes from commercial greenhouses have shown a 20 per cent gain in scouting efficiency, faster response times by two days, and one to 10 per cent improvements in yields or reductions in crop losses compared to traditional scouting methods.

Winning areas: Judges were impressed by the technology’s ability to integrate data and help growers react to action thresholds. Understanding the pains of pen-and-paper recordkeeping, they highlighted the importance of streamlining scouting efforts and being able to share data with staff and consultants with ease.

Location: Windsor, Ontario

CROP CONTROLLER BY BLUE RADIX

WINNER, INTERNATIONAL

What it does: Designed to automate daily decisions made by growers, Crop Controller provides greenhouse support and autonomous control 24/7. Starting with the grower’s strategy and continuously integrating real-time data

both in and outside the greenhouse, the artificial intelligence system calculates and continuously finetunes the operations of connected greenhouse systems to optimize costs and yields autonomously, needing only high level direction from the grower at the strategic level.

To start, the grower selects the crop, required yield, time to market, and conditions to be managed. The system provides a growth strategy for optimal conditions on each day of the growth period, then integrates data from greenhouse sensors, weather forecasts and market status to finetune conditions for the next two days. In the final step, the information is run through a function that has been trained with the greenhouse’s historical data. Every 15 minutes, it calculates the best possible combination of setpoints (e.g. heat, ventilation, light, CO2, humidity) that are sent to the climate computer. Growers in and outside of Canada attested to the software’s potential and are projected to manage a far greater area of production space while improving yields by at least four to 10 per cent and reducing operational costs by five per cent.

Winning areas: Judges were impressed by the use of AI to integrate all greenhouse data in one space, helping the grower analyze and make decisions. They pointed out the importance of easing the burden for growers managing many acres and filling the knowledge gap for new staff. Judges also noted the impressive track record with trials of the Netherlands-based technology being conducted and finetuned with growers in Canada, as well as synergistic partnerships with industry stakeholders and suppliers.

Location: Rotterdam,

The Netherlands

LUNA BY IUNU HONOURABLE MENTION

What it does: Using robotic optical scanners on tracks above the canopy, Luna captures data that helps growers visualize their crops in more ways than one. Combining artificial intelligence with computer vision, the system assesses plant growth, predicts harvests, detects anomalies and tracks inventory, all while allowing the grower to see their entire greenhouse in real-time.

The latest enhancements focus on germination prediction rates and anomaly detection. With an accuracy of over 90 per cent, growers can obtain a more accurate estimation of seed germination rates to reduce costs and shrink. Their Mapview tool allows the user to zoom in, down to the veins or insects on an individual leaf, using stitched images comprised of thousands of 4k, high resolution photos presented in one seamless, composite image

Notable areas: Judges were impressed by Luna’s ability to capture data in detail and in realtime, allowing growers to spend less time scouting and more time addressing other inefficiencies. They noted that robotic scanners will be the future, and appreciated Luna’s ability to make predictions on yield and timing. Though this entry did not win, it was recognized as an Honourable Mention based on its high scores, excellent testimonials and impact to growers.

Location: Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.

Interested in entering the next competition? Keep an eye out for the announcement in 2022 on greenhousecanada.com

NORTHERN GROWTH PROJECT continues to thrive

In an Inuit hamlet above the Arctic Circle lies Canada’s northern most vertical farming project.

BY QUADE DIGWEED, PATRICIA BITAXI, JULIE MILLER, AND DR. FADI AL-DAOUD

The vertical farming project in Gjoa Haven, Nunavut grows in sophistication each year.

Winter has returned to Gjoa Haven, Nunavut, but the site of Canada’s most northern vertical farming project is growing more fresh produce than ever.

Enclosed within a 20-ft shipping container, this form of controlled environment agriculture (CEA) precisely controls every variable, from temperature, humidity and light, to irrigation and nutrients, while growing in soilless media. Solar panels and wind turbines power the grow pod, with diesel as a backup.

For remote northern communities, access to fresh produce is scarce and the price point is high. A head of lettuce is often sold for up to $14.00, and it is close to rotten by the time it reaches local markets.

According to Statistics Canada, approximately one in seven Canadians were estimated to live in a foodinsecure household in May 2020. Canada has many varied landscapes and weather conditions that can contribute to this issue, but one of the most extreme is perhaps the Arctic circle.

To mitigate issues of food insecurity, the Arctic Research Foundation coordinated a collaborative project that was deployed in 2019 alongside partners Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the National Research Council of Canada, and the Canadian Space Agency. Not only does it seek to improve access to fresh produce in remote communities, the collaborative learning between trainees, research scientists, and engineers have strengthened this model, working together to overcome setbacks.

When Greenhouse Canada first covered the project in June 2020, the grow pod had successfully grown microgreens and 70 to 80 heads of lettuce per week. With additional climate control equipment, skills development, and remote training, this experimental vertical farm has since grown to include strawberries,

herbs, and even tomatoes. Not only is the produce shared within the community, but the process has helped train community members to grow and monitor crops, providing both skills and fresh produce that could not be grown outdoors.

Over the past year, previous challenges with humidity control in the winter have been solved by a combination of knowledge and innovation by southern and northern partners.

The onsite crew in Gjoa Haven monitors the facility’s power consumption and battery charge. Depending on CO2 levels and the available energy, they use a combination of dehumidifiers and ventilation to prioritize either water recapture or energy conservation.

CO2 supplementation in the facility is achieved entirely from human respiration. The grow pod is connected to adjacent shipping containers which serve as a power plant, clean work space and mechanical shop. The CO2-rich air in these containers is provided to the plant growth system, improving the air quality while boosting production.

Zero waste and sustainability continue to be key goals of the project. In 2021, the crew built cold frame greenhouses made out of recycled pallets. Using spent nutrient solution and media from the container system, the crew grew and harvested radishes and sweet peas in the short summer growing season from July to August. There has been discussion of growing items that are known within the community, such as blueberries, cloudberries, teas, medicinals and tundra plants, but it will take time and research to develop efficient systems for longer growing crops.

