Non-crop plants in thrips IPM
Indicator plants, banker plants and everything in between | 14
Previewing CGC’17
Must-attend educational sessions and the sold-out trade show | 27-49
Craft cannabis here to stay Plenty of room in emerging marketplace | 50
OCT 4-5 2017
Easy to produce in small pots
That’s right—Mysty Salvia offers you an all-new spec! With a habit that’s 25 to 35% smaller than Mystic Spires, Mysty is easy to produce in quarts. But don’t be fooled by the small stature…Mysty performs big all season, making it an ideal component for mixed combos. Book yours now.
September 2017 Vol. 37, Issue 8
Non-crop plants in thrips IPM
They’re versatile and include indicator plants, banker plants and everything in between, note Vineland researchers. | 14
Editorial 4
Industry News 6
New Varieties 8
Business Issues 10
Marketing to millennials: social media is your biggest influencer.
Technology Issues 12 “We’re seeing a lot of growth in all sectors but especially with biostimulants.”
Pointers on points 22 Ontario trials program is showcasing new varieties.
Craft producers 50 Small companies will always find a home within the emerging cannabis crop sector.
The Latest IPM Tools 66 Ontario hosts leading biocontrol specialists in Niagara conference.
54 58 74
Year-round performers
Biocontrols are effective IPM tools in any season.
IOBC award-winner Graeme Murphy is among the speakers at next month’s Canadian Greenhouse Conference. Check out our comprehensive preview section.| 27-49
BY DR. ABIDA NASREEN
Beware of aphids
They can inflict serious losses even at very low populations.
BY DR. M. ISHTIAQ RAO
Continuing wave of pest pressures
The ideal (pest defence) is to “start clean – stay clean.”
BY GARY JONES
It’s the trade show/conference season, the chance to review the latest and greatest the industry has to offer. Or will soon be offering.
There’s so much to absorb. Attending them is the best investment you’ll make this year.
It’s all about life-long learning. Socrates described education as “the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.”
My journalism career began on an Underwood typewriter (about the weight of a small pleasure craft anchor) and an antique 35mm camera that had manual shutter speed, focus and aperture control. I can now use a wafer-thin iPad to do these jobs –writing and photography – and post a feature to our website within minutes of an interview. The technology improvements in publishing over the past 39 years have been impressive.
The technological changes in greenhouse horticulture have been equally impressive. And growers have been equal to the task in mastering the new systems.
The same goes for conferences. It’s one thing to read about something new in a magazine or online, but to be able to talk to a speaker about the latest system or trend or plant takes it to the next level.
Conference attendance trends indicate growers are eager to learn about the latest products, services, varieties, challenges, regulations and opportunities. Numbers have been rising.
The Canadian Greenhouse Conference (Oct. 4-5, at the Scotiabank Convention Centre in Niagara Falls) is one of the largest events of its kind in North America. The speaker program easily compares with any other conference, registration fees are probably the lowest on the continent, and the trade show sells out pretty much every year.
The regional shows also offer great value – relatively low admission fees, leading edge educational sessions, and one-stop shopping in the trade show. Among shows to check out this season would be:
greenhouse@annexweb.com 519.429.5185 888.599.2228 ext. 263
National Advertising Manager NASHELLE BARSKY nbarsky@annexweb.com 905.431.8892
National Advertising Manager SARAH OTTO sotto@annexweb.com 888.599.2228 ext
Lifelong learning is deeply rooted in greenhouse horticulture.
“The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency,” said Microsoft’s Bill Gates. “The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.”
Trade shows are essential events for growers. For many, it all begins here. The latest technologies, processes and varieties are showcased, and the employees manning the booths are all leading specialists in their fields. If you’re having a problem with a crop or production system, there’s a solution or two on every trade show floor.
• Saskatchewan Green Trades Conference and Tradeshow (Nov. 7-9 in Saskatoon).
• Expo FIHOQ (Nov. 15-17 in Drummondville).
• Green Industry Show & Conference (Nov. 16-17 in Calgary).
A key ingredient of all shows is the networking. And it’s not just with the company specialists or session speakers, but with fellow growers. This has always been an industry eager to share information and to help when asked.
“You cannot endow even the best machine with initiative,” said author Walter Lippmann. “The jolliest steamroller will not plant flowers.”
Why grow Superbells? Start with incredible impulse appeal for consumers who will go gaga over the amazing performance these beauties promise. Add in the power of national marketing, extensive trialing before introduction, and greater Thielaviopsis resistance, too. Now that’s what we call Proven Winners®
‘Cecil Delworth’ was the big winner at the 45th annual golf tournament hosted by Flowers Canada Ontario.Proceeds from the tournament go towards the Cecil Delworth Foundation and floriculture research.
Among award winners:
Low Gross: Matt Ryan, Clinton Buttar and Ted Vanderkay.
Founders’ Trophy: Gordon Jahn, Kelly Devaere,
Brian Rosenberg and Darcy Olds. This is the team’s second straight year in winning this award.
Most Honest: Colleen O’Gorman, Eileen Pilitteri, Molly Horton and Bonnie Giampa.
Ladies Longest Drive: Nancy Boekestyn.
Men’s Longest Drive: Ray Gibson.
Ladies Closest to Pin: Sandy Jeffery.
Closest to Restaurant Drive: Dan Newhouse.
Men’s Closest to Pin: Jeff Groen.
Farmers and agribusiness operators should take the opportunity to review their financial strategies following the modest increase in the Bank of Canada’s overnight interest rate in July, says FCC’s chief agricultural economist J.P. Gervais. The Bank of Canada increased its overnight target rate by 25 basis points, increasing its lending rate to 0.75 per cent from 0.5 per cent – the first increase
since September 2010. (A basis point is 1/100 of a per cent – 50 basis points therefore equals ½ per cent. The basis point is commonly used for calculating changes in mortgage rates and bond yields.)
The overnight target rate is used to set financial institutions’ prime rate, and therefore influences variable mortgage rates. When the overnight rate changes, the prime rate typically changes
by the same amount. It also sends a signal to financial markets about economic conditions, which often lead to higher long-term interest rates.
“This increase is not significant enough for most farmers and agribusiness operators to revise their business strategies, but I recommend they consider reviewing their long-term financing options with the expectation that this
increase could be the beginning of a slow and gradual increase,” Gervais said.
“It is prudent in the current environment for producers and agribusinesses to ensure they can face a higher interest rate. This will ensure long-term viability if interest rates continue to climb.”
For more on this story, visit our July news archives at greenhousecanada.com
BY
Amount of dust reduction attributed to household plants. (Washington State University)
Outdoor gardening can reduce the risk for dementia by 36 per cent.
Amount houseplants improve memory retention.
Sickness rates fell by more than 60 per cent in offices with plants.
(Agricultural University of Norway study)
20% 20% 70% 36% 38% 60% 45%
Amount indoor plants help improve productivity.
Level of improved attentiveness shown by students in classrooms containing plants. (Royal College of Agriculture)
Amount indoor plants help increase creativity.
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Andropogon ‘Dancing Wind,’ presented by Emerald Coast Growers, bears green foliage that transforms to vivid red for autumn. It begins green, subtly mixes soft red with the green for summer, becomes dark red for fall and then scarlet after frost. It reaches six feet tall and prefers full sun. It is drought tolerant and a great addition to native or grass plantings. It is also a wonderfully tall focal point in gardens or landscapes. ‘Dancing Wind’ is hardy in Zones 3 to 9. ecgrowers.com
F1 Dwarf Antirrhinum ‘Crackle n’ Pop’
‘Crackle n’ Pop’ is an early and uniform pack series bred for ultimate branching in the early stages of growth. This structure yields a stronger plant, more able to sustain itself in transit, on the shelf and in the garden. floranova.com
‘Crimson’ brings a deeper red to the Sundenia dipladenia series. Sundenia combines the large flowers consumers love in mandevilla with the compact dipladenia bush growth habit. Crop time
Turn up the flower power and impulse sales with showy Grandessa intergeneric hybrid argyranthemums. Vigorous plants produce larger flowers in an outstanding colour range. Plants and flowers are twice the size of a standard argyranthemum.
Suntory Flowers has added three new mixers to its combo kits. Two feature Beedance bidens and one has Summer Wave torenias. Love yellow? The sunny Bee Bananas combo (pictured) features bidens ‘Beedance Yellow,’ calibrachoa ‘Million Bells Tropical Delight’ and petunia ‘Surfinia Trailing Yellow.” ‘Bee Colorful’
‘Freefall XL’ is a new series of trailing pansy that incorporates all of the fantastic features of the existing Freefall line, such as a mounded-trailing habit, extremely floriferous blooming throughout the season, and unsurpassed garden performance in a range of climates. XL has larger flowers than the original series and
is faster than traditional mandevillas. Crimson joins Red, Coral and White, bringing the series to four colours. Mix and match for premium tropical combos! suntorycollection.com
Growers can produce 8" plants with one cutting. Perfect for premium patio pots and stunning in landscapes. Colours include Pink Halo, Yellow, Red and White. Ideal timing for Grandessa is Easter and Mother’s Day sales. suntorycollection.com
is as playful as a box of crayons with bidens ‘Beedance Painted Red,’ lobelia ‘Suntory Lobelia Trailing Sky Blue’ and petunia ‘Surfinia Deep Red.’ Looking for something different for shade? Purple Reign features three dreamy shades of Summer Wave torenias –Large Violet, Large Silver and Amethyst. suntorycollection.com
slightly more vigour to produce a more trailing habit, while maintaining tidiness for the grower. Freefall Xl is a fantastic hanging basket pansy for fall or spring sales, and also does beautifully when planted as a season-long landscape component. The original ‘Freefall’ series will continue to be produced and expanded. floranova.com
Millennials are changing the way plants are sold, and the more you understand those changes the more plants you’ll sell.
Will Heeman, the “chief daymaker” (head of brand, customer experience and marketing, etc.) at Heeman Greenhouses and Strawberry Farm near London, Ont., is an award-winning garden centre
Customers need to be so impressed that they’re motivated to remark or talk about your service.
manager. He discussed “Marketing to Millennials” at this year’s Greenhouse Canada Grower Day.
Millennials love plants, and that’s very good news for retailers.
“Millennials feel that you are cool and that gardening is hip,” Heeman said. “Gardening is in, it’s trendy and it’s fashionable. Our products are so desirable.”
Himself a millennial – “I am under 30…barely,” he quipped – Heeman noted this age group wants to make the world a better place. Some 29 per cent of millennials feel gardening is among the ways they can do just that.
Millennials like activities that involve the whole family. Garden centres should have children’s programs and displays. Once youngsters are involved, so too are their parents.
So who is this target market? Millennials are those born after 1980, with a current age range of 17 to 37. They’re the most educated group in history, and they’re a larger group than baby boomers.
As employees, they need reassurance their job is
important. And they don’t want just to do a job, they want to know why they’re doing it – taking a few minutes to explain this will go a long way to further motivating them.
As for customers, retailers have to be prepared because millennials have completely researched their garden centre and their products. They’ve thoroughly checked stores and brands online, so websites and social media accounts must be current, interactive and informative.
“I don’t want to give the impression that millennials are demanding or difficult,” Heeman noted, “but they like convenience and they want retailers to simplify their lives.”
Because of this, Heeman’s has been taking pre-orders online for sometime. For example, this year they pre-sold 300 Canadian Shield Roses.
Millennials are passionate about locally grown food, and are particularly keen on growing their own food.
Gardening can seem intimidating, such as the use of Latin in plant descriptions. “If you’re able to demystify gardening in any way, that will help take away the stigma of gardening as being seen as old and boring and disconnected.”
Improved signage is key. While some millennials will ask a lot of questions and keep staff on their toes, others will expect signage to tell them everything they need to know.
Create displays that show how the products can be used. Don’t just say what the plant is, but explain why customers should want it. “If you can convince them it’s important to add it to their garden, they will buy it from you, and it doesn’t matter how much it costs.”
Offer workshops, classes or online videos to give millennials the tools they need to be successful with plants. “You’re the local expert and they want you to be their plant guy.”
Some retailers offer personal shopper services, and millennials are taking them up on the offer. “If you make shopping simpler, it makes it easier for them to spend money with you.”
Will Heeman will be speaking about social media at next month’s Canadian Greenhouse Conference (Oct. 4-5) at the Scotiabank Convention Centre in Niagara Falls. See the CGC preview section in this issue for more information, or visit canadiangreenhouseconference.com.
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“We’re seeing a lot of growth in all sectors but especially with biostimulants.”
Growers who have been relying on biocontrols as effective pest management tools over the years are now also turning to biostimulants to improve crop performance.
The growth of biological products has been quite impressive, among the fastest growing sectors in crop maintenance. In 2015, it represented a $2.7 billion
ABOVE
market; it’s forecast to grow to $4.1 billion by 2018.
The Biological Products Industry Alliance (BPIA) has been working since 2000 to increase awareness of biological products as effective tools, assist with further improvements to regulatory processes, and provide key networking opportunities for members and affiliates.
BPIA was formerly known as the BioPesticide Industry Alliance. The new name reflects its expanded membership. Biostimulants were added to its focus last fall. “We’re seeing a lot of growth in all sectors,” said BPIA executive director Keith Jones during our interview at Cultivate’17 in Columbus, Ohio, “but especially with biostimulants.”
The association has grown from five members in 2000 to 120 companies today, including about a half-dozen in Canada. BPIA welcomed its first member from Mexico this year.
“The biological industry in general is definitely growing,” Jones said. “We’re continuing to experience
double-digit growth each year.”
And there is the potential for significantly more growth, since biologicals currently represent only five per cent of the global crop protection market, the rest being the traditional chemistries.
“As more biological technologies are developed, and the efficacy is demonstrated, more people will embrace it,” Jones explained.
Consumer demand for sustainable products and the related government regulatory pressures are helping drive interest into more biological products.
Europe is about five years ahead of North America on the issue. People there are much more concerned about what is going on their food their flowers and their golf courses. “That’s a big driver,” said Jones, “and we see this coming our way.”
The Canadian member-firms with BPIA are quite supportive, and Jones is working to attract more companies. “We hope to form a Canadian committee within the next year or so.” There are different challenges in Canada and different regulatory issues. “I’d definitely like to see us do some programming in Canada.”