To minimize trips up north from collaborating teams during COVID, the Gjoa Haven community has been running the pod themselves – a testament to the project’s model and training. Recent developments include additional crew training and adding technologies to facilitate remote communications, including a fiber optics communications system, a data dashboard for the crew to review climate data and trends, and a thermal and RGB imaging system for remote data collection on the crops.

The long-term vision is for trainees to teach other community members and eventually set up additional pods and grow labs throughout the Arctic.

Quade Digweed is a greenhouse engineer at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Patricia Bitaxi and Julie Miller are students in the Horticultural Technician Program at Niagara College. Fadi AlDaoud, PhD, is the greenhouse vegetable specialist at OMAFRA.

This is one in a series of research updates, written in collaboration with students in the Hort1346 Greenhouse Production Course at Niagara College and initiated by instructor Sebastien Jacob.

Powering up

Now going into its third winter, the project in Gjoa Haven, Nunavut continues to grow in size and sophistication, and the energy system supporting it is no exception.

“Every year, we finetune it more and more,” says Paul Waechter, technical consultant for the Arctic Research Foundation (ARF) and manager of the grow pod’s energy systems.

Working with Adrian Schimnowski, CEO of ARF, Waechter initially led the design, build and installation of a solar unit for their 20-ft shipping containers deployed as portable science labs in the Arctic. Each one was accompanied by wind turbines that could be folded and transported. “The whole assembly could be dismantled by two people and moved,” says Waechter.

The project in Gjoa Haven built upon their work. Since the grow pod’s deployment in 2019, the project now has three separate power systems supporting four interconnected shipping container units. “We set it up in such a way that it’s interchangeable, so if one side goes down, we can still control it with one of the other power systems,” he says.

Sources of power include two separate 6kW wind turbines, 14.6 kW solar panels and a backup diesel power generator. “The whole goal is to have the system run as green as possible with little use of the [diesel] generator,” he shares.

Waechter and the team have since added batteries to store the generated energy. By continuously finetuning the system and managing their power consumption strategies, they’ve dropped their reliance on the diesel generator by half.

“I can monitor the system remotely,” says Waechter, who’s based in Ontario. He keeps a close eye on the readings every morning and evening to see how the day has progressed, then communicates back and forth with the local team in Gjoa Haven to make the necessary tweaks.

Working with equipment developed in warmer latitudes, part of the challenge for Waechter and his team has been Gjoa Haven’s extreme climate, with temperatures reaching as low as -40°C. They’ve recently installed two new wind turbines that are performing phenomenally, producing so much energy that Waechter’s next task is to figure out how to manage the surplus.

“There is a lot of interest in what we’re doing,” he says, hinting at new projects to come. “The future looks promising, [but] it’s a process.” Transportation by boat is only available in July and August, and logistics can easily take two to three years before a project comes to life. But the collaborative journey toward a greater goal has made it all worthwhile.

“What everybody brings to the table is phenomenal,” he says. “We all work with the Inuit community up there. It’s their project, and we’re there to help them.”

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GETTING READY for your financial future

Amid a rapidly changing economic environment, knowing your options will help you stay agile.

BY SANDRA EEDY

Like many industries, COVID-19 has taken its toll on greenhouse farming. But with strategic planning, it’s not too late to get a good thing growing! Anticipating a year of recovery, greenhouse farmers need to make smart decisions to respond to the many factors impacting the industry. Although there’s no crystal ball to foresee how these factors will play out, knowing your options can help you make the right decisions for your business. Drawing on my own experience working with clients in agriculture, I have gained valuable insight on some of these factors and how greenhouse producers can respond to ensure agility and longevity in today’s market.

THE IMPORTANCE OF DEBT RESTRUCTURING

Moving into the winter months, practising proper debt control is a must. Farm debt restructuring can come in a variety of forms. The first step is to get in contact with an agricultural lender who’s familiar with your industry and takes the time to understand your specific operation. They will find the best options to suit your needs.

Some of these options might include payment adjustments, cutting expenses, extending loans, interest rate or term adjustments and assistance in reading the fine print. As farming is a volatile industry, being proactive about your finances will ensure you’re able to weather the storm. When it comes to cutting expenses, focus on the ones you have control over, like personal withdrawals, and limit them to the amount you require each month for living. When looking at cutting variable costs, such as fuel and crop inputs, consider using pre-fixed payments when pricing is low.

This approach can also impact future years’ cash flow, which may have been used for inputs into the farming operation, and is another great reason to speak to an agricultural lender who understands your market.

GETTING STARTED AND EXPLORING NICHE MARKETS

New greenhouse farmers and those looking to expand into niche markets must consider a variety of key points. Where will you market your product? Do you have signed contracts? How viable is your plan in the face of shifting consumer demand? When meeting with your lender to secure financing, come prepared to answer these questions. Targeting the right markets to sell your product will lead to net income with the proper cost margins in place, ultimately guaranteeing the financial health of your business.

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Interest rates, the fluctuating Canadian dollar, and changes to the economy can all impact your business. Know your options ahead of time.

If you need to substantially cut costs, review your financing and take advantage of low interest rates. By refinancing your debt structure through consolidation and spreading the debt out over a longer period of time, you can lower your monthly payment. Keep in mind, while this lowers your interest expense in the short term, it increases the cost of borrowing over time.

EFFECTS OF INTEREST RATE ON GREENHOUSE FARMING

Interest rates in 2021 have stayed constant and low. While it’s too early to predict whether rates will stay this way, in the event they do it will be much more affordable for greenhouse operators to buy, build and sell at a favourable dollar value.

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Instead of cutting back on expenses for essential supplies, consider saving on capital costs such as by choosing used equipment over new.

Alternatively, if interest rates rise, this would increase the cost of borrowing, cost of construction and would ultimately lower the sale value of real estate. It can also put considerable pressure on debt servicing, causing increased interest payments with less being applied to principal reduction.

When interest rates begin to fall, the normal reaction is to stay short on term and wait for the falling to slow. From there, you can fix down your rate of interest. As for rising rates, fix down before they increase too much.

The fluctuating Canadian dollar plays a role in sales projections as well. If the Canadian dollar remains where it is now, the United States (US) will be able to purchase our commodities at a much lower dollar rate. Alternatively, a rising Canadian dollar could hurt the sale of produce into the US due to the increase in cost from conversion to the Canadian dollar.

IS AUTOMATION THE WAY TO GO?

Integrating the right kind of technology can enable new opportunities for growers, with autonomous equipment poised to assist growers in achieving better, more consistent quality to obtain higher prices at market. The pandemic has also introduced uncertainty into the labour market, which automation can help streamline.

For growers interested in pursuing automation, consider affordability. Some of the ways a producer can determine affordability is through evaluating their

financial statements and debt servicing capacity. Technology can be very expensive and the cost for borrowing is contingent on what the cost of the equipment works out to be. Getting in touch with your lender will help assess these key factors to determine if this is the right investment for your business.

Growers should keep in mind there are many aspects that can affect the affordability of the capital equipment purchases. One of the main factors is loss of crop from weather, disease or insects, which a producer can protect against by taking out crop insurance through the government programs. The cropping business needs to have the ability to produce large volumes of product to generate higher gross sales in order to pay for the technology.

When considering if it’s the right time to buy, first ask yourself if the purchase is vital for your operation. If it is, by what percentage will your crop production increase? This increased cash flow assists with the repayment of the capital equipment purchases, which are normally financed out over a term of five to seven years with monthly or semi-annual payments.

A FINE LINE TO CUTTING EXPENSES

Reducing expenses isn’t always a fix and can actually lead to complications. Working with agricultural clients, we simply do not recommend cutting expenses when it comes to seed, fertilizer and pesticides. One

needs to grow strong, healthy plants to get strong production. Instead, when making capital purchases, consider cost cutting in the form of used equipment over new. Some will say “but I’ll have repairs,” which is true, but those can be made in your own shop versus the dealer, further reducing the labour cost on equipment.

There is also benefit in volume purchasing and working with signed contracts to determine purchase quantities and informed planning. Cutting expenses is not about trying to reduce all costs, but rather making informed decisions in certain areas for the best choice for your business.

INCREASED ACCESS TO MARKETS AND RESUMPTION OF DEMAND

So long as the food services industry remains open, the demand for fresh vegetables will continue to increase as more and more Canadians head out to eat. To prepare for this shift, consider marketing as a larger group with other farmers. By working together, cooperative marketing is an opportunity for farmers to increase their market share. Through this type of collaboration, individual farmers can access larger markets for better sales opportunities and meet institutional purchasing requirements. Combining labour and distribution resources also helps save the individual costs of fuel and hiring workers.

For co-op marketing to be beneficial, pool your resources for volume sales to buyers or distributors with a minimum five or six neighbouring family operations. Smaller growers can take advantage of the partnerships by selling greater volumes of product, increasing their higher sale price and reducing shipping costs.

IN CONCLUSION, AGILITY IS KEY

Greenhouse farmers face a multitude of factors that can dictate the best position for response. While farmers can respond more readily to certain factors such as increased demand, others, like capital purchases, require more planning. Getting in touch with an agricultural lender will help you plan, prepare and evaluate the best path forward to ensure you receive the support and expertise needed for the unique challenges greenhouse farmers face.

Sandra Eedy is the manager of agricultural and small business lending at Your Neighbourhood Credit Union and owner of Eedy Farms with husband, Robert, in Huron County, Ontario.

PHOTO CREDIT: YUANGENG / ADOBE STOCK

Perennials: A snapshot of the new and the notable

The market for perennials is booming and new genetics are bringing their A-game.

BY GRETA CHIU

Speaking with a cross-section of perennial breeders and suppliers, all were continuing to see the effects of COVID-sparked gardening.

As of writing, plant material was in high demand and supply was running short.

To highlight Canadian-friendly introductions, each breeder or supplier shared their top picks with Greenhouse Canada for 2021/2022, and where noted, sneak peeks for 2022/2023 release.

Note: Varieties are not presented in any order.

TERRA NOVA NURSERIES

“The hardest things in plant breeding is changing the habit of the plant and making it more acceptable to the retailer and the home gardener and giving it value at every step,” says Chuck Pavlich, director of new product development at Terra Nova Nurseries. “In our breeding work, we want the grower to have an easy time growing our plants. We want our plants to have fewer

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chemical needs, take less labour to grow and have higher value overall.” That means longlasting, attractive appearance on the retail shelf, along with resistance to disease and good growth in different consumer climates.

For perennials, Pavlich has often seen consumers bring home products suppressed by plant growth regulators. One year later, those same products grow uninhibited in the garden to become two to three times the purchase size. That’s why Terra Nova tailors their work towards breeding smaller habits.

To avoid disappointment, the breeder purposely provides less generous zone ratings. They also grow some of their perennials for at least five years in their less-than-ideal Oregon clay beds, which help to simulate a common, overwatered growing environment. “We don’t make selections until after five years,” he explains, by which time, they’ve often overcome

New genetics emerge each year in the perennials space, but some are particularly eyecatching and unique, such as this Iberis x hybrida Mermaid Lavender from Syngenta Flowers.

PHOTO CREDIT: SYNGENTA FLOWERS

the main pitfalls in plant habit.

As of writing, they had sold 65 per cent of their 2022 plant material along with 25 per cent of their 2023 offerings.