The association hosts a pair of major membership meetings each year in the U.S. – one in the West in the spring, and one in the East in the fall.
• The West show, held in Reno, Nevada, in March was held in conjunction with the International Biocontrol Symposium and Biocontrols U.S.A. West Conference and Expo.
• The East show, being held the week of Oct. 9, will be held in Orlando in conjunction with the first-ever Biocontrols U.S.A. East Conference and Expo.
These events attract between 400 and 500 growers. “Attendance is growing every time we host one of these events.”
Jones was a speaker at Cultivate’17, discussing the building of a horticulture business through the incorporation and marketing of biological products. He explained that with high levels of consumer demand and rising levels of regulatory pressure on conventional products, the biological sector is flourishing and offers a variety of business opportunities.
Many BPIA members also create traditional chemistries. “We’ve never claimed that biologicals are a silver bullet,” said Jones. “We believe that they are part of the overall solution. We’re big proponents of Integrated Pest Management, where you use both together for the best results.”
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They’re versatile and include indicator plants, banker plants and everything in between
BY DRS. ROSE BUITENHUIS AND MICHAEL BROWNBRIDGE
This is part 5 in a six-part series of articles on thrips (and other pests) integrated pest management, where we will provide practical application tips and tricks, information on new technologies and how it all fits within an overall IPM program. Each article will be accompanied by a short video demonstrating a technique or principle. The content of this series is based on research performed at Vineland Research and Innovation Centre and is supplemented with “information from the field,” contributed by colleagues using biocontrol strategies in greenhouse production. For more information on specific biocontrol agents or IPM in
ABOVE
general, see www.greenhouseIPM.org.
Plants can be great pest management tools. In previous instalments of this series, we have talked about the importance of the crop in IPM. In our figure about the important elements of IPM (see part 1, May 2017, pgs 24, 25, 26), this is the plant arrow.
First of all, it may be possible to grow more pest-resistant or disease-resistant varieties. Second, exciting research is now going on in greenhouse vegetables where microbes are used to induce resistance in plants.
Figure 1. Experiment with flowering chrysanthemums (Chesapeake) as trap plants against western flower thrips in potted chrysanthemum production.
In addition, production practices such as fertilizer or irrigation can make plants more or less susceptible. Therefore, understanding the relative susceptibility of different plant species and varieties to pests and diseases and the effects of production practices on the plants in your production system allows you to pre-plan a pest management program.
In this article we want to focus on the role of non-crop plants for pest and disease management. These plants are not grown to sell, but only to create an environment that is detrimental to pests and diseases and/or beneficial to biological control agents. In our previously mentioned figure, this would be the “environment” arrow. In other IPM definitions, this is often referred to as cultural control. There are different kinds of useful non-crop plants, also called companion plants, which we will describe in detail below.
for detection of two-spotted spider mites; flowering chrysanthemums for western flower thrips; and certain petunia varieties to monitor for tospoviruses transmitted by thrips, like Impatiens Necrotic Spot Virus (INSV) and Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus (TSWV). It is good to know that petunia will not be a source of new infections within the greenhouse. The viral lesion remains localized, so leaves can be picked off and infected plants do not have to be discarded.
The trap plant strategy is based on the same principle as indicator plants – their high attractiveness to pests – but now the goal is to catch a significant part of the pest population to prevent them from damaging the main crop.
Sticky cards may catch flying beneficial insects as well.
Indicator plants are plant species or varieties that are more attractive to the pest than the main crop. Consequently, the target pest will show up on these plants first, providing an early warning system and (bio) control programs can be adjusted accordingly. As plants are the real deal for pests, providing visual, olfactory and gustatory stimuli, they are often more attractive and more specific than sticky cards.
Don’t get me wrong: sticky cards are still a useful tool for general monitoring of several pests, but if you want early warning about a specific pest, it is often better to use indicator plants. Some common examples of indicator plants are beans
The best known example in greenhouse crops is probably flowering chrysanthemums for mass trapping of western flower thrips (Figure 1). Mass trapping, either in the form of sticky cards, tape, or trap plants is a common sight in many commercial greenhouses worldwide. Although mass trapping by itself will not protect a crop, as part of an integrated pest management system it has proven very successful. Any thrips caught is one less to cause damage and prevents the production of up to 300 ‘baby-thrips.’
Mike MacLeod, production manager at Westbrook Greenhouses states: “ … in a few settings, we’ve found masstrapping to be a critical tool in having success with thrips control.” You can read more about mass trapping with sticky tape or sticky cards in this article by Dr. Sarah Jandricic, Floriculture IPM Specialist with OMAFRA in the 2017 April issue of Greenhouse Canada.
So how do trap plants compare to sticky cards/tape for mass
trapping of thrips?
Both are easy, inexpensive strategies to implement. Sticky cards are popular because they last a long time and do not have to be replaced often. Thrips get stuck permanently and will not go back into the crop. However, sticky cards may catch flying beneficial insects as well. Depending on how many biocontrol agents are trapped, this may have an effect on the efficacy of the biocontrol program.
In addition, as Judy Colley from Plant
Products describes it: “Sticky traps are a hard sell because they are messy.” In other words, sticky cards/tape are equally good at catching humans as well as insects. Korean researchers have shown that you can make sticky cards more effective by making them look more like flowers. Circular cards and cards with a dark background caught more thrips than plain square cards. Still, trap plants are probably more attractive to thrips than sticky cards/tape because they have everything a thrips could possibly dream
of: many real flowers of the right colour, smell and taste (Figure 2)
The disadvantage of trap plants is that you have to replace them before they become a source of thrips instead of a sink, depending on the time of year this is every two to three weeks, or otherwise kill the thrips on the trap plants. They are definitely not something you can put in the greenhouse and forget about, but used properly, they will catch hundreds of thrips per plant.
This highlights a critical trait for a successful trap plant: once attracted to the plant, pests must remain on it. If the insects are attracted to the trap plant but ultimately leave to colonize adjacent crop plants, then their utility is marginal. In other words, simple attraction is not enough; retention on the trap crop is equally important. Use of supplemental strategies to prevent dispersal away from the trap crop enhances their effectiveness. In the previous example in chrysanthemums, plants are physically removed but in other agricultural crops, growers specifically apply pesticides to the trap crops. This limits pesticide use, and is more compatible with biocontrols than blanket-spraying an entire crop.
Yellow chrysanthemums are not the only plants you can use to trap thrips. Potted ornamentals with many flowers such as gerberas and marigolds are very attractive to thrips. Another option is cuban oregano (Plectranthus amboinicus), a non-flowering herb. Two researchers from Alberta, Olivia Hares and Dr. Kwesi Ampong-Nyarko discovered that this plant is highly attractive to thrips, but that the thrips do not establish on the plant. Instead, they are caught on a sticky card inserted in the plant. This means the trap plants do not have to be replaced as often as with, for example, chrysanthemums. Marco de Leonardis, R&D manager at Freeman Herbs, changed from flowering chrysanthemum trap plants to this system and is very happy with the results.
Most research has been done on trap plants for western flower thrips. It is very likely that attraction of other thrips species, such as onion thrips or echinothrips to these plants is different, especially because these pests are less attracted to flowers than western flower thrips.
Until now, mass trapping for thrips with trap plants or sticky cards/tape mostly catches thrips flying around in the greenhouse. Our previous research
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Sticky cards
Sticky cards + lure
Trap plants
Trap plants + lure
Effect of mass trapping methods on thrips population increase in crop plants; mass trapping techniques tested included blue sticky cards or trap plants, with and without thrips lures (Thripline™; Bioline AgroSciences).
determined that once the thrips are on the crop plants, they are not very likely to move to trap plants. Instead, trap plants attracted a large proportion of dispersing thrips. Therefore, the current recommendation is to place trap plants at places where thrips are moving into the greenhouse, such as doorways and vents, close to hotspots, or in between different crops or crop stages to intercept thrips while they are dispersing. Yet, wouldn’t it be nice if trap plants could act as vacuum cleaners, sucking thrips out of the crop? To test this, we did a trial at Vineland two years ago where we added thrips aggregation pheromone lures (Thripline, Bioline AgroSciences) to large blue sticky cards and yellow flowering chrysanthemum trap plants (var. Chesapeake) in a crop of non-flowering potted chrysanthemum. The pheromone lure causes thrips to aggregate on high, prominent objects, in our case … traps!
Figure 3 shows that trap plants with lures reduced thrips population growth the most compared to trap plants without lures and sticky
cards with or without lures, and at Week 2 even reversed population increase in the crop. It would be interesting to see if other thrips attractants, like Lurem-TR (Koppert lure based on plant volatiles) and vanilla (recommended by Brian Spencer, Applied Bionomics) would have the same effect.
Research in the U.K. has shown that an isomer of Verbenone is highly attractive to western flower thrips. As the material is widely used in perfumes, it is significantly less expensive than most thrips pheromone analogues, meaning that the material could be economically used on a large scale to improve trap catches, or to enhance a push-pull strategy. Another potential option is investigated in Norway, where researchers use LED lights of an attractive colour next to sticky traps, but this research may also be applied to trap plants.
Trap plants are often used as part of a push-pull strategy. We discussed the “pull component” in the paragraphs above. Yet, are there ways to make the crop less attractive and “push” the thrips towards the trap plants? Some plant volatiles
are known to repel insects and play a role in detection and acceptance of a host plant by a pest, or deter feeding or oviposition. Could cultivars producing these compounds be grown, or the trait bred into commercially important varieties to provide the “push” in this approach? Whether these effects also impact biocontrol agents and other beneficial species would also need to be understood, however, before deploying on a large scale in greenhouse crops.
As said before, trap plants are not a stand-alone method, they are part of an IPM system. Most of the time this means that other methods of controlling thrips are used as well, including releases of predatory mites or biopesticide sprays with nematodes or fungi.
Because trap plants will concentrate thrips in a restricted area, some growers use these areas as a focus for their biocontrol. For years, Boekestyn Greenhouses created trap plant islands using an attractive chrysanthemum cultivar (Vyron) and prioritized their releases of predatory mites on these islands where they controlled the thrips and dispersed from there into the rest of the crop. It worked well for several years, but with the introduction of predatory mite mini-sachets, they have switched to using one sachet per plant.
At the University of Vermont, Dr. Margaret Skinner developed a guardian plant system against thrips, where marigold plants are combined with a thrips pheromone lure to attract thrips, the predatory mite Neoseiulus cucumeris to control thrips larvae on the foliage of the guardian plant and BotaniGard mixed into the soil to control thrips pupae. The system is described in the 2014 March/ April issue of Greenhouse Canada. In the absence of thrips, the predatory mites can feed on the pollen of the marigold plants and disperse into the crop.
This leads us to the next type of plants used as pest management tools, banker plants. Banker plants are non-crop plants that will provide supplemental food and/or oviposition sites for biological control agents. This helps them to establish in the greenhouse and to persist during periods of prey scarcity. The idea is to maintain a population of biocontrol agents that will be ready when pests arrive. Common examples of banker plants are wheat or barley plants infested with bird cherry oat aphids to maintain populations of
the aphid parasitoid Aphidius colemani, mullein plants for the predatory bug Dicyphus hesperus and ornamental pepper plants to breed Orius insidiosus.
Orius is an excellent thrips predator, however it can be difficult to establish in the greenhouse in spring, and multiple releases are quite expensive. Growers have been looking at banker plants as a solution. Sweet pepper pollen is an excellent food source for Orius and this predatory bug likes to lay its eggs in the stems and leaf veins of this plant. However, growing full sized greenhouse sweet pepper as banker plants is just not practical in most greenhouse systems, especially in flower crops. Therefore, early Orius banker plant pioneers like Ronald Valentin (Bioline AgroSciences) turned to ornamental peppers. Meghann Waite tested several ornamental peppers and other flowering plants for their suitability as food and oviposition substrate for Orius during her MSc project at the University of Guelph and the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre. She found that Orius populations were highest on Purple Flash ornamental peppers.
Commercial greenhouse trials revealed the importance of pepper flowers to Orius; predator populations were directly correlated to the number of flowers on the banker plant. We also found that warmer temperatures (above 18 C) and supplemental food (Ephestia eggs) could boost the development of Orius populations on the banker plants. Ronald Valentin recommends that you start peppers in November and inoculate with Orius in February, to be ready for spring. In addition, growing the peppers in an area with supplemental light will make it possible to establish the Orius on the plants earlier.
Another Orius banker plant that growers use is alyssum. Judy Colley recommends these plants because they are easier to grow than ornamental peppers. She also observed that alyssum plants are less susceptible to pests.
Both peppers and alyssum are used in greenhouses where thrips are a problem throughout the spring and summer, such as spring crops followed by chrysanthemums or cyclamen. Several cucumber growers also hang a row of banker plants among their crop. It is probably a good system for strawberries, a crop increasingly grown in greenhouses, and we have even seen Orius banker plants used outdoors in June- and ever-bearing strawberries.
Companion plants, from indicator to banker plants, do things that the crop cannot do. From signalling problems to breeding biological control agents, there is a plant for that. It is up to us to take them to build a functioning ecosystem in the greenhouse.
Many thanks to the growers and consultants who provided the “real life” perspective to this article.
The studies by the authors described in this article were supported in part by Growing Forward 2 (GF2), a federal-provincial-territorial agricultural funding framework. The Agricultural Adaptation Council assists in the delivery of GF2 in Ontario. Funding support was also provided through Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Agri-Innovation Program: Industry-led Research and Development Stream, Syngenta Bioline (now Bioline AgroSciences), OMAFRA-University of Guelph Research Program and Flowers Canada (Ontario).
We appreciate your feedback – Rose.Buitenhuis@vinelandresearch. com; Michael.Brownbridge@vinelandresearch.com.
Canada is full of young, skilled and knowledgeable people who are driving the greenhouse industry forward. From commercial growers and wholesalers to manufacturers, equipment suppliers and service providers, they are the best and brightest in our industry. Join us as we celebrate the future of horticulture in Canada.
Winners of the Top 10 Under 40 will be featured in the November issue of Greenhouse Canada and will be announced during “The Gathering” on October 4th at The Canadian Greenhouse Conference in Niagara Falls.
Poinsettias remain one of the largest potted crops in Canada, and this program is showcasing some of the best new varieties to growers and buyers.