Nimbus ‘Pink’ Thalictrum [1]: “Canada is one of the best environments for Thalictrum because it stays cooler, longer,” says Pavlich. With Nimbus Pink, Terra Nova came up with a short and stout variety with deep dark stems – a pleasant contrast to the “monstrous fluffy heads” of long-lasting blooms. “The heads can be about the size of a basketball, individually,” he describes. “When these emerge out of the ground, they look … just like maidenhair ferns.” It’s when temperatures rise that the stems elongate and turn almost black. Although Thalictrums in general tend to succumb to mildew in cool, rainy weather, the Nimbus was selected for its resistance to mildew as well as height. “It took a long time to breed these – about seven to eight generations.” Although he knows of Thalictrum populations that survive Zones 3 and 4, these have been validated in Zones 5 to 9 so far.

‘Peach Pearls’ Sedum [2]: While the foliage is a mahogany, almost cordovan red colour, the blooms emerge as an elegant peach pink that age into a pale primrose yellow. The seed heads that follow give the variety its name with peach-pink pearls that last three to four months. “The beauty isn’t really the flowers, it’s actually the seed heads,” says Pavlich. The plants are short, tight, and under knee-height and have performed continuously for at least five years in their trial beds. “Retailers are going to love this because it stays looking great on the shelves for much longer than virtually anything else.” Zones 4 to 9.

Penstemon Dakota ‘Burgundy’ [3]: “I think this is our best Penstemon introduction,” says Pavlich. With near-black foliage and large lavender

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pink flowers, the 30-inch tall Dakota Burgundy has already been recognized by a number of institutions and named among the top performers at trials by Colorado State University as well as the University of Georgia in Athens. Not only is it said to stay mildew-free, the variety blooms prolifically and is hugely popular with pollinators. “Hummingbirds just cluster around this. It’s like you’ve got a little hummingbird airport in your yard,” says Pavlich. Zones 3 to 8.

Heuchera Northern Exposure series [4]: Although this seven-member series is not a new introduction, Terra Nova has continuously added to it over the past two years. This marks the first year where the series is in “good

supply,” says Pavlich. Bred specifically for colder climates, Pavlich originally found Heuchera richardsonii through seed producers in northern Saskatchewan.

“Because this is a wind-pollinated species, it has tall wispy stems, literally 4’ tall from the ground up.” Through five generations of breeding, Terra Nova was able to reduce the heights on four-foot-tall flower stems and introduce some attractive colour, while still retaining superb cold hardiness. Known to be cold hardy to Zone 3 in Minnesota with 100 per cent survival, the breeder accidentally sent several Northern Exposures to the Costa Farms trials in Miami, FL. “And surprise, surprise – they kicked butt!” Pavlich reveals. “Richardsonii also has very

high heat and humidity tolerance - its natural range is from the northern plains of Canada, south to the Midwest of the United States. This series blooms from April to August in Oregon and even longer in cooler climates. “It’s really inventive breeding,” he says, crediting their now retired perennial breeder, Janet Egger, who had a way of bringing out the best traits in their genetics.

Ruby Gold Dicentra (Lamprocapnos) [5]: “This is the first gold-foliage Lamprocapnos that was bred to be gold. All others are mutations,” says Pavlich. The challenge was that Terra Nova not only wanted the gold colour, but great vigour. “The first gold Lamprocapnos actually had gold beneath the top layer of green in the leaf, and the mutation happened where the green layer peeled off and exposed just the gold. The plant had less chlorophyll and less leaf surface to collect light, so they weren’t as vigorous.” Not an accident, ‘Ruby Gold’ was purposely bred for its appearance and has shown itself to be very vigorous in the garden with a more stout habit. Stems emerge as orange and develop large flowers that open into a deep coral red. “There’s tons of [flowers]. And this plant has been almost a thug in containers,” adds Pavlich. Hardy to Zone 3.

DARWIN PERENNIALS AND KIEFT SEED

Chris Fifo has seen a “steady explosion in the last two years” for perennials. “The breeding has come so far,” says the perennial products representative for Darwin Perennials and Kieft Seed. Breeders are reducing variability by breeding for first-year flowering.

For Darwin Perennials and Kieft Seed, they’ve put together resources to help growers schedule their perennial genetics, including their First-Year Flowering Tool and Darwin Perennials University. The latter replaced the

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annual Darwin Perennial Days this year. Artemisia Sunferns: For 2022, Darwin Perennials has introduced two varieties of the Artemisia gmelinii Sunferns – Olympia and Arcadia. “It’s all about texture and the green,” says Fifo. A groundcover-type item, the Sunferns don’t look or behave like traditional Artemisia, which can otherwise become quite tall and often sport silver foliage. Instead, these Sunferns look like evergreen shrubs and aren’t confined to the same shade requirements as actual ferns. Perfect for sunny landscape locations, they also thrive in the heat and tolerate drought, spreading out to about 18 inches in the garden. Olympia [6] is deeper green in colour with red stems, while Arcadia [7] is slightly smaller with more of a mint green hue. Zone 4 to 9.

Monarda Bee-mine Series [8]: This new series of Monarda didyma from Darwin Perennials debuts in three colours: Lavender, Pink and Red. The early flowering, medium height series has a beachball-type habit that “can stay nicely contained in production,” says Fifo. Plants typically measure 15 to 18 inches tall when finished but can reach up to 22 inches in their second year. “They’re easy to schedule [and] very easy to flower the first year,” he adds. Described as a series with landscape

presence, Monarda is also an ideal fit for larger 1 to 2-gallon containers. “People want more of a landscape-sized perennial again,” he notes, adding that the series hits two other consumer wants – resistance to powdery mildew and pollinator friendliness. Zones 4 to 9.

Nepeta subsessilis Prelude Purple [9]: After introducing Prelude Blue a few years back, Darwin Perennials has followed up with new Prelude Purple. Donning true dark purple blooms, this first-year flowering variety offers an excellent mounding habit that stays well contained in its first year. “Growers will have an easy time with this one,” says Fifo. Like other Nepeta, Prelude Purple continuously flowers as it grows and can reach up to 36 inches in its second year. Although it’s conservatively rated for Zones 5 to 9, Fifo notes that Prelude Blue has successfully overwintered at Vanstone Nurseries’ Zone 3 climate in Manitoba.