BY MELHEM SAWAYA
Nothing in the whole production cycle is as important as the knowledge about the product that you are going to grow. Knowing the parameters and the growing habit of a cultivar makes the difference in achieving a successful crop or a total failure or something in between.
Three main factors are required to produce a profitable, successful, stress-free …OK, less stress crop.
One. Know the requirement for growing this crop and this includes:
• Growing habit – vigorous, medium or short.
• Flowering response time.
• Growing temperatures.
• Light intensity requirement.
• Response to growth regulators if it is needed.
• Ability to branch.
• And most importantly … whether or not it is going to be available.
All of this knowledge is equal to 15 per cent of the total factors in growing a great crop. The others are:
Two. Know how to use this knowledge. This comes through experience or inquiring how. This would represent another 15 per cent.
Three. And the most important factor in producing a successful crop is doing things on time. This factor represents 70 per cent of what’s required to grow and sell a profitable crop.
As for the “know-how” factor, many growers find the information before growing a new crop quite easily from various sources. But many
ABOVE Consumers like large poinsettias. RIGHT Poinsettias remain one of the largest potted crops in Canada.
times the information is second-hand or on-line, and this can be interpreted differently by different people. That is when plant trials and face-to-face discussions are extremely important.
When touring trials, you see the cultivars of all competitors in one place with the same treatment. You have the opportunity to meet with representatives of the breeders and compare notes with other growers.
I have been passionate about learning since my first year working in the greenhouse industry. I have never toured trials or attended a conference or grower meeting and not learned something new to help me to do better job the next time I grow that crop or treatment. At the same time, I have always been totally open to share any information I have with other growers. It’s truly a win-win situation.
I would never initially apply what I learn to a whole crop, but instead will try it on a small section. Only when I know how this information or procedure will work for us will I expand the trial. And then if the results from the expanded trial are also favourable, then I would apply it throughout the crop.
I am sharing all of this because we are bringing back the Ontario poinsettia trials which will include:
• Cultivar trial to compare growing habits, height and vigour.
• Different treatments – Bonzi, B-nine and Cycocel.
• Different temperatures and flower initiation and maturity. Also available will be the technical representatives from each of the four
companies participating in these trials.
A short speaker program will cover propagation, growing on, finishing, pest control, the varieties, and a panel discussion to answer your questions. This is in addition to viewing over 150 cultivars of poinsettia.
An open house will take place on Nov. 22 from 10 to 3 (lunch provided) at Jeffery’s Greenhouses, Plant 2, located at 2411 Fourth Avenue, Jordan, Ontario L0R 1S0.
The goal of these trials is the same: to help growers choose cultivars with which they’ll be most successful. As well, it will allow buyers to see first-hand the cultivars that will work well for their customers. This means growers and buyers will be invited to decide on 2018 cultivars.
This is the same format we have used with annuals at the Sawaya Garden Trials, now in its 18th year. It has grown to include almost every breeder or broker. It is the largest outdoor trial in the world. This year 3750 cultivars were trialled and evaluated, helping ensure the best varieties make it to market.
We have the responsibility to produce cultivars that the consumer will be successful with and that will lead to a larger market for all growers to share.
For more information, contact me at 519-427-8440 or mel@ focusgreenhousemanagement.com
Just remember – nobody can take away what you know, but it is a joy to share it.
Melhem Sawaya of Focus Greenhouse Management is a consultant and research coordinator to the horticultural industry –mel@focusgreenhousemanagement.com.
Fruit development, like plant development, is reduced under fall and winter conditions.
BY DR. MOHYUDDIN MIRZA
Most vegetable growers start planning their winter cucumber crops in October, so now is a good time to suggest some guidelines for production.
Tomatoes and peppers are grown as one long crop. Many growers start using lights on these crops when natural light starts to go below 500 joules and duration of light is less than 12 hours. At this time supplemental lights are primarily used for cucumbers, although tomato and pepper seedlings are also grown under light in early phase of their growth.
Before I go into some details on the crop management practices for cucumbers in winter, I would like to point out a critical mistake growers do with a winter crop.
What you see in Photo A is a greenhouse located where is had been raining in December.
Here is what happened:
• Outside temperature was minus 30 C.
• The vents were totally closed.
• The screens were fully open. There is confusion in the terminology. Fully open screen means that they are covering the crop. When screens are closed, it means that the crop is not covered.
• With screens fully open, the heat did not escape between the screens and greenhouse roof, resulting in frozen vents.
• Relative humidity was almost 100 per cent inside the greenhouse for almost a week. So when the weather improved, the grower closed the screens – that is, the crop was uncovered – and the frozen vents started thawing, the thin layer of ice started melting and thus the water started dripping. This continued for almost three days.
This climate situation had a tremendously negative affect on the cucumber crop.
Firstly, serious edema occurred on the plants. Almost all leaves were showing symptoms of edema (Photo B). Basically, under the climate conditions the plants went through, the grower did not adjust watering and nutrient levels.
While the plant was basically inactive due to a very low Vapor Pressure Deficit (VPD), water and nutrients were still being supplied regularly and the leaf cells burst. Thus the photosynthetic capacity of plants and crops became very limited. As a result, there was young fruit abortion and the maturing fruit became soft and mushy.
Such a loss is damaging to cash flow when prices are high. The problem did not end just with edema.
Powdery mildew attacked with a vengeance because the burst cells offered a nutritional “meal” for this fungus. I have pointed out many times before that this fungus likes high humidity for spores to germinate and humidity around 50 per cent to produce those white spores (Photo C).
Photo D shows how the fruit quality was affected. Fruit was soft, did not have a good shelf life and it was rejected by the wholesaler.
Plant Focus: Initially build a strong plant with larger leaves. Remember that supplemental light is “supplemental” to natural light. Supplemental lights help to extend the photoperiod and provide help with photosynthesis. Many growers use lights at night when the rates are cheaper. A common mistake is that lights are turned on when VPD is very low. You have to activate the plant so that they are ready for fixing carbon dioxide.
Plant Vigour: Don’t let the plant become too vegetative. Climate and plant vigour should be geared to disease prevention, which is a key stress factor in winter production. Avoid climate stress factors as outlined earlier in this article.
Target Temperatures: Use the VPD guide for temperature and humidity management. Focus on 24-hour average temperature and take into consideration the use of supplemental lights. If possible use leaf temperature for VPD management. My recommendation is to make temperature adjustments based on previous daylight conditions. If the light has been over 1500 joules, then use lower night temperatures to move the assimilates into the fruit.
Target CO2: In winter it is relatively easier to manage CO2. My observation is to use CO2 around 800 ppm and set the
injection point at 500 ppm. If you are using CO2 from the boiler, then be aware of contamination from pollutants like NOx. I have seen many problems in winter due to nitrous oxide in the flue gases.
Target Irrigation: Water needs in fall vary greatly from day to day. Use the reliable formula of 1:3 – for each one joule use 3 ml of water. If you have 1000 joules then you will use 3000 ml of water/sq.m.
Pay attention to start and end times. Many growers use the same regime as with natural light although supplemental light is far lower than the natural light. With the danger of edema in winter, limit root pressure by eliminating night irrigation and delaying the first irrigation in the morning. It also depends on the growing medium. Coir has better waterholding capacity than rockwool.
Fertilizer Management: Use higher EC values in the feed and leach. Stay around 3.0 mS in September and 4.0 in October to January. Remember EC has to be managed based on light. These are just guidelines.
Target Fruit Numbers: Fruit development, like plant development, is reduced under fall and winter conditions. Target to pick at least three to four cucumbers per square metre per week with long English cucumbers. Manage fruit load based on plant conditions.
Dr. Mohyuddin Mirza is an industry consultant, drmirzaconsultants@gmail.com.
Grow your business & your network
Connect with colleagues, suppliers & friends
Experience the newest technologies on the trade show floor
Learn new strategies from the comprehensive speakers program Niagara Falls, Canada
PRODUCTION & ENERGY
Cutting-edge information from around the world
Looking into the Future
MIND YOUR BUSINESS
Creating a culture of engaged teams
Roadmap to Excellence - Drive your career
GARDEN CENTRES
Find your niche!
Registration opens: 8:30 am Trade Show hours: 9:00 am – 4:00 pm October 4&5
By Glenna Cairnie Marketing and Events Coordinator with the Canadian Greenhouse Conference.
No one reading this article needs the importance of strong, healthy roots explained to them. A plant is only as healthy as the root system that supports it.
The Canadian greenhouse industry is somewhat unique in that its roots can be found in generations of family owned businesses. Stories of immigration and small beginnings are common. Those strong roots allow the today’s growers, building on the success of previous generations, to evolve and satisfy the demands of a changing world. The Canadian Greenhouse Conference is proud to play a part in this successful evolution as, for almost 40 years, it has provided the greenhouse industry a forum for connections, discussion and education – roots.
The 2017 CGC offers resources for those growing any crop under cover. Flag the sessions on the following pages that pique your interest and plan to spend several hours on the trade show floor. You will need the time – a significant number of new exhibitors keep the show fresh and new products abound.
You are busy growing and so are we!
NEW THIS YEAR:
• Expanded programming – Ten sessions a day!
• A larger trade show – We made room for increased demand!
• Free parking on BOTH days!
Sponsored by:
Propagation kicks off the production stream of sessions with topics covering both seed and cutting techniques and featuring speakers well known for their expertise.
Will Healy, Senior Technical and Research Manager for Ball Horticulture, knows that when it comes to propagation, small tasks can make the difference between success and failure. Two fast-paced presentations give growers tips and techniques to ensure your seed propagation process produces maximum yields.
“Start clean and stay clean” is the IPM mantra. Rose Buitenhuis of the Vineland Research & Innovation Centre will walk you through best practices to start out right and build resilience into your production system to reduce
pest pressures and set yourself up for success growing bedding plants.
As co-author of the Ecke Poinsettia Manual, Jim Faust of Clemson University is very familiar with issues handling vegetative cuttings. In the first of two presentations on Wednesday, Faust outlines how the handling of cuttings prior to sticking is critical to the success of your program. In a second presentation and just in time for the final stages of the 2017 season, Faust focuses on the cultural practices that growers need to implement to finish a beautiful poinsettia crop.
Sponsored by:
Neil Thornton has made a commitment to share the ideas, insights and trends that he has learned over two decades of consulting business development, entrepreneurship and coaching business leaders. In his work, Thornton can be found in the field, on job sites, shop floors, meeting areas and board rooms. From boots to shoes and coveralls to suits, he communicates and connects from years of experience where it counts most … in the trenches of realworld business. With his no-holds barred style of integrity and directness, Thornton will help owners and managers build culture and drive change by ensuring they have the right people in the right roles and communicating a clear and committed corporate vision and strategy.
On Thursday afternoon, Thornton will direct his attention to those beginning their horticulture careers in this workshop fully customized to the greenhouse industry. Learn how to set goals, meet challenges and excel in the workplace. A panel of young growers will share their experiences, insights and optimism for their future in the greenhouse industry. Owners, managers and supervisors – make the time available for your employees to attend and reap the benefits of a more engaged workforce.
Sponsored by:
With almost 30 years as a crop consultant, Marco de Groot shares his practical experience and trial results for this market and explains what the term “New Generation Growing” means for Dutch
growers. In a second talk, suitable to multiple commodities, de Groot looks at options for supplemental greenhouse lighting.
Graeme Murphy will describe how to begin and maintain a biological control program for cut gerbera; tying it all together in his easy-going style that has made him one of the CGC’s more popular speakers. (See our feature on Murphy’s award-winning career elsewhere in this section.)
Sponsored by:
Is there a robot in your future? Automation promises to ease labour constraints, reduce injury and increase plant quality. This technology is advancing rapidly with new ideas and equipment. Find out what is currently working and what is in the R&D pipeline around the world from four speakers who work with state-of-the art commercial greenhouses and agriculture.
Sponsored by:
The CGC continues its expanded programming for garden centres and retailers with a unique lineup of speakers over two days. Don’t miss Carson Arthur from HGTV’s “Home to Win” as he offers insights into what is behind the apparent decrease in gardening shows and what the next generation of buyers is looking for.
Learn how to understand your online analytics and take advantage of the changes to social media algorithms to craft your marketing message with Will Heeman from Heeman’s Garden Centre and Strawberry Farm.
Whether you want to expand into nursery stock or add some higher margin element to your mixed container, flowering shrubs can be part of your profit planning. Jane Beggs-Joles, marketing analyst for Spring Meadow Nursery in Grand Haven, Michigan, encourages growers to increase their woody ornamental production.
Find inspiration to kickstart your 2018 planning as you hear from the owners of some of Canada’s premier garden centre operations and discover how they are using online sales, specialized products and unique marketing opportunities to successfully compete in a crowded marketplace.
CGC workshops offer practical, hands-on learning for everyone working in a greenhouse operation. They are an excellent way to provide continuing education for yourself and your staff.
Instrumentation as Tools for Greenhouse Environment Control and Maximizing Crop Productivity
Sponsored by:
There are numerous instruments available to growers that measure the behaviour of plants and ensure optimal growing conditions. Become proficient in using and interpreting the various sensors that are common in today’s greenhouses. Youbin Zheng and David Llewellyn from the University of Guelph will lead this information-packed workshop.
On-Farm Research: Getting Answers to Your Toughest Problems is Easier Than You Think!
Solutions that work for growers in other countries – or even a few farms over – aren’t necessarily applicable to conditions on your farm or to your production practices. Or, you may have an issue that’s so specific to your farm that onsite research may be the only answer. This workshop will walk
you through examples of local growers who’ve found their own solutions to some of their biggest issues by conducting on-farm research trials. OMAFRA specialists Sarah Jandricic and Chevonne Carlow will show you how to set up basic experiments so you can have confidence in their outcomes and how to interpret results. The federal government, through its Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) Program provides a tax incentive for in-house research provided it follows certain criteria.
Martha Oner, tax specialist with Grant Thornton, will be on hand to answer the funding and filing questions that invariably arise.
Ontario’s horticultural industry in coming under more regulations with respect to water quality and security. Jeanine West, Flowers Canada Ontario, will summarize a number of projects that focused on reducing the amount of waste water through recycling. Ann Huber, working with the Soil Resource Group in Guelph, will explain the handson water test developed to indicate the absence of certain pathogens. Aron Hoff, head grower at Meyers Farms, and recently awarded “Grower of the Year” at Cultivate 2017, will share his experience as to what has and hasn’t worked well with regards to irrigation systems, and, more importantly, how the newer irrigation systems have often made the grower’s life a little less stressful.