Heliopsis helianthoides Summer Eclipse [10]: “This was a showstopper in our container trials,” says Fifo. The compact, bicolour Heliopsis from Darwin Perennials pairs orange-yellow flowers against dark purple foliage and stems, drawing attention from across the trial fields. “As they mature they change shades of colours,” Fifo explains. Its compact bushy habit is unique as

well. Other Heliopsis with this colour combination tend to be four feet tall. In fact, this Heliopsis variety came from a cut flower breeder, shares Fifo. At time of writing, this variety was in short supply but will become commercially available in early 2022. Summer Eclipse is ideal for both container and landscape, typically blooming mid to end of July as the days grow short.

Leucanthemum White Lion [11]: This early season Leucanthemum from Kieft Seed is an F1 variety. As Fifo explains, seed perennials take many years to refine, so growers may have already seen White Lion in trials prior to its official launch. A key advantage is its 10-hour photoperiod, which puts it at the front of the pack for early season sales. “No other seed varieties will flower this early,” he says. Growth is more uniform compared to some existing varieties, and it’s naturally compact without needing growth regulators –even under low light levels and less ideal conditions. “In the Southern US, customers can have it at any time of the year,” he adds. For the Canadian market, timing would be closer to April under regular day photoperiods.

Rudbeckia GoldBlitz [12]: Rudbeckia Goldsturm was named perennial of the year back in the 90s, and now Kieft Seed is about to release

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an improved version: Rudbeckia fulgida GoldBlitz. “It’s flowering two to three weeks earlier than Goldsturm,” says Fifo, and that is a big improvement. Even using heat and lights, Fifo recalls being unable to get Goldsturm to flower prior to June 1, so the variety was never a viable product for certain growers, including some in Canada. With new GoldBlitz, growers can take advantage of its earlier blooms and reliable first-year flowering. Sporting the same height and dense foliage, it’s almost impossible to tell GoldSturm and GoldBlitz apart. Part of the 2022/2023 catalogue, liners will become available next spring.

SYNGENTA FLOWERS

“Perennial sales in general for this year have gone up significantly,” says Steffi Hugo, technical product lead on perennials for Syngenta Flowers. She attributes this to the rise in gardening interest. “People are realizing the value of perennials, too.”

Syngenta partners with a number of other perennial breeders through ThinkPlants, including Danziger and Terra Nova. “This has really helped us expand our reach to a lot of different areas and one of them being Canada.”

Hugo shares three of her top selections from the 2022 releases for Canada, followed by another three for 2023 to help whet growers’ appetites.

Iberis x hybrida Mermaid Lavender [13]: Mermaid Lavender is a hybrid Iberis that offers a deep lavender colour paired with a larger habit, ideal for 2.5 quarts or larger. It’s a great option as a season extender, flowering in the summer months, Hugo shares. Syngenta’s trials in Miami, FL saw great heat tolerance. “Cool nights will help bring out stronger deep lavender colour,” Hugo adds. This first-year flowering variety is a biennial in cool climates. Zones 5 to 9.

Leucanthemum maximum Western Star Pisces [14]: With large double flowers and a compact habit, new Western Star Pisces is a beautiful and versatile option for a number of container sizes. Like others in the Western Star Series, the early flowering Pisces needs only minimal vernalization, says Hugo. Zones 4 to 9.

Campanula portenschlagiana

Clockwise Compact White Blush [15]: “This will be a great addition to the Clockwise Compact Deep Blue,” shares Hugo. A great option for pot crops and perennial options, this first-year flowering variety is an F1 hybrid from seed. “[It’s] highly uniform with great mounding habit,” says Hugo. Fast to flower and ideal for summer programs. Zones 3 to 7.

Lithodora diffusa Tidepool Sky Blue [16]: What stands out for this forthcoming variety are its improvements on current open genetics. Where Grace Ward typically blooms at the end of each branch, Lithodora Tidepool Sky Blue blooms throughout the plant and maintains a uniform, mounded habit that remains well-contained. “This is going to be very unique and interesting for a lot of growers because Grace Ward always had an interesting look to it, but this one is more refined,” says Hugo. The early spring-blooming perennial

opens into an exciting bright blue hue. Zone 5 to 9. (2022/23 release)

Lavender stoechas Javelin Compact Purple [17]: Adding another dimension to the Javelin series, this forthcoming addition offers a more compact habit on very densely branched stems to create uniform habits. “The flags and the flowers on this are huge!” says Hugo. “It’s already gaining a good bit of attention, too.” For growers who feel Javelin Forte is a little too large, this Compact Purple would be an ideal addition to an herb or vegetable program, pack containers or smaller quarts. “This item is going to create some versatility for a lot of different growers in different markets and programs,” she says, adding that it could be a great option for potted crops and grocery retail. Zone 7 to 9. (2022/23 release)

Iberis sempervirens Whistler White [18]: Grown from F1 seed, Whistler White will eventually be taking over from Syngenta’s Iberis Tahoe. “You’ll get more uniformity, habit, and flower power on it,” says Hugo. Expect it to look nice and contained, with great overwintering prowess. A good alternative to vegetative Iberis options. Zones 3 to 9. (2022/23 release)

DÜMMEN ORANGE

Dümmen Orange doesn’t joke around when it comes to testing the cold hardiness of their perennials. In addition to participating at trial sites across Canada, the ornamental supplier subjects their perennials to Zone 3 conditions at Vanstone Nurseries in La Portage de la Prairie, north of Winnipeg, Man., over a two-year period. As Jeff LaCourse shares his top perennial choices for Canada, the perennial product specialist for Dümmen notes that although the official rating may be a Zone 4 or 5, this could change to a Zone 3 as their trials wrap up in 2023.