Sessions sponsored by: AND Year-round production is important for providing high-quality produce to consumers, for maintaining/increasing market share, and for competing successfully in national and international markets. However, almost all aspects of production need to be adjusted to achieve success. The CGC brings leaders in the fields of lighting and energy to educate growers.
Wednesday’s program highlights advances in lighting and energy. Xiuming Hao will report on his research at the Harrow Research & Development Centre on various supplemental lighting strategies using LEDs and HPS fixtures, fertigation and climate control in efforts to develop sustainable, pesticidefree year-round greenhouse vegetable production.
The Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers and Ontario Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Affairs work closely on lighting and energy projects. Hear updates from their ongoing activities and new challenges facing the industry.
In the Netherlands, crop production per unit greenhouse area has doubled during the last 25 years while the energy use has been drastically reduced. Wageningen University professor Leo Marcelis discusses how a proper understanding of the physiology of the plants can be used to improve production and reduce energy use and how LED lamps open opportunities for improving growth, yield and product quality.
Greenhouse gas reduction is driving the need to address on-farm energy use. What may the future hold? Rupp Carriveau will walk you through the technical and economic feasibility of a novel Solar Energy System (SES) designed to reduce dependency on carbon-based fuels for heating and grid connected power for electricity.
On Thursday, the focus moves to pest management. David Gadoury from Cornell University will share exciting new developments in visible and UV light, circadian rhythms and new lighting technologies as they pertain to pest and disease management in controlled environments such as greenhouses
and high tunnels. Rose Labbe, AAFC, discusses the impacts of HPS and LED lights on greenhouse pollinator activity and offers tips for maintaining optimal bee activity on a year-round basis.
Sponsored by:
LED or HPS? Finding what will work best for your operation and balancing the return on investment is the challenge. A.J. Both of Rutgers University will explain the differences between HPS and LED lighting systems, highlight benefits and provide growers information to enable them to determine whether switching to LEDs makes sense for their specific greenhouse. A grower panel representing various crops rounds out the session. Hear which lighting system they selected and why.
Do you export greenhouse-grown plants to the United States or supply facilities who do? The CFIA has developed new regulations that are harmonized with the U.S. for exporters, and the transition to this Greenhouse Certification Program (GCP) has begun. Jeanine West (Flowers Canada Growers Inc.) presents details on the new requirements as well as an introduction to a training program developed by FCG to help in transitioning to the new certification program. Production manager Michael MacLeod will share how Westbrook Greenhouses Ltd. is navigating the GCP implementation.
Greenhouse berry production is gaining popularity worldwide. There is great potential in the Canadian winter market, a season that includes major holidays, not only to fill diminished supply but to provide high-quality, flavourful produce. Strawberries, however, have a complex physiology and production technologies need to be optimized accordingly. Chieri Kuboto will present key information regarding crop physiology, site selection and technologies to maximize your crop production. Plant selection is critical for success and Bert Meulenbroek, head of the strawberry breeding program at Fresh Forward, will highlight the qualities growers need to look for. What can be learned from Belgium where 70 per cent of strawberries are grown under cover? Keon Lavrysen provides an overview of key parameters: temperature settings, CO² levels, importance of RH, light, use of screens and water management in this technical presentation.
New Floral Opportunities at Vineland: Amy Bowen, Vineland Research & Innovation Centre, Ont.
Using Biocontrol Agents to Control Pythium in Potted Gerbera Production: Youbin Zheng, University of Guelph.
New Tomato-on-the-Vine Hybrids for Ontario Greenhouses: Valerio Primomo, Vineland Research & Innovation Centre.
Light as a Growth Regulator: Producing compact bedding plants using LEDs: Jasmine Mah, University of Guelph.
See Through the Fog: LVM sprayer for application of microbial biopesticides: Michael Brownbridge, Vineland Research & Innovation Centre.
Medical Cannabis Production: Starting from the root zone: Deron Caplan, University of Guelph, ON
Sponsored by: AND
One of our most popular sessions! Eight 10-minute presentations update growers with progress reports and outcomes of current research. The varied topics will interest and inform while providing an excellent overview of what is happening in the horticulture industry.
Improving Nutrient Use Efficiency of Potted Chrysanthemums
Grown in Sub-irrigation Systems: William Sutton, University of Guelph.
Developing Feedback Control LED Lighting Systems for Greenhouse Crops: Dave Llewellyn, University of Guelph.
Sponsored by: AND
The annual CGC bus tour is a unique opportunity to tour Ontario’s premier vegetable and flower growing operations in the company of OMAFRA specialists, colleagues and CGC speakers. The tour travels to Leamington this year; leaving Niagara Falls on Monday, Oct. 2, with an overnight stay at Caesar’s Windsor. The tour commences at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 3, returning to Niagara Falls in the evening. A local option is available for those who live in the area and do not require overnight accommodation. The final itinerary will be published on the CGC website with complete details – www.CanadianGreenhouseConference.com. Advance registration is required. The tour will sell out early – don’t delay.
Enjoy great food and great fun on the brink of the falls. “Elements on the Falls” is one of Niagara’s most iconic restaurants and Chef Elbert Wiersma will use the best produce Ontario has to offer to make this dining experience memorable. Shuttle service will be provided between the restaurant, the Marriott hotel and the SCC. Tickets available in advance only.
The greenhouse business is 24/7 and the conference is an opportunity to take a well-deserved break from your day-today routine. The CGC is about connections – making new ones and reinforcing those you already have. In addition to the fun and nightlife that the city of Niagara Falls offers, the CGC provides plenty of opportunities to socialize with friends and colleagues.
Don’t miss Happy Hour on Wednesday afternoon where food, drink and music create an ideal end to the first day of the conference.
Attend The Gathering on Wednesday night and enjoy dinner overlooking the cataract.
Stay at the CGC headquarter hotel, the Marriott on the Falls, and find yourself sharing a breakfast table with one of the many speakers who have come from around the world.
Grow your business and your network; time invested at the conference will pay dividends throughout the year. Register in advance to take advantage of discount pricing. Complete conference information is available at www. CanadianGreenhouseConference.com
Registration opens: 8:30 am Trade Show hours: 9:00 am – 4:00 pm
October 4&5 2017
Registration opens: 8:30 am Trade Show hours: 9:00 am – 4:00 pm
October 4&5 2017
“influential contributions leading to the development and implementation of biological control methods for the greenhouse and floriculture industry.”
By Dave Harrison
Ontario has long been a world leader in the adoption of biocontrols in floriculture crops.
And a person who helped teach and encourage growers during this pest management transition from pesticides has been honoured with one of the industry’s highest awards.
Niagara-based consultant Graeme Murphy has received the 2016 Award of Excellence from the Association of Natural Biocontrol Producers (ANBP).
The award was presented during the “Integrated Control in Protected Crops, Temperate Climate” working group meeting of the International Organization of Biocontrol (IOBC). The five-day conference – which is held every three years – was held in Niagara Falls in early June.
The ANBP award was in recognition of Murphy’s “influential contributions leading to the development and implementation of biological control methods for the greenhouse and floriculture industry,” and he was described as “a veritable biocontrol icon in North America.”
Murphy served as the greenhouse floriculture IPM specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs from August of 1988 through to his retirement at the end of 2014.
Posing with the 2016 ANBP Award of Excellence immediately following the presentation this past June.
Up until early in the 1990s, flower growers had relied on chemical controls to keep pests in check. However, things had to change as resistance issues arose with some pesticides, and others were withdrawn from the market due to changing regulations.
IPM as a concept had not yet been adopted, Murphy recalls of the early years of his career.
“We hadn’t yet formalized a monitoring program and IPM is built around effective monitoring,” he said during our recent interview.
All control strategies, he added, spring from an understanding of what is going on in the greenhouse, and it was in the early 1990s that an ever-increasing number of growers were beginning to implement monitoring programs. This gave them a better understanding of which pests were present, where they were located, and how the pests that were present changed from crop to crop and from season to season. That knowledge allowed them to develop effective IPM strategies, and biocontrols were key tools.
“Some growers picked up on biologicals more easily than others,” said Murphy. Some would use bios for some crops but not others, or for some
pests and not others. “It was a very slow and gradual process.”
Murphy was involved with many research projects related to biocontrols at Agriculture and AgriFood Canada and at the University of Guelph, and was a key influencer in passing along this information to growers.
He hosted regular workshops and was involved with the Flowers Canada Ontario growers’ night school course for many years. He was constantly in and out of greenhouses throughout Ontario, spoke at conferences both here and abroad, and was a frequent contributor of IPM articles to trade magazines, including Greenhouse Canada.
For many growers in the province, he was their key resource as they increasingly came to rely on biocontrols.
The result? As noted earlier, Ontario is a world leader in biocontrols with ornamental crops – so much so that some biocontrol companies in Europe were sending their technical specialists to study what was being done here.
Recent surveys have shown that 70 to 80 per cent of Ontario growers use biocontrols as a first line of defence.
Murphy will be discussing the use of biocontrols in cut gerbera crops as a speaker at next month’s Canadian Greenhouse Conference at the Scotiabank Convention Centre in Niagara Falls. He will be speaking during the cut flower session on the Wednesday afternoon (Oct. 4); the session begins at 2 p.m.
He has been involved as a CGC speaker for many years. In addition, he also helped plan and host the annual floriculture pre-conference bus tour for many years up until his retirement.
As a consultant, he works with a number of growers on fine-tuning their pest management programs, and conducts staff training sessions and still maintains an active interest in current research at Vineland. He is also an occasional instructor at Niagara College, teaching an IPM course during the fall semester.
Murphy received the 2014 Outstanding Contribution to the Industry Award from Flowers Canada Ontario. Veteran grower Lou Schenck, in presenting the award, credited Murphy for helping many growers gain confidence and become successful with biocontrols.
“His expert entomological experience and knowledge helped many growers as they managed that transition.”
October 4&5 2017
WED.
9:30 AM
Sponsored
Getting the Most Out of Your Seed
Will Healy
Ball Horticulture Co., Cincinnati, OH
Starting Early is Starting Clean in Bedding Plants
Rose Buitenhuis Vineland Research & Innovation Centre, ON
The First 48Dealing with cuttings upon arrival
Jim Faust Clemson University, SC
Leading Today’s Teams - Creating a Culture of Engaged Teams
Neil Thornton Thornton Group, Ridgeway, ON
Automation of Greenhouse Irrigation Systems
David Gholami Vineland Research & Innovation Centre, ON
Robotics for Horticulture; opportunities & challenges
Charles Grinnell Harvest Automation, Billerica, MA
Newest Automation Technologies & A Look Into the Future
Robert Lando AgriNomix, Oberlin, OH
Ad Kranendonk Flier Systems, The Netherlands
Instrumentation as Tools for Greenhouse Environment Control and Maximizing Crop Productivity
David Llewellyn
University of Guelph, ON Youbin Zheng University of Guelph, ON
Smart Application of Lighting in Greenhouse Vegetable Production
Xiuming Hao Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada, Harrow, ON
OGVG/OMAFRA Report
Niki Bennett
Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers, Leamington, ON
LED it be: controlling plant production by LED light
Leo Marcelis Wageningen University, The Netherlands
Titles
Wednesday,
How to handle Stage 3 & 4 Propagation
Will Healy Ball Horticultural, Cincinnati, OH
Finishing Touches: Toning your Poinsettias
Jim Faust Clemson University, SC
New Generation Growing for Cut Flowers
Marco de Groot
FloriConsultGroup, Woerden, The Netherlands
Starting a Biocontrol Program for Cut Gerbera
Graeme Murphy bioLogical Control Solutions, Welland, ON
Supplemental Lighting Options
Marco de Groot
FloriConsultGroup, Woerden, The Netherlands
Products That Differentiate You from the Big Box Store
Ron Sant
George Sant Greenhouses, Kleinburg, ON
A Hydrangea isn’t just a hydrangea: Flowering Shrub Cultivars for the Future
Jane Beggs-Joles Spring Meadow Nursery Inc., Grand Haven, MI
Make Your Garden Centre a Destination
Mike Colasanti
The Bloomin’ Gardener, Oldcastle, ON
Managing Water: A Grower’s Perspective on Irrigation Options
Aron Hoff Meyers Farms, Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON
Options in Water Treatment
Jeanine West Flowers Canada (Ontario), Guelph, ON
Hands-on Water
Testing – do you know what’s in your water?
Ann Huber
Soil Resources Group, Guelph, ON
Estimating Energy Savings in the Greenhouse (with GO-CALC)
Chevonne Carlow, OMAFRA Vineland
Greenhouse Solar Energy System to Reduce Carbon & Grid Dependency
Rupp Carriveau
Environmental Energy Institute, University of Windsor, ON
Energy saving in greenhouses based on crop physiology
Leo Marcelis Wageningen University, The Netherlands
October 4&5 2017
/ Thursday, October 5TH / Morning Sessions
Sponsored by:
LED or HPS?
A.J. Both
Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
Grower Panel
Moderator: Theo Blom University of Guelph
Marco de Leonardis
Freeman Herbs, Beamsville, ON
Lasse Schulze
Peace Naturals (Cronos Group), Stayner, ON
Additional panelists TBD
Implications of New CFIA regulations for Floriculture Exports
Jeanine West
Flowers Canada (Ontario), Guelph, ON
What You Need to Know About the New CGP: Implementation from grower’s perspective
Michael MacLeod
Westbrook Greenhouses, Grimsby, ON
IPM Wars, Episode 1: The Foxglove Menace
Michelangelo La Spina Vineland Research & Innovation Centre, ON
TV Gardening Shows – on the endangered list?
Carson Arthur Host of HGTV's "Home to Win"
Social Selling – Doing Social Media Right to Win Customers & Grow Sales
Will Heeman
Heeman’s Garden Centre, Thorndale, ON
Succulents: Leading the DIY Craze
Debbie Foisy
Deb’s Greenhouse, Sturgeon County, AB
On-Farm Research: Getting Answers to Your Toughest Problems is Easier
Than You Think
Chevonne Carlow, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Rural Affairs, Vineland, ON
Sarah Jandricic, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Rural Affairs, Vineland, ON
Financial Incentives in R&D for Growers & Processors
Martha Oner
Grant Thornton, Kitchener, ON
Opportunities to use Light to Suppress Plant Pathogens and Pests in Greenhouses
David Gadoury
Cornell University, Geneva, NY
Pollination & Artificial Lights
Rose Labbe
Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada, Harrow, ON
Natural Pollinators in Ontario Greenhouses
Amanda Tracey, OMAFRA Harrow
Registration opens: 8:30 am
Trade Show hours: 9:00 am – 4:00 pm
October 4&5 2017
Registration opens: 8:30 am
Trade Show hours: 9:00 am – 4:00 pm
October 4&5 2017
October 4&5 2017
360 Energy 2012
AAB International 259
Abell Pest Control 564
ACROBATic Controls Inc. 903
AEF Global 1114
Ag Energy Co-operative Ltd. 1115
AgroLux Lighting Inc. 202
Agrozone International Inc. 315
A&L Canada Labs 357
ALink Computer Solutions Inc. 356
A.M.A. Hydroponics 361
A.M.A. Plastics 461
Aquatrols 604
Argus Control Systems Ltd. 766
Armtec 265
A-ROO Company 515
ASB Greenworld Ltd. 1005
Ball Horticultural Co. 561
Bamboo Supply Co. 465
Bayer Vegetable Seeds 805
Beaver Plastics Ltd. 154
BeekenKamp Plants BV 1056
Beijing Sangreen Intl Agricultural Technology 3003
Bellpark Horticulture (Visser NA) 406
Bellwyck Packaging Solutions 715 (Horticolor Canada)
Ben Berg Farm & Industrial Equip. Ltd. 316
Beneficial Insectary 153
Berger 252
Berg Hortimotive 210
Biobest Canada Ltd. 558
Bioline Agrosciences Inc. 703
BioSafe Systems 606
BioWorks Inc. 607
Blackmore Company Inc. 464
BlueLabs Corporation 212
BonarAgro 1013
Bouldin & Lawson LLC 603
Bradford Greenhouses 1156
Canadian HydroGardens Ltd. 1159
Cee Green 555
C. Frensch Ltd. 906
Chrysal 266
Colonial Florists Ltd. 951
Concept Plastics 207
Crop Defenders Ltd. 614
Damatex Control Systems Inc. 451
DBS Power & Energy 106
De Cloet Greenhouse Mftg. Ltd 363
Deco Wraps 901
Delviro Energy 566
DeRuiter Seeds 1153
Dool International BV 1015
Dramm Corporation 966
Dubois Agrinovation Inc. 2003
Dummen Orange 458
Durward Jones Barkwell & Company LLP 565
Eastern Caribbean Liaison Service 2016
East Jordan Plastics Inc. 705
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$20 – Wed. & Thurs. – Trade show
$95
$70 –
$20
$30 –
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Hort Protect Insurance 2013
Hub International Ontario Limited 553
Hydro One Networks Inc. 2005
Illumitex Inc. 653
Inocucor Technologies 267
Javo U.S.A. Inc. 308
Jiffy 651
Jolly Farmer Products Inc. 863
JV Energy Solutions Inc. 865
JVK 961
Kams Growers Supply Inc. 957
KOAT BV 2004
KoenPack Canada Inc. 503
Kooljet 415
Koppert Canada Limited 1158
Lambert Peat Moss Inc. 755
Link Green 1007
Lock Drives Inc. 1155
Looije Agro Technics 3017
Ludvig Svensson Inc. 955
LumiGrow 405
Mabre Canada 1251
Machinerie S.B. Inc. 663
Mardenkro North America 608
Marsh Canada 2001
Martin Energy Group Services LLC 455
Master Plant Prod (MPPI) 605
MasterTag 2017
Maximum H20 3012
McHutchison 905
Messersmith Manufacturing Inc. 416
Meteor Horticultural Systems / Bogaerts 757
Millenniumsoils Coir 467
M-J Tech 355
M. K. Rittenhouse 307
MNP 209
Natural Insect Control 963
Niagara CollegeGhs. Technician Program 3016
Niagrow Systems Inc. 359
N.M. Bartlett Inc. (Provide Agro) 913
Nurture Growth Bio Fertilizer Inc. 215
Omni Growing Solutions Inc. 456
Ontario Federation of Agriculture 353
Ont Ministry of Ag, Food & Rural Affairs 2006
Organic 4 Greens 3002
Osram 1064
Paridon Horticultural 366
ParSource Lighting Solutions 3011
Paul Boers Ltd. / Prins Greenhouses 1051
Perlite Canada 3019
Philips Lighting 964
Phytocultures 1008
Plant Products Inc. 559
Plantech Control Systems Inc. 309
P.L. Light Systems Can. Inc. 304
Pottery Extravaganza (Canada) Inc. 402
Premier Tech Horticulture 516
Priva North America 667
P.V.P. Industries 306
Realty Executives
On The Bay Brokerage 263
RedTrac International (D & W Group) 3009
Riceland Foods Inc. 264
Ridder HortiMax Canada 261
Ryder Material Handling 255
R Z H Canada Ltd. 557
Saint-Gobain Cultilene 1154
San Eco Tec 3010
SGS Agri-Food Laboratories 1113
Sinclair Systems International 101
Smart Lubricants 152
Sodrox Chemicals Ltd. 2002
Soliculture 107
Sommers Motor Generator Sales Ltd. 3007
South Essex Fabricating 501
State Industrial Products 365
Stokes Seeds Ltd. 1109
Sundara Energy 205
Sun Gro Horticulture 1061
Sunlight Garden Supply 1206
Sun Parlour Grower Supply 1151
Sustane Natural Fertilizer 804
Sylar Technologies 102
Syngenta Flowers 656
Taks Handling Systems 3015
TD Canada Trust 2011
HC Canada Companies 1255 (ITML – Dillen – Kord – ProCal)
Registration opens: 8:30 am
Trade Show hours: 9:00 am – 4:00 pm
October 4&5 2017
The Canadian Greenhouse Conference has long prided itself on the quality of its education program, and this year is no exception.
By Glenna Cairnie Marketing and Events Coordinator with
Host of HGTV’s “Home to Win” Carson Arthur is an international landscape designer with a focus on environmentally friendly design. Throughout his 15-year television career, Arthur teaches homeowners how to raise the value of their homes through outdoor renovations. He is part of the Cityline team; writes a column for the Halifax Chronicle Herald and the Sun media group (including the Toronto Sun) about outdoor design; and appears regularly in a variety of magazines with guest articles. He is the North America outdoor design editor for Outdoor Lifestyle magazine; the outdoor expert for Terra Greenhouses; Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate; and the author of the sold-out book Garden Designs for Outdoor Living with a new book scheduled to hit the shelves next spring (2018).
His credits include:
• Host of HGTV’s Green Force and Critical Listing.
• The Gemini nominated Room to Grow on Global, ION and the Discovery network.
• Better Home and Garden’s Home, First Home on the Hallmark Channel in the U.S..
• Gardening expert on HGTV’s blockbuster Home to Win and Home to Win 2.
Currently, his programs can be seen on every continent in the world.
Arthur now represents Canada as the international ambassador for Save the Children. His expertise in growing food will help end the cycle of poverty for children all over the world by spearheading a Canadian initiative of adding agriculture to education called Fresh For All.
Spring Meadow Nurseries, Proven Winners®/ColorChoice®
Jane Beggs-Joles is the director of landscape marketing for Spring Meadow Nursery, Inc. A wholesale liner nursery, Spring Meadow is the woody ornamental part of the Proven Winners® brand. As part of this team, she has had the pleasure of introducing hundreds
of new woody ornamental plants into the trade. Beggs-Joles has a B.S. in Horticulture and an M.S. in Agricultural Economics, both from Michigan State University. She has over 20 years of experience in the wholesale nursery industry and has had the privilege of working with many of the top nursery growers in North America.
NIKI BENNETT
Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers, Leamington, Ont.
Niki Bennett is the science coordinator with the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers (OGVG). She has been with OGVG since 2014 and oversees research initiatives on behalf of over 200 member greenhouses who grow cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes in Ontario. She is also active in seeking out crop protection solutions, advocating for increased research funding and involved in many provincial and national initiatives. The Ontario greenhouse vegetable sector represents approximately 2880 acres and an annual farm gate value of approximately $850 million.
Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey Dr. A.J. Both was appointed extension specialist in Controlled Environment Engineering at Rutgers University in 2000. Prior to this, he was a post-doc and research associate at Cornell University. He received his PhD degree from Cornell University in Agricultural and Biological Engineering in 1995. He received his M.S. and B.S. degrees from the Agricultural University in Wageningen, the Netherlands, majoring in Agricultural Engineering. Both’s research focuses on controlled environment agriculture and includes engineering and crop production projects in growth chambers, greenhouses and high tunnels. His research interests include greenhouse environment control, hydroponic vegetable production, supplemental lighting and energy systems.
Vineland Research & Innovation Centre, Ontario
Dr. Amy Bowen joined the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre in 2009 and was appointed research program leader of Consumer Insights in 2013. With a focus on understanding the consumer, Bowen leads a team of researchers to create value-added results for horticulture. She oversees the operation of Vineland’s trained sensory and consumer research panels to understand the drivers that impact consumer preference and choice for horticultural products. Research results inform breeding programs, brand development, new variety introductions and commercialization.
Bowen works as part of a multidisciplinary team to identify characteristics consumers seek when choosing fruits, vegetables and flowers. Recent examples of her work include how sensory and consumer research informed the release of Vineland’s Canadian Shield™ rose for Canada’s 150th birthday.
Amy has a B.Sc.H from the University of Guelph and a PhD from Brock University.
Vineland Research and Innovation Centre, Ontario
Dr. Michael Brownbridge received his PhD from the University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in the U.K.
He has held positions at Ben Gurion University (Israel), the International Centre of Insect Physiology & Ecology (Kenya), University of Vermont Entomology Research Laboratory, and AgResearch (New Zealand). In 2009, Brownbridge joined Vineland as research director in Horticultural Production Systems in July 2009.
He leads a diverse research team and an industry-focused portfolio of projects on biocontrol and IPM systems for greenhouse floriculture and vegetables, nursery and landscape horticulture, and the commercialization of new vegetable crops for field and greenhouse production.
Vineland Research and Innovation Centre
Dr. Rose Buitenhuis has been a research scientist (Biological Control) at Vineland
since 2010. She is responsible for the development and implementation of biological control technologies for management of arthropod pests, supporting sustainable crop management practices for ornamental and production horticulture.
Buitenhuis received her M.Sc. in Biology at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands in 1997 and her PhD in Entomology at Laval University, Québec, in 2003. She worked as a post-doctoral fellow at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Harrow (2004-2007) and at the University of Guelph (2007-2009) on biological and cultural control of western flower thrips in greenhouse flower crops.
Current projects include integrated pest management of thrips, whiteflies, aphids and spider mites in greenhouse ornamentals and vegetables, spotted wing drosophila in berry crops and pests of ethnic vegetables, all with a focus on biological control.
University of Guelph Deron Caplan is a PhD student working in Dr. Youbin Zheng’s lab at the University of Guelph. The goal of his research is to optimize horticultural methods for cannabis production, focusing on irrigation, growing substrates, fertilization and propagation. He is passionate about bringing scientific thinking into the cannabis industry, and has been focusing on cannabis production research in the past few years.
Capogna Flowers, Leamington, Ontario Andrew Capogna graduated from the University of Guelph in 2005 with a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Science. Since then, he has owned and operated Capogna Flowers, located in Leamington. Under his guidance, Capogna Flowers has grown to specialize in container plants for both the retail setting and wholesale business. It is his dedication and passion that has allowed Capogna Flowers to expand into numerous grocery chains supplying southwestern Ontario, while keeping it a family business at its core servicing a frontend retail operation. In the off-season Capogna enjoys playing hockey with his son and is preparing to grow again by welcoming another baby in early winter.
Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Rural Affairs
Dr. Chevonne Carlow is the greenhouse floriculture specialist with OMAFRA. Her background includes many years of working with different plant species, most notably while studying the effects of light on young plant development and the effects of temperature on plant stress responses. Carlow works to connect growers with up-to-date information on floriculture crop production, nutrition and related issues. In addition, she is involved in a wide variety of collaborative research and demonstration projects related to the floriculture sector.
Environmental Energy Institute, University of Windsor, Ontario
Dr. Rupp Carriveau is the director of the Environmental Energy Institute and co-director of the Turbulence and Energy Lab at the University of Windsor. His research activities focus on the financial optimization of energy systems. Carriveau serves on the editorial boards of Wind Engineering, Advances in Energy Research, and the International Journal of Sustainable Energy. He is also currently guest-editing special editions of Energies and The Journal of Energy Storage.
He was a recent recipient of the University Scholar Award and has acted as a research ambassador for the Council of Ontario Universities. Carriveau is the conference co-chair of both Offshore Energy and Storage 2017 Cape Cod, and Energy and Natural Resources 2017 Windsor. He was also just recently appointed co-chair of the IEEE Ocean Energy Technology Committee.
The Bloomin’ Gardener, Oldcastle, Ontario
Mike Colasanti’s life in the greenhouse industry started 50 years ago in his family’s greenhouse. When he was in his early 20s, he travelled around Europe learning about growing from some of the best. When he returned home, he put this newfound knowledge to work and became a grower himself. That was 35 years ago.
“Today I am the co-owner and grower at The Bloomin’ Gardener, a
business that I started with my wife,” Colasanti notes. “And I’m proud to say, this year, we are celebrating 20 years in business.”
MARCO DE GROOT
FloriConsultGroup, Woerden, the Netherlands
Since 1989, Marco de Groot has been an independent crop consultant for cut flowers specializing in gerbera, alstroemeria and seed-grown crops such as lisianthus, matthiola and snaps. He has travelled extensively for his work and has experience in different climate zones such as (Western and Eastern) Europe, Mediterranean countries, Japan, California and Canada.
MARCO DE LEONARDIS
Freeman Herbs, Beamsville, Ontario
Marco de Leonardis is the Research and Development Manager and Organic Specialist at Freeman Herbs with the responsibility for improving shelf life, consistency of production and product quality. He makes extensive use of dynamic LED lights. He has over 25 years of international consulting and operation experience in diverse and challenging horticultural environments. De Leonardis holds a master’s degree from the University of Agricultural Sciences in Florence, Italy, and is fluent in five languages.