La Diva Eternal Elegance [19]: In keeping with the breeder’s practice to unite each class of offerings under one collection, Dümmen Orange has introduced the new La Diva brand which will house all Dümmen-bred lavenders. LaCourse’s first choice is La Diva Eternal Elegance, an English lavender angustifolia type. “This one has really good tolerance of cold temperatures for flowering early, but [it] was also trialled in the heat and humidity of South Florida for botrytis resistance,” he says, and it’s held up in the shipping process to consumers. The foliage of this compact variety reaches eight to 12 inches in height with short peduncles and small florets at the top of each stalk. Dark purple buds open

into elegant lavender flowers. “Most traditional English lavenders will have about seven rows of flowers at the top. This variety only has four to five, so it has a smaller floret, but the plant is just entirely covered with flowers – and that is without vernalization.” In other words, Eternal Elegance is designed for spring production and targets sales from early summer through to fall – a long shelf-life. Currently rated to Zone 4 or 5, but could drop to Zone 3.

La Diva Vintage Violet [20]: “Vintage Violet is more like your traditional English lavender that you see across most of the U.S. and in Canada,” says LaCourse. “The florets at the top are large, [with] at least seven to nine flowers at the top of each one.” Longer peduncles and a body of 14 to 18 inches in height contribute to a taller profile in the landscape. LaCourse recommends one liner for a gallon container and multiple liners for a five-gallon container. It’s also similar to Eternal Elegance in its strong resistance to botrytis, as well as handling of heat and humidity. “Both have nice dark, green foliage accentuated by dark purple buds that open into that lavender flower colour.” Currently rated to Zone 4 or 5, but could become Zone 3.

Dianthus Pemán series: Debuting in four colours, the series include

the original Pemán [21], plus three colours that are sports – Violet, Fancy Cerise, and Fancy Lilac. “That means it’s actually a family, not a series,” says LaCourse. All four appear identical, making them ideal in combos as duos or trios. “For the consumer, you’re getting two or three colours, but it looks like one plant.” Known for its high flower-producing trait, LaCourse says it’s almost impossible to see the foliage once the buds and flowers come in. “It has the carnation-type foliage, not your true perennial dianthus foliage, but it is extremely cold hardy.” He adds that Pemàn can be brought to flower in early spring and lasts almost the entire season. Buds survive the extreme heat as long as night temperatures remain cool. Zone 3.

Gaillardia Spin Top Mariachi Copper Sun [22]: “It is the only Gaillardia that is cold hardy from Zone 3 to 9,” LaCourse says of the Spin Top series. “Every single clone that we’ve put into our Winnipeg trial location has survived for two or three years.” Though the series has been around for a few years now, Dümmen has released a new fluted type, the first of the new Mariachi subseries named Copper Sun. Like its name, the bicolour variety starts off orange, transforming into a yellow near the end of the petals.

Phlox paniculata Flame –

Watermelon [23] & Lilac Star: Dümmen adds two new colours to this perennial phlox series. The first is Watermelon, which as its name suggests, offers the contrast of a coral watermelon-coloured bloom against a dark stem and dark green leaves. “We got a lot of comments on this particular clone variety during CAST.” The second is Lilac Star, the first bicolour in the Flame series that offers a pink-lilac stripe running down the centre of each white petal, creating a star-like appearance. “Most of the bicolours that you see on the market tend to be sports and they revert back to the original colour.” Lilac Star was the product of breeding, and LaCourse surmises that it will remain stable for the consumer. Compared to Watermelon, Lilac Star’s foliage is a little lighter in green. Zones 3 to 9.

Iberis White Shadow [24]: The breeder is launching a new Iberis called White Shadow for 2023, but the cuttings will be available next summer for growers to get it bulked up for the following spring. As LaCourse explains, it’s not just another white Iberis. “What’s unique about this one is the self-branching habit, so it fills a container very easily for the grower, but the flowers are also three times the size of any Iberis I’ve seen on the market. When it is in flower, you cannot even

see the foliage.” It’s predicted to be an eyecatcher for 2022/2023. While the official hardiness rating is not yet available, LaCourse notes that Iberis tend to go to Zone 3. (2022/23 release)

PROVEN WINNERS PERENNIALS

Andrew Jager, marketing specialist at Walters’ Gardens and the team at Proven Winners came up with five perennials for greenhouse growers in Canada and shared their thoughts here.

Leucanthemum superbum

Amazing Daisies ‘Banana Cream II’ [25]: “This improvement on the classic ‘Banana Cream’ takes all the characteristics that gardeners love and kicks it up a notch. Just like the original, flower buds are lemon yellow and eventually brighten to creamy white. Improvements include being more floriferous, holding the yellow colour longer, a more appealing habit, and earlier to start flowering. Growers will love that the vernalization week requirements are much shorter — we recommend four to six weeks for best performance, although we have observed flowering without vernalization.”

Sedum Rock ‘N Grow ‘Back in Black’ [26]: “New to the Rock ‘N Grow collection comes an upright Sedum with near black leaves. Enjoy the dark leaf foliage throughout the summer, and when late summer rolls around, flowers with deep garnet red centers and cream petals will appear. Great for adding a dark colour to the middle of the border!”

Hibiscus Summerific ‘Edge of Night’ [27]: “One of our most hotly anticipated additions to the Summerific lineup in recent years! At only 3 to 3.5 inches tall, this is our most compact Hibiscus to date. 7 to 8-inch bubblegum pink flowers have

overlapping petals and darker pink veining for a dramatic 3D effect. Jet black foliage is the darkest we’ve seen on a Hibiscus and contrasts nicely with the green flower calyxes and red veining and petioles. Compared to ‘Evening Rose’, this has darker foliage, a more compact habit, and brighter pink flowers. Best colour and performance will be in full sun.”

Heuchera Dressed Up ‘Evening Gown’ [28]: “Evening Gown is the inaugural member of a new series of Heuchera for Proven Winners that is prized for its incredible ruffled leaves, a

feature that makes it a welcome texture for any landscape or container. Huge 6”, glossy black leaves have ruffled margins and form a substantial mounded habit. Best colour and performance in part shade. Substantial flower scapes hold pink buds that open to white flowers.”