JOELLE EISSES
Orchard Park Growers, St. Catharines, Ontario
Joelle Eisses graduated from the University of Guelph with a B.Sc. in Biological Science with a focus in Plant Science and Horticulture. She then went on to study at Niagara College in the Greenhouse Technician program. Her passion for plants began at a young age and continued as she started her career in garden centres and in the horticulture department with the City of Barrie. She has worked at Orchard Park Growers since 2015. As the propagation grower, she is responsible for production of gerbera, mandevilla and passion flower from seed, cuttings and tissue culture.
JAMES FAUST
Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina
Dr. James Faust is an associate professor at
Clemson University. His research focuses on solving production-related problems for commercial greenhouses. Many of the standard operating procedures for handling cuttings have been developed based on the results of research done in his lab over the past 15 years.
Deb’s Greenhouse, Sturgeon County, Alberta Debbie Foisy has only been in the industry since 2009, but has quickly mastered the art of growing premium plants and applying strong social media programs to create a destination garden centre.
She has been the driving force behind the increasingly popular online Greenhouse Marketing Forum, which has grown from its original Alberta roots to now include members in many other regions.
In 2013, she won the Grower Of The Year award from the Alberta Greenhouse Growers Association, and she followed that up a year later with her selection as one of three finalists in the Dümmen/Red Fox Young Retailer Of The Year awards program. In 2013, she became president of the Alberta Greenhouse Growers Association, the first president who was younger than the association itself. Foisy was selected as one of Greenhouse Canada’s Top 10 Under 40 in 2016.
Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
Dr. David M. Gadoury has worked as a plant pathologist at Cornell University’s Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, New York, since 1985. His studies focus on pathogen ecology and epidemiology, particularly those aspects that are poorly understood, and limit our ability to suppress pathogens effectively. Most recently, that work has included studies at a number of U.S. and overseas sites involving how visible and UV light can be effectively used against pests and diseases. He is a Fellow of the American Phytopathological Society (APS), and serves as the communications officer of APS.
Vineland Research & Innovation Centre
Dr. David Gholami received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering at
the University of Calgary with a specialization in wireless sensor networks and distribution control. After graduation, he worked as a researcher with the distribution sensing and control lab at the University of Calgary, developing a distribution platform to track and navigate mobile robots in noisy and congested, industrial environments. He currently works as a research scientist at Vineland.
His current projects involve wireless smart irrigation system and disease detection system. In both projects, he deploys hyperspectral and multispectral imaging to monitor greenhouse crops to detect water stress and diseases before their visual manifestation. Gholami is a frequently invited keynote speaker in international scientific symposia and teaches advanced intensive courses on greenhouse production, crop physiology and crop modelling all over the world.
CEO, Harvest Automation, Billerica, Massachusetts
Charles Grinnell founded Harvest Automation in Boston with a group of robotic innovators and a goal of solving critical challenges in industrial applications starting with agriculture.
Harvest Automation released its first product in 2013 – a new breed of small mobile robots that work alongside humans solving severe labour issues in the $15 billion ornamental horticulture industry. The robots also help growers reduce production inputs and environmental impact while increasing plant quality. The company is now adapting its solutions to commercial vegetable and fruit production that is experiencing intense labour, land, cost and environmental pressures.
Before founding Harvest, Grinnell served as GM at DEKA R&D, creators of a wide range of medical and industrial products. Prior to that he founded a consulting company at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, developing specialized instrumentation for highenergy physics.
Harrow Research and Development Centre, Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada, Harrow, Ontario
Dr. Xiuming Hao is a research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) at Harrow. He holds a PhD in
plant physiology from the University of Guelph and an M.Sc. in computer control systems from Wayne State University.
Hao has been involved in the greenhouse research at the research centre since 1995. The focus of his research program is on greenhouse environmental physiology and energy conservation.
Over the last 16 years, he has conducted numerous projects on greenhouse crop management, climate control, and energy conservation, including high-wire cucumber production systems, new greenhouse insulation technology, heat placement in greenhouse vegetable production on raised-troughs, and dynamic temperature, CO2, humidity and fertigation control strategies, and new greenhouse cover materials.
Hao has led the AAFC national research project on dynamic plantbased environment control to improve energy use efficiency in greenhouse vegetable production. He has conducted extensive research and is leading the national AAFC lighting project on greenhouse vegetables to improve light and energy use efficiencies in year-round greenhouse vegetable production with the use of high pressure sodium lamps, LEDs and other new light sources.
Senior Technical & Research Manager, Ball Horticultural Company
As senior manager of technical services, Dr. Will Healy is responsible for developing production programs and operational efficiencies that produce consistent high quality young plants (plugs and liners).
Healy works with Ball companies and customers throughout the world training their staff in cutting edge production practices. Over the last 30 years, he has developed innovative operational approaches and scheduling programs that reduce shrink and improve operational efficiencies with reduced crop times.
Healy’s current research emphasis focuses on reducing shrink throughout the supply chain from seed and cutting producers all the way through to retail operations. As growers move to performance-based trading, managing shrink has become the new “ticket to play” for growers at all levels. Since shrink must be evaluated holistically,
Healy has developed tools to optimize the product assortment; strategies that reduce buffer requirements; production techniques and process improvements to increase yields and grower training to improve uniformity and overall quality.
A key to Ball’s success in young plant production has been the development of product standards and procedures to ensure consistent performance. Working with growers, Healy has developed protocols that ensure consistent supplies for customers. These procedures involve operational, software and plant culture aspects since no one aspect will ensure consistent supply. Healy has been actively involved with implementing SAP and Macola computer systems at Ball operations around the world.
As author of over 400 Ball Culture Advisors, he is well versed in crop production. Before coming to Ball, he was a faculty member at the University of Maryland and Colorado State University where he published over 30 scientific publications on floriculture production.
Healy received his PhD from the University of Minnesota working with Harold Wilkins.
Heeman’s Garden Centre, Thorndale, Ontario
Will Heeman is the Chief Daymaker at Heeman’s, an award-winning garden centre and berry farm serving the London region. After graduating university, Heeman took a sabbatical working at a garden centre in New Zealand before returning to the family business. He is now a driving force behind many of the exciting innovations at Heeman’s. He has been called “someone to watch” in the garden centre industry and was named Young Retailer of the Year for North America in 2016. He’s also past president of the Ontario Berry Growers Association.
When not in the greenhouse, he enjoys local food, beer and wine and travelling with his wife to far-off destinations.
Meyers Farms, Niagara-onthe-Lake, Ontario
Aron Hoff is head grower at Meyers Farms in Niagara-on-the-Lake. Along with managing a team of seven growers, he plans the production of a wide variety of both indoor potted and spring
annual crops. Hoff recently received the “2017 Grower of the Year” award from Greenhouse Grower magazine.
RUBEN J. HOUWELING
Houweling’s Group
In an industry that’s centered on hands-on education and training, helping out in the family business came second nature for Ruben Houweling. As a young boy of seven, he began working in the family operation washing flower pots and mixing soil, gradually adding to his duties as he grew older. With a father, two uncles, siblings and cousins involved, Houweling knew at an early age that this was where he belonged.
Three decades later, he’s still very much involved in Houweling Nurseries working as the operations and propagation manager for 20 years and now in a new position as general manager at Houweling’s Group, Delta Division. Delta division is a 50-acre site – about half in nursery and half in tomato production. Over 20 years the facility has expanded from 30 acres to 45 acres of lighting and Houweling’s has taken advantage of energy-saving retrofits, efficient designs and industry partnerships to maximize efficiency and minimize operation costs.
Soil Resource Group, Guelph, Ontario
Dr. Ann Huber is the environmental microbiologist for The Soil Resource Group in Guelph, with over 30 years of national and international experience in environmental and agricultural research. She is lead researcher for the company on horticultural BMPs, process water treatment technology evaluation and development, water-borne plant pathogen management, farm-based risk-management, food safety and soil health.
Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs
Dr. Sarah Jandricic started as the new greenhouse floriculture IPM specialist with OMAFRA in 2015. She has over 14 years experience in greenhouse integrated pest management, including extensive research experience in Canada, New York state and North Carolina, and two
years at a greenhouse IPM consulting company. She has published numerous trade articles and run a variety of grower workshops relating to biological control of greenhouse pests. She is responsible for both IPM of insects and plant diseases.
Ad Kranendonk is head of Sales and Business Development at Flier Systems BV, located just 20 minutes from Rotterdam, the Netherlands, in the village of Barendrecht. The company specializes in mechanization and automation for plant breeders, plant nurseries, greenhouse growers and various production companies. Dating back to 1931, Flier Systems has been a leader in the industrial revolution of the horticulture industry.
Kranendonk joined Flier Systems in 1988 and has excelled in numerous roles. His involvement on the company’s management team since 2005 has put him in the forefront of research and development for standard products used throughout the globe. He has also been an influential consultant to growers, taking the lead on numerous custom automation projects. In his current role he is responsible for business development and sales for the company.
Department of Horticulture and Crop Science, the Ohio State University
Dr. Chieri Kubota is a professor in the Department of Horticulture and Crop Science at the Ohio State University. She received her PhD from Chiba University in Japan.
Kubota worked for six years as a faculty member in Chiba University, 16 years in the School of Plant Sciences at University of Arizona and recently joined the faculty at the Ohio State University. Her research program focuses on the development of science-based technologies in the area of controlled environment agriculture (CEA). Her teaching program uniquely encompasses plant sciences and horticultural engineering. She has been very active in interdisciplinary collaborations contributing to horticultural crop production. Her work on hydroponic strawberry production, vegetable grafting and LED lighting is widely known by her peers and stakeholders.
Harrow Research & Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Dr. Roselyne Labbe is a research scientist in greenhouse entomology at the Harrow Research and Development Centre. Her current work focuses on the study of greenhouse arthropods, including pollinators, and in developing novel biological control agents to suppress established and invasive crop pests. She also currently examines how manipulation of the greenhouse light environment can alter arthropods under year-round crop production cycles. Labbe holds PhD and HBSc degrees in insect biology from Western University, as well as an M.Sc. degree in Greenhouse Entomology and Biological Control from Laval University. She has previously studied population dynamics and intra-guild interactions of greenhouse crop pests and beneficials, as well as insecticide resistance. She has served as a contributing member to Canada’s Biocontrol Network and is currently an adjunct professor in biology at the University of Windsor.
AgriNomix
Robert Lando is the CEO of AgriNomix LLC. His Oberlin, Ohio, based company is North America’s largest supplier of automation to the horticulture industry. Lando and three grower partners formed AgriNomix (formerly Flier USA) in 1994 to provide sales and service for high-tech Dutch-made automation from Flier Systems. While continuing to do so, the company has added several specialty manufacturers from across the globe and has grown to become a sizable domestic designer and builder as well. Prior to AgriNomix, Lando served as senior VP at Bouldin & Lawson of McMinnville, Tennessee, and started his journey in the horticulture industry with Langley Peat Moss of Fort Langley, B.C.
LA
Vineland Research & Innovation Centre
Dr. Michelangelo La Spina studied Agriculture Engineering at the Polytechnic University of València and completed his PhD at IMIDA (both in Spain). His research focuses on the biological control of agricultural pests, mainly aphids. After working for two
years in the European Biological Control Laboratory of the USDA in Montpellier (France), La Spina joined the team at Vineland working to find a biological solution for the foxglove aphid in ornamental greenhouse production systems.
Proefcentrum Hoogstraten
Koen Lavrysen holds a master’s degree in horticulture and has worked with the Research Centre Hoogstraten since 1995 as a consultant for strawberry growers. The Proefcentrum Hoogstraten team visits over 180 strawberry growers every seven or 14 days providing recommendations based on their own research and extensive experience. Lavrysen has worked all over the world helping growers begin or expand their strawberry operations. Proefcentrum Hoogstraten is currently active in Europe, the U.K., U.S., Australia and Canada.
School of Environmental Sciences, University of Guelph, Ontario
David Llewellyn is a research associate in Dr. Youbin Zheng’s lab at the University of Guelph. He has been working in the horticulture industry for the past 20 years with broad experience including field vegetables, nursery crops, landscaping, tender fruits, woodlot management, and greenhouse production (floriculture and vegetable). Since coming to Guelph in 1997 to do his M.Sc., he has specialized in controlled environment horticulture research including various aspects of greenhouse production and management and engineered interior landscapes for improving air quality in occupied spaces (i.e., botanical biofiltration of indoor air). Llewellyn is currently involved in research aimed at characterizing and optimizing aspects of the greenhouse environment including: lighting and irrigation water use and treatment (eg., ozonation, UV, biological remediation). His aim is to serve the greenhouse industry by performing grower-relevant research that will improve production efficiency while reducing the industry’s environmental footprint.
MICHAEL MACLEOD
Westbrook Greenhouses, Jordan, Ontario
Mike MacLeod is the production manager at Westbrook Greenhouses Ltd. He received both his B.Sc. (Hons) and M.Sc. degrees from Wilfrid Laurier University, the latter focused on in vitro culture of an aquaculture parasite. MacLeod has put his degrees to practical use volunteering with the WIDECAST Turtle Rescue Program in Costa Rica and conducting biogeographical surveys in the oil sands near Slave Lake, Alberta. Having grown up in greenhouses, he is keen to bridge the gap between growers and regulators. As such, he oversees Westbrook’s compliance with CFIA and MOECC requirements, and has served on committees with the CFIA and Flowers Canada. In his free time, he enjoys hiking with his wife and daughter, and nature photography.
JASMINE MAH
University of Guelph
Jasmine Mah is a M.Sc. student under the supervision of Professor Youbin Zheng at the University of Guelph. Mah is researching the practical applications of novel lighting regimes in controlled environments, including greenhouse production.
LEO MARCELIS
Horticulture and Product Physiology group, Wageningen University, the Netherland
Dr. Leo Marcelis is a professor at Wageningen University where he leads the Horticulture and Product Physiology group. The group includes about 10 staff members, 20 PhD candidates, five post-docs, and a number of guest researchers. Each year about 25 students conduct their thesis study with the group. This is the only academic group in the Netherlands that focuses on horticulture and holds a strong position in horticultural research and education.
Marcelis has 30 years of experience in experimental and simulation research on plant growth and functioning. His main expertise is on physiology, growth and product formation of plants and plant organs. In particular, fluxes of assimilates, water and nutrients in the plant, sink/source interactions and partitioning among plant organs in response to environmental growth
conditions are his subject of study. His research contributes to sustainable horticultural production while improving crop production and quality – this includes energy savings, efficient use of (LED) light, and efficient use of water and nutrients.
He has (co-) authored more than 150 scientific articles and over 200 articles for growers.
Fresh Forward Breeding, BV
Bert Meulenbroek is head of the strawberry breeding department of Fresh Forward. He has worked as a strawberry breeder since 1989 and became the head of the breeding department when Fresh Forward was founded in 2005.
Greenhouse IPM Specialist with BioLogical Control Solutions
Graeme Murphy completed his undergraduate degree in biological sciences and his master’s degree in agricultural science in Melbourne, Australia. He worked for eight years with the Victorian State Government in Australia, initially as an entomologist with the Department of Agriculture, and for two years as a research scientist with the Department of Natural Resources.
In 1988, he moved to Canada and from then until the end of 2014, he worked as the greenhouse floriculture IPM specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. During that time, he worked closely with the industry on pest management issues generally, including new and invasive pests, registration of new pesticides, research into new control strategies and development of educational programs and publications for Ontario growers.
He also worked with individual growers in developing crop-specific IPM programs with an emphasis on biological control. He has written widely in grower trade publications in Canada and the U.S. and has been an invited speaker at many conferences and grower meetings both locally and internationally.
Since retiring at the end of 2014, Murphy has been working as a consultant with greenhouse growers to help refine their pest management programs, focusing on in-house research projects, developing a better understanding of pest management
economics and developing staff training sessions geared to the crops and pests of individual greenhouses.
Grant Thornton, Kitchener, Ontario
With 16 years of experience as a tax specialist in government incentives, Martha Oner helps clients across all industries file maximized and substantiated tax credit claims. Her clients include food and beverage, medical technologies, manufacturing, information technology, green technology, construction and agriculture industries. She assists clients with all aspects of claim eligibility, preparation and defence.
Oner received her bachelor of science (Biochemistry and Business) from the University of Waterloo. She is a member of the Women’s Executive Network, having placed as a 2007 Protégé in the Wisdom II Program.
She currently sits on the Kawasaki Disease Canada board and is past vice-chair of the Leaders in Construction board. Oner also volunteers with the Junior Achievement program to mentor students in business and entrepreneurship skills.
Vineland Research and Innovation Centre
Dr. Valerio Primomo has over 15 years of experience working in plant breeding and genetics. He received his B.Sc. in Biochemistry from McGill University in 1994 and his M.Sc. in Plant Breeding and Genetics from the University of Guelph in 2000. In 2004, he completed his PhD at the University of Guelph where he identified genetic regions associated with isoflavone content in soybean seed.
Shortly after graduating, Primomo accepted a post-doc position with the Genomics Integration group at Pioneer Hi Bred headquarters in Johnston, Iowa, where he identified and developed genome wide genetic markers in soybean. In 2007, he accepted a research scientist position with Pioneer Hi Bred in Caledon, Ontario, as a molecular breeder for several crops including canola, sunflower, sorghum and rice.
In 2011, he joined Vineland as a research scientist in vegetable breeding. His work is currently focused
on developing greenhouse tomato varieties as well as sweet potato varieties that perform well under Ontario’s environmental conditions using traditional breeding methods and current molecular technology.
KEVIN ROGOZA
Jeffery’s Greenhouses, St. Catharines, Ontario
Kevin Rogoza is a graduate of the Western University undergraduate honours biology program and the Niagara College greenhouse program. He has worked as a grower at Jeffery’s Greenhouses Ltd. since 2015. Rogoza is responsible for producing a wide variety of high quality bedding plants as well as cyclamen. He has a keen interest in the use of biological controls for pest and disease management and is eager to expand his knowledge further.
RON SANT
George Sant & Sons Greenhouses, Kleinburg, Ontario
Ron Sant began working in the family business after graduating from the University of Guelph in 1984 with a diploma in horticulture. At that time, the company was growing bedding plants in spring, summer and fall. In the late 1980s, they began propagation for Ball and slowly got out of field crops. Today, George Sant & Sons Greenhouses grows plugs and liners through Ball and sells them throughout North America as well as finished bedding plants that are sold to garden centres, Costco and landscapers throughout the Greater Toronto Area.
LASSE SCHULZE
(Peace Naturals Cronos Group)
Dr. Lasse Schulze is a horticultural expert with a PhD in Plant Physiology (Toxicology), and a natural curiosity for science and learning. He has more than 10 years of experience in the horticultural industry, and has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals on nutrient acquisition and ionic and metabolic profiling of tissues. His scientific work was acknowledged in cover articles in the Globe and Mail and Toronto Life. His experience includes project management and consulting in the agricultural/horticultural sector for major
national and international clients at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute and as a director at APMI Associates. He received a B.Sc. in Horticultural Sciences at the Humboldt University of Berlin and a PhD from the University of Toronto where he obtained several scholarships and awards.
WILLIAM SUTTON
University of Guelph
William Sutton is from Stouffville, Ontario. He completed his bachelor of science degree (Honours) at McMaster University in 2015, and his undergraduate thesis investigated the regulation of plant immunity to bacterial infection.
He is currently completing his master’s program in Plant Agriculture at the University of Guelph under the supervision of Dr. Barry Shelp. His research focuses on managing the nutrient status of pot-grown, subirrigated chrysanthemums.
NEIL THORNTON
President, The Thornton Group of Companies
Since starting The Thornton Group, Neil Thornton has made a commitment to share the ideas, insights and trends that he has learned in over two decades of consulting, business development, entrepreneurship and coaching business leaders.
In his work Thornton can be found in the field, on job sites, shop floors, meeting areas and board rooms.
From boots to shoes and coveralls to suits, he communicates and connects from years of experience where it counts most … in the trenches of the real world of business. He has a no-holds barred style of integrity and directness.
He helps his clients build culture and drive change by ensuring they have the right people in the right roles and communicating a clear and committed corporate vision and strategy.
Thornton can be found by searching him on Google, connecting with him on LinkedIn, or by visiting thorntongroup.ca.
Boekestyn Greenhouses, St. Catharines, Ontario Karlee VanderPryt has been working in the greenhouse industry for two years. She received a B.Sc. Agriculture from the
University of Guelph and graduated with honours from the Greenhouse Technician program from Niagara College. She has been actively increasing her greenhouse technical skills through work experiences and related conferences.
Flowers Canada Growers Inc.
Dr. Jeanine West is a consultant with nearly 20 years of experience in horticulture, holding a M.Sc. in limnology and a PhD in plant physiology and phytopathology of cut flowers with the support of a Cecil Delworth Foundation grant. West continued her career in agriculture with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada studying tile drainage and land application best practices, and later was a successful senior manager at an ornamental nursery for nearly 10 years, preparing a nursery certification application and developing certification and best management protocols for boxwood blight.
Currently the Greenhouse Certification Program project lead with Flowers Canada Growers Inc., West is collaborating with members across the country to develop training guides for facilities that will be exporting greenhouse-grown plants to the United States under the new regulations.
University of Guelph
Dr. Youbin Zheng is an associate professor and Environmental Horticulture Chair at the University of Guelph. He also has a research lab at the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre. He specializes in plant nutrition and fertilization, irrigation and water treatment, soils and growing substrates, plant-environment interactions, greenhouse lighting, CO2 enrichment, and has been serving the greenhouse industry for more than 20 years.
The objectives of Dr. Zheng’s research program are to develop science and technologies for production of horticultural commodities in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner and to develop and use green infrastructure related technologies (ex. green roofs) for improving the environment and to help build a sustainable society.
Registration opens: 8:30 am
Trade Show hours: 9:00 am – 4:00 pm
October 4&5 2017
Held annually since 1979, the CGC is committed to providing a high quality conference experience for the sharing of leading edge information through speakers, workshops, demonstration and exhibits.
Those working behind the scenes include:
2017 CANADIAN GREENHOUSE CONFERENCE DIRECTORS AND OFFICERS
• Chair: Allan Van Staalduinen, Ball Horticultural Inc.
• Vice-chair: Steve Droog, Kam’s Grower Supplies.
• Treasurer: John Gardner, Durward Jones Barkwell and Company.
• Secretary: Carol Pupo.
• Marketing officer: Glenna Cairnie.
• Directors: Niki Bennett, Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers, Dr. Theo Blom, retired professor, University of Guelph; Wayne Brown, private consultant; Shalin Khosla, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA); Lorne King, Plant Products; and Andrew Morse, Flowers Canada Growers.
2017 TRADE FAIR COMMITTEE:
• Chair: Steve Droog, Kam’s Growers Supplies.
• Nashelle Barsky, Greenhouse Canada.
• Niki Bennett, OGVG.
• Dr. Theo Blom, University of Guelph.
• Nancy Boekestyn, Berger.
• Wayne Brown, private consultant.
• Glenna Cairnie, Marketing and Events Coordinator.
• Dr. Chevonne Carlow, OMAFRA.
• Nathalie Dreifelds, Vineland Research & Innovation Centre.
• Rob Fluit, JVK.
• John Gardner, Durward Jones Barkwell and Company.
• Dave Harrison, Greenhouse Canada.
• Shalin Khosla, OMAFRA.
• Lorne King, Plant Products.
• Andrew Morse, Flowers Canada Growers.
• Carol Pupo, executive coordinator.
• Terry Talsma, Syngenta.
• Rodger Tschanz, University of Guelph.
• Hein Vanderkamp, Woodenshoe Greenhouses.
• Felicia Vandervelde, Florist B.V.
• Allan Van Staalduinen, Ball Horticultural Inc.
We all want freedom of choice in our lives. This is the foundation that many of today’s cannabis farmers started on, and this is the essential human spirit
BY GGS STRUCTURES INC.
Nothing evokes passionate debate in the cannabis community like the threat of big business taking over. The arguments against big marijuana fill the Internet. The heartfelt plea to preserve small farms is echoed throughout the U.S., Canada and Jamaica. At the Marijuana Business Conference in Las Vegas last November there was even a debate dedicated to arguing which was better: Craft Cannabis vs. Big Marijuana.
But this should never have been an either/or statement. Is Big Business with Big Money going to jump in on the Marijuana Green Rush? Absolutely! Is that the beginning of the end of small craft farmers? Not in a million years!
We have personally met with hundreds of marijuana growers, and at GGS we have been supplying greenhouses, growing tables and indoor
cultivation facilities specifically designed to maximize cannabis production since the 1990s. From our years of experience we can tell you there are many reasons craft cannabis will continue to thrive.
1. Small Business can adapt to change quicker than Big Business: We have been taught that Small Business is like a sports car that can turn on a dime. Big Business is like a tractor-trailer that has momentum but can’t make changes very quickly or efficiently. The marijuana business is changing quickly and smaller companies can adapt and be at the forefront of change.
2. Higher quality sells: Craft beer is doing extremely well because there are plenty of people who are more than willing to pay a little more for higher quality and unique tastes rather than run-ofthe-mill beer. Definitely the same goes for cannabis.
ABOVE Passion about the product is saleable. RIGHT Craft beer is doing extremely well.
3. Variety is the spice of life: There are times when you want comfort, and seek out the same old McDonalds or KFC. You know what you are going to get every time you drink a Coke. Big Marijuana could possibly fill this need in time. But, sometimes, you want a different taste sensation, a different retail experience, and that is where the niche players fill a void that gigantic corporations create by virtue of streamlining for a mass market.
4. Passion about the product is saleable: Creativity and artisan style
products seem to flow more readily from smaller business entrepreneurs that are passionate about their product rather than companies with big business attitudes that focus only on production. Like-minded consumers want to be part of your story. Share your passion and you will create a loyal customer following.
5. Farm tourism is a growing trend: Estate wineries have done a tremendous job building the value of niche agri-tourism. We see a future where cannabis farmers tour interested visitors
The industry has roots strongly entrenched in protecting the interests of craft cultivators.
through fields and greenhouses. Where dispensary tours include a peek inside the grow room, and a “trim your own bud” experience is part of an added VIP package.
6. Who doesn’t love an underdog?: We have friends who will shun a craft beer once it has sold out to a big corporation regardless of how much they enjoyed the product in the past. There is a significant segment of our population that actively seeks out independent businesses and actively avoids mega-corporations. The cannabis industry has roots strongly entrenched in protecting the interests of craft cultivators.
7. Craft doesn’t necessarily mean small: There is a long way to grow from startup to large-cap (generally speaking requiring a company to be worth in excess of $5 billion). Many of the marijuana growers we work with are designing their facilities for efficient expansion, or increasing productions through technologies like rolling benches, or adding a new a greenhouse range to expand their product mix. Craft cannabis is a vibrant and growing business that will continue to thrive.
But the real reason craft cannabis will never die that is that human beings want choice. We all want freedom of choice in our lives. This is the foundation that many of today’s cannabis farmers started on, and this is the essential human spirit.
Reprinted with permission of GGS Structures Inc. (ggsstructures.com).
Biocontrols are effective with greenhouse vegetable crops in any season.
BY DR. ABIDA NASREEN
If you are a sports person, you may know that no coach heads into the fourth quarter without a proper plan. Late-season vegetable IPM needs the same approach.
Use all your players to maintain crop health during early- and mid-season, but use the best one for late season use. This player should be able to handle the late-season pest pressures while maintaining the quality production and conserving the beneficial fauna for the next crop.
“Insecticide” is a best player for some growers –most greenhouses use it to control pests and keep plants protected. The rationale?
• “There’s nothing wrong in pushing the crop for few months, so why spend more money on natural enemies.”
• “We are pulling out the crop in few weeks, so why do we need to apply more bios when we can control the pests by a quicker and cheaper way.”
In my opinion, this is the worst player you could use, not only for the fourth quarter but also for the coming first quarter. You need to make a proper plan to keep this crop productive and for healthy start of next crop. The plan could be:
Biologically based pest suppression/ reduced use of chemicals. The preventive use of chemicals in greenhouse system is not recommended at all, such as the use of neonicotinoid insecticides to prevent pepper weevil. This did not help but instead caused resistance in thrips and disrupted biocontrol systems.
Spot treatment of badly affected areas by using selective pesticides is helpful; it is very true to control spider mites problem on all greenhouse crops. Never exceed the label rates, and it should be followed by at least two generous applications of Phytoseiulus persimilis with an interval of one week.