Amsonia ‘String Theory’ [29]: “People have loved ‘Storm Cloud’ and we are now pleased to offer a complementing threadleaf Amsonia to the Proven Winners program. ‘String Theory’ can be described as a compact version of the industry standard Amsonia hubrichtii. The compact habit is covered

with light periwinkle blue flowers in late spring, flowering later than ‘Storm Cloud’. While other Amsonia can often display chlorotic leaves, ‘String Theory’ displays healthy dark green leaves throughout the summer. We have observed the same brilliant golden orange fall colour as you would expect from A. hubrichtii.”

JELITTO

PERENNIAL SEEDS

For Jelitto, information on 2022 releases isn’t yet available. However, Mary Vaananen, manager at Jelitto Perennial Seeds, points to two new introductions

HERBACEOUS PERENNIAL PLANTS,

When the first volume of HPP was released thirty-one years ago, it quickly became a leading resource in the field of horticulture. With each new edition, the book has gained in respect and popularity and has since been simply described as the “bible” of perennial books.

The new edition provides easy-to-read information for over 500 genera, species and cultivars used in the gardening and landscape trade. It also includes Dr. Armitages’s interesting and occasionally controversial thoughts on the Internet, pronunciation of plant names, differences in gardening in the South and North, along with many other topics of interest.

GROWING HORTICULTURE

A VIRTUAL ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION

Greenhouse Canada and Fruit & Vegetable brought stakeholders in horticultural production, education and policy together to a virtual roundtable to discuss their experiences, ideas and initiatives to grow the next generation of horticulturalists.

Listen to the discussion on recruitment and training, what horticultural operations are looking for in candidates, and how to tap into a new labour pool.

Speakers include:

^ Kim Wickwire | Olds College

^ Laura Bryce | Kwantlen Polytechnic University

^ Dusty Zamecnik | EZ Grow Farms and Hometown Brew

^ Niki Bennett | Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers

^ Tania Humphrey | Vineland Research and Innovation Centre

^ Stephanie Slaman | John Slaman Greenhouses Ltd./Slaman’s Quality Flowers

Hosted

that are just making their way into the trade. Their cold hardiness make them ideal candidates for the Canadian climate. Here is what she shared:

Alyssum (Aurinia) saxatile ‘Gold Kobold’ [30]: “The Basket-of-Gold has botanically been known as Alyssum saxatile. The recent genus change to Aurinia, actually does not change anything There is a whole range of tried-and-tested, good varieties in the trade that are spring-blooming and are a nectar source for insects. The new ‘Gold Kobold’ variety will change things. Numerous, golden yellow flowers from March to May and again in September to October with a compact growth of only 6 inches above the vigorous, silvery foliage are features of this new variety. ‘Gold Kobold’ blooms in the first yearafter being sown late in spring, without any vernalization or overwintering.”

Campanula trachelium ‘Flore Pleno Mix’ [31]: “Campanula trachelium ‘Flore Pleno Mix’, the nettle-like double bellflower, is one of those perennials that is simply a joy in the garden. As a sturdy plant, it is ideally adapted to all kinds of climatic conditions. It tolerates dry periods in summer and light soils, loves the sun and feels at home in partial shade, competes against weeds and is sturdy and upright. Up close, the lovely bell-shaped flowers look like porcelain in detail. As beautiful as the nuances of the double, violet, light blue and white flowers may be, a mass planting produces a breathtaking sight from July to September.”

DANZIGER

Earlier this year, Lisa Heredia, marketing and key account sales manager for Danziger in North America, shared her top perennial picks for the Canadian market with Greenhouse Canada

Danziger had kicked off their 2022 releases back in late 2021 during Novemberfest, so another new batch of eye-catching perennial introductions will soon be upon us.

Sunstrong Violet Erysimum hybrida [32]: Adding to the Sunstrong series of Erysimum is new Violet. No cooling is needed for this variety, and, unlike older genetics, is very heat tolerant. The plant develops a large garden presence that is ideal for landscape or gallons and larger, flowering through the season. Hardy to Zone 6.

Panama Red Echinacea [33]: “This is a breakthrough in the category,” says Heredia. Panama Red is the first URC echinacea on the market. It offers all the benefits of tissue culture echinacea at a URC price point and blooms early around weeks 22 to 24 with lasting flower power. Recommended for quarts and gallons. Hardy to Zone 5

Agastache Sunny Sparks Pink Improved [34]: This improved version of Agastache aurantiaca offers all the same great features of the original Sunny Sparks Pink, and more. It’s first-year flowering and fast to finish. The sturdy, upright habit is covered in blooms. Plus, it’s pollinator-friendly. For landscape, gallons and larger. Zones 6 to 10.

Dark Matter Salvia Nemorosa [35]: “Everyone wanted a dark, dark blue,” shares Heredia. With Dark Matter, Danziger has achieved deep, dark blooms that flower early and uniformly all summer long and it is a repeat bloomer. This first-year flowering variety requires no bulking or vernalization and offers strong radial branching. Hardy to Zone 5.

All photos are courtesy of their respective breeders and suppliers

West Coast Success

The BC Landscape and Nursery Association sucessfully opened their brandnew event, Grow West Coast Horticulture Trade Show this past September.

Looking for a fresh start after CanWest’s hiatus over COVID, the BCLNA rebranded the horticultural show and moved it to a new location – the Civic Plaza in Surrey, B.C. Running from Sept. 15 to 16, the two-day tradeshow included educational seminars, a tailgate party, contests and a job board.

Fun and interactive features included contents on plant and pest identification, the Contained Competition and a New Product Showcase.

“The outdoor market-style venue allowed for beautiful booth displays and fierce competition for the booth awards,” says Gulshan Josan, BCLNA Marketing and Communications Coordinator.

The best booth winners were Paridon Horticulture (Best Use of Small Space), Kato’s Nursery (Best use of Medium Space), Klassen Landscape Supply (Best Use of Large Space), and Joya Growers (Best in Show).

Gardenworks Mandeville won the Contained Competition.

According to organizers, Grow West Coast welcomed over 500 attendees and more than 300 exhibitors in over 80 booths.

“We lucked out with the weather,” says Josan, “but the outdoor tradeshow was unique and helped make the exhibitor’s plants stand out in comparison to the CanWest exhibitor’s plants [at the] Tradex.”

The show also created a special cocktail – The Wobbly Gardener – which Josan said was a hit.

Planning is already underway for next year’s programming.

The next edition of the Grow West Horticulture Trade Show will be on September 14-15, 2022, returning to The Civic Plaza in Surrey.

Source: BCLNA

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INSIDE VIEW

GARY JONES | Gary.Jones@kpu.ca

Power in Diversity

In her July editorial, Greta quotes Ryan Kasko (Kasko Cattle Co. Ltd.) as saying “The program really reinforced our belief that you do not need to grow up on a farm to work on a farm.”1

This summer, I enjoyed watching the Euro 2020 tournament. (Yes, 2020, not 2021 – it was postponed a year but kept the original name.) I’m a Brit after all, so love football (you might call it ‘soccer’). England’s progression to the final was encouraging, and the nation was lauding the coach, Gareth Southgate. [Of course, if you know anything of England’s big football tournament history, the outcome of the final - England losing in a penalty shootout – was, sadly, somewhat inevitable.

Anyway…] An interesting piece on the BBC about Coach Southgate intriguingly reflected Greta’s editorial, with the lead-in saying “Part of Gareth Southgate’s success could be his willingness to turn to football outsiders to help prepare his England team.”

The article discusses the idea that humans enjoy being surrounded by people who think just like us; “The Ancient Greeks called it “homophily” which means “love of the same”, or as Plato warned “birds of a feather flock together,”2 and argues that previous managers of the national team have typically taken advice from other great football managers – in other words, those who ‘know the game’, thereby bringing to the table the most footballing knowledge and experience. But this simply leads to what (author) Syed calls “collective uniformity”, each manager reflecting the other’s

with those who can bring new ways of thinking, not be ‘just like us’.

Students come into horticulture programs from a diversity of backgrounds and for a myriad of different reasons. Some have some experience of the industry, but the majority don’t, and are attracted to a career that allows them ‘to work with plants’. Typically, we then spend time together building their knowledge of horticultural science and the industry. Which is great. But I wonder if based on the above stories, we are doing anyone (students and potential employers) a dis-service? Are we just developing more ‘like minds’ and creating those around us who simply reflect our thinking – homophily as the Greeks would say? How often do we collectively expose industry newcomers to different thinkers who know nothing of the greenhouse sector, or indeed, horticulture at all? Of course, there is a limit to this strategy, as we obviously have to train some degree of industry and horticultural knowledge into the next generation, but are we currently just offering too much of what we are already comfortable with? I hope my colleagues and I have taught students to think for themselves and to bring new ideas, but as I critically reflect on this in the light of Gareth Southgate’s approach, I am really not so sure.

Are we offering too much of what we’re already comfortable with?

views. It’s comfortable, but stale. The same has happened in other organisations over history, such as the CIA and even recent big tech firms such as Google, apparently.

Back to Gareth Southgate, the England head coach. When he was appointed, he and the UK Football Association (‘F.A.’) built a team of advisors from very diverse backgrounds, many with absolutely no knowledge of football at all, including a cycling coach, a commander at Sandhurst Military Academy, an Olympic rower and a tech entrepreneur, thereby providing diverse input and new thinking. There is power in this diversity.

In Greta’s July editorial, she also makes reference to Microsoft asking “how do we screen in talent, rather than screen out?”1 Perhaps, like Southgate, we need to partially at least, surround ourselves

For you as a grower and maybe employer, what kind of interviews do you conduct when hiring new staff – are you ‘screening talent in’ or inadvertently shutting it out? What managerial tools do you apply to get the most out of your staff without stifling their new ideas or outside-the-box strategies? Maybe, you’re not letting your staff get the most out of you. Or consider, are you surrounding yourself with people of like minds and enjoying the ‘homophily’? Maybe it’s time for a change. In the meantime, I have the World Cup to look forward to – perhaps that is the time England will finally win the trophy?

1. Chiu, Greta, “Broadening the hiring lens”, Greenhouse Canada July 2021.

2. Syed, Matthew, “Euros 2020 – what all of us can learn from Gareth Southgate”, at https:// www.bbc.com/news/world-57698821

Gary Jones is a faculty member in the School of Horticulture at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Langley, BC. He sits on several industry committees and welcomes comments at Gary.Jones@kpu.ca.

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Glenwood Valley Farms is located in British Columbia and is one of the most prominent North American greenhouse farmers. Growing and distributing produce year-round to local grocers and retailers through its strategic partnerships with BC Hot House, a division of The Star Group. With a greenhouse standing at 15 feet tall, existing facility and environmental constraints forced founder Herb Schlacht to explore alternatives to traditional HPS fixtures, which he realized were detrimental to crop growth, workplace conditions and overall operations and profitability. Combined with a desire to produce larger, healthier, more flavorful crops, Glenwood turned to Fluence and the VYPR series to solve both challenges with an LED implementation. With assistance from Fluence, its products and horticulture expertise, Schlacht and the Glenwood team achieved what every grower strives for: improving operational efficiency and conditions while enhancing top-line production performance.

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OUR FLUENCE FIXTURES ALLOW US TO GROW IN OUR EXISTING GREENHOUSE WITHOUT RISKING EXCESSIVE HEAT OUTPUT.”

–HERB SCHLACT, Founder and CEO, Glenwood Valley Farms

VYPR SERIES