Add more natural enemies with the increasing pest pressure. This will keep pests under economic thresholds and help to manage the new crop early season.
If it is inevitable to apply a blanket treatment of pesticides, always choose the one less disrupting to the biological control program.
There is a common practice of application of non-selective pesticide at the end of crop cycle as a cleanup tool. However it is very much disruptive for the beneficial fauna of greenhouse ecosystem
From seed to table, higher quality with better taste.
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and highly contributing in the resistance phenomenon of many pests of economic importance.
Drenching pesticides could be the biggest reason biological control is unsuccessful in vegetable greenhouses where leachate is reused. Thus, those chemicals become a part of the irrigation water through the recycling system that may harm the establishment of various predators. As well, the sub-lethal doses may trigger resistance mechanism in the target pests.
Cleanup. Application of various chemicals (pesticides and disinfectants) could affect conservation of the beneficial insects, beneficial fungi, bacteria and viruses in the greenhouse system and may bring up the pest resistance problem quite quickly. Because the pests survived a heavy application of chemicals, they must be highly resistant and will reproduce faster as the new crop is placed in the greenhouse. Always use soft chemicals at the cleanup time to conserve beneficial biotic elements of the greenhouse system
Clean start. Ensure there are no weeds inside and that there is no plant debris at least one to two metres around the
greenhouse. Avoid having algae in and around the greenhouse. Algae promote fungus gnat problems.
Preventive introduction of general predators. Apply the right biological control agent on the right crop and at
the proper predator/prey ratio for pest prevention. For example: Dicyphus and Podisus for tomato crops; Swirskii and Orius in pepper crops; and Swirskii, Californicus and Podisus against the pests of cucumbers. Use banker plant systems such as Orius
on ornamental peppers and Dicyphus on a mullein banker plant system.
Keep the banker plants well distributed throughout the cropping area.
Early introduction of the specialists (parasitoid / predator). Introduce
Encarsia and Eretmocerus when the whitefly nymphs are noticed, apply Persimilis if spider mite is spotted, and release Aphidius if aphids are the problem.
Proper irrigation and balanced nutrients. Stressed plants are more
vulnerable to pests and more prone to diseases. High nitrogen contents may make the plant very nutritious for the pest, low nitrogen contents of plant sap may cause heavy suction of plant juices by whiteflies and aphids to meet their need for amino acids resulting in them secreting more honey dews, stickiness and development of the sooty moulds.
Curative application of biologicals. If you are applying biocontrol agents for curative treatment, you have to be very generous. Release a good number of predators/parasitoids to treat the pest hotspots and affected areas. For example, use at least 250 D. Hesperus nymphs to handle whitefly or aphid on tomato crops; 500-1000 O. insidiosus are good for a thrips hotspot; 10K of P. persimilis to control a patch of spider mites, and 100-200 Aphidius wasps are good against aphids on all crops except tomatoes. For general application, apply the biocontrol agents according to the recommendations of your supplier.
Dr. Abida Nasreen is director of research and development with GrowLiv Ltd., www.growliv.com.
They can inflict serious losses even at very low populations.
BY DR. M. ISHTIAQ RAO
Aphids can cause significant economic losses on ornamentals by causing deformities, reduced size, or by merely being present on the plants. Such presence affects the aesthetic value of infested plants, thereby reducing or preventing their marketability.
On vegetables, aphids inflict losses by reducing yield due to fruit distortion (Fig. 1), by causing development of sooty mould on leaves, and/or by transmitting virus infections.
More plant viruses are transmitted by aphids than by any other group of insects. In greenhouse cucumbers, cotton aphids are the most commonly occurring species, and some of the viruses they
can spread in this crop include cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), watermelon mosaic virus (WMV), zucchini yellow mosaic virus (ZYMV), and papaya ringspot virus (PRSV). In greenhouse peppers and tomatoes, aphids may vector viruses such as tobacco etch virus (TEV), potato virus Y (PVY), and CMV.
Feeding damage caused by aphids and their ability to transmit viral diseases is greatly facilitated by their reproductive potential. Factors that contribute to their ability to reproduce exponentially include the following:
• Within the greenhouse, no mating is required for reproduction;
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• Only female aphids are produced, with up to 200 young being produced per female.
• Each daughter can begin reproduction in seven to10 days.
Furthermore, aphids can inflict serious losses even at very low populations.
Within 10-30 seconds, an aphid can pick up a virus from an infected plant, and just as quickly, infect a healthy plant while probing or making punctures to obtain plant sap. Once a single plant has been infected, further transmission
Fig. 3: Numerous dead or mummified aphids due to parasitization by Aphidius colemani on greenhouse pepper crop
can be carried out mechanically during harvesting and pruning. Such activities facilitate transmission of virus-infected sap from plant to plant.
Viruses can be spread even faster when winged forms of the aphids are present. Under greenhouse conditions, aphids multiply continuously and usually produce forms without wings. When conditions begin to deteriorate, such as during overcrowding and when food quality is poor, aphids produce forms that have wings. It is these winged forms that contribute most to spread of viral diseases. In fact, the presence of a few winged aphids will do more to spread a virus disease than a large number of nonwinged aphids that are stationary.
Management of aphids in greenhouse crops requires an integrated approach that uses all available strategies including regular crop monitoring, weed control, biological and chemical controls.
Crop monitoring: Early detection of aphids requires regular and meticulous observation of the crop. Because aphids reside on the undersides of leaves, scouts can look for white flecks on the upper surface of leaves located immediately below the infested leaves. These flecks are the skins that the aphids have cast off during moulting (Fig. 2).
Other tell-tale signs include a shiny coating of honeydew (Fig. 2) or black sooty mould on the leaves. However, observation of sooty mould indicates an older infestation and a relatively developed population. In addition to observing the crop, yellow sticky cards must be used to detect the presence of winged forms. Such winged forms indicate either that overwintering aphids from outdoors have flown into the greenhouse, or that “hot spots” or concentrated areas of very high populations of aphids are present in the crop.
Weed control: It is necessary to try and eliminate or at least reduce potential sources of the virus. This means removal of weeds and any other type of plant species that could serve as a host for both aphids and viruses, in and around the greenhouse.
Aphids have a very wide host range. For example, the green peach aphid is
reported to feed on hundreds of plant species from over 40 plant families. Weeds, particularly broadleaf weeds, play an important role as overwintering hosts for aphids and as reservoirs for viruses. The most common virus that infects cucumbers and its relatives is CMV, and this has been found to be naturally occurring in at least 476 plant species. Biological control: Biological control can help in suppressing aphid populations but it is especially important to make releases early in the development of aphid populations. This is because there is a lag time between release and reduction of populations. Biocontrol agents that are commercially available include parasitic wasps such as Aphidius matricariae, A. colemani (Fig. 3), A. ervi, and Aphelinus abdominalis. Whereas A. matricariae and A. colemani are generally used for the smaller aphid species such as green peach and cotton aphids, A. ervi and Aphelinus abdominalis are used against the larger aphid species such as potato and foxglove aphids. Predators available include green and brown lacewings, the predatory midge, Aphidoletes aphidimyza,
and ladybeetles (Hippodamia convergens) (Fig. 4). Generally, the parasitic wasps are released early when aphid populations are still low, and the predators are used to supplement the activity of the wasps,
particularly in “hot spots.”
Maximize the effectiveness of aphid enemies: The conventional method for applying aphid biocontrols, particularly parasitoids, involves sprinkling parasitized aphid mummies on the plants and allowing the parasitoid wasp to emerge. But buyer beware: in hymenopterans (such as Aphidius and Aphelinus), the males emerge first and go out in search of nectar. When the females emerge, all the males have left the area, meaning no mating is occurring. The wasps end up scattered in an enormous greenhouse, and mating becomes a much less likely event. Not only does mating become less likely, but the energy that the wasps must expend in searching for nectar and a mate leaves less and less energy available to search for aphids.
To increase wasp efficiency, some suppliers, such as Crop Defenders, supply their wasps in a cardboard tube with a nectar solution affixed near the exit hole (Fig. 5). This way, the adult wasps emerge well-fed and already mated. The mated females then go out immediately in search of aphids within
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which to lay their eggs. Aphidoletes, though not a parasitic wasp, behaves in a very similar way, and benefits just as well from the tubes supplied with nectar. This pest control technique means that with the same investment, you get more bang for the buck.
Chemical control: Given frequent exposure to any pesticide, the short life cycle and reproductive potential of aphids enable them to successfully develop resistance to any pesticide. Thus, chemical controls are best used minimally, and only when absolutely necessary.
To facilitate use of chemical controls, a good monitoring program is necessary to indicate proper timing of applications, and also where applications should be made in the case of spot treatments. To delay development of resistance, it is always best to combine several strategies including the following:
• Apply pesticides as a last resort.
• Minimize pesticide use by making partial applications, e.g. only in the upper canopy or only on plants in “hot spots” versus application to the entire crop.
• Practice rotation by using products from different pesticide families.
• Increase the use of biocontrols, combining several species as necessary.
• Remove plants or leaves that are extremely heavily infested.
In summary, aphids usually cause problems in greenhouse crops at this time of year. In anticipation of this event, we need to harness all available strategies to minimize their populations and the threats that they pose to our crops. This can only be done by using an integrated approach that incorporates crop monitoring, sanitation practices, early releases of biocontrols, and judicious use of pesticides.
Dr. M. Ishtiaq Rao, CEO of Crop Defenders Ltd., is a PhD in entomology who is dedicated to the eradication of horticultural pests through IPM methods. Crop Defenders Ltd. utilizes biological knowledge of pest and beneficial insect species in order to manage pests costeffectively and in a way that is cohesive with a healthy environment.
• ishtiaq@cropdefenders.com
Leading pest management specialists offer updates during the “International Organization for Biological Control” Working Group Meeting in Niagara Falls
BY DR. SARAH JANDRICIC
I’m sure growers sometimes wonder what the heck scientists are doing behind closed doors all day in our labs and research greenhouses. Since it often takes several years of repetitious experiments to conclusively find an answer to a problem (or even longer to bring a new product or process to the market), I’m sure that, from the outside, it sometimes seems like things are at a standstill.
But based on the research presented at the “Integrated Control in Protected Crops” (IOBC) Working Group Meeting in Niagara Falls in June, the greenhouse research community is working hard to bring you solutions to your pest problems. And, there are some exciting things coming down the pipeline.
Overall, I was incredibly impressed at the realworld applicability of the research being done by the 130 scientists from over 15 countries in this Working Group.
Highlighted here are just a few tips, tricks and interesting research results that came out of the meeting, so you can get a feel for what
ABOVE
researchers are up to lately. For regular research updates, subscribe to Ontario’s Floriculture Blog (ONfloriculture.wordpress.com).
Determining Which Control Measures to Use Seasonally (The “WHAT” and the “WHEN”): Determining the right IPM tool for the job, and knowing when to integrate it into your program is vital. This information can help explain control failures, save money (since less inputs may be more effective at different points in production), and generally help us narrow down the IPM “recipe” for certain crops or pests.
A pertinent example of this is continuing research on whitefly control. Dr. Rose Labbe (AAFC-Harrow) gave a fascinating keynote address summarizing known environmental effects on biocontrol agents, including whitefly natural enemies. Researchers have determined that parasitoids like Eretmocerus don’t perform well from January to April, due to low temperature and light levels. My work with Ontario growers suggests that the predatory mite Amblydromalus
Gongyu Lin from the University of Montreal demonstrates her research on using predatory mites to carry Beauveria spores to infect western flower thrips.
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limonicus may be able to fill this niche in some crops, as it functions better than other available natural enemies in cool temperatures. Dr. Andreas Walzer, a researcher from Vienna, thinks that Limonicus could also be effective for whitefly in summer, as long as the daily maximum temperature of the greenhouse doesn’t go above 40 C. Limonicus may soon be available in sachet form, which could open up a whole new possibility of year-round uses with this natural enemy. Of course IPM is not just about
natural enemies – pesticides are a key tool, too. Steven Arthurs from the University of Florida discussed the fastgrowing market for microbial pesticides (a $1.25 billion dollar industry in North America), many of which are certified for organic production. Interestingly, he reported that over 80 per cent of biopesticides used in North America are used in fruits and vegetables. Perhaps it’s time for ornamental growers to catch up and see where and when we can best take advantage of this growing set of tools.
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A slide from Dr. Shimon Stienberg’s keynote address (Biobee Biological Systems, Israel), illustrating the true end goal of research directed at improving the efficacy of biological control agents.
We also have a lot to learn about what to apply when from the growers themselves. This was obvious during the Grower Session of the meeting (with over 50 local growers in attendance). For example, Blake Fisher from Boem Berry Farm outlined how current IPM programs developed in the Netherlands for greenhouse-grown strawberries don’t necessarily translate to Ontario conditions. Growers are having to come up with their own solutions through good old-fashioned trial and error.
(The “HOW”): Improving application strategies for biocontrol agents was also a major theme at the meeting, in order to increase their efficacy and give you more bang for your buck.
Dr. John Sanderson from Cornell University is looking into various species of nematodes and cultural practices for better fungus gnat (Bradysia impatiens) control. He demonstrated that, under ideal conditions, you can continue to get >75 per cent mortality of fungus gnats with S. feltiae for up to eight weeks after an initial drench application. However, this might be affected by irrigation methods. His early results suggest that sub-irrigation leads to better fungus gnat
mortality, since it’s less likely to wash the nematodes out of the pot than overhead irrigation. He’s currently continuing tests to confirm this.
Dr. Michael Brownbridge, from the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre, has been looking at the use of foggers (a.k.a., low-volume machines, or LVMs) to improve coverage – and potentially, efficacy – of microbials for insect and disease control. But he’s found that not all LVM machines are appropriate for all microbials (these ARE living organisms after all, with different requirements and tolerances).
Thermal fogging with a K-22 BIO Portable PulsFOG®, though suitable for a product like Cease® (Bacillus subtilus), unfortunately killed up to 90 per cent of Beauveria bassiana spores. This is likely due to more heat/energy than the Beauveria spores can handle being generated during the fogging process. Testing is ongoing to figure out if this machine can be modified to mediate these effects.
Agrobío, a biocontrol company from Spain, is looking at adding food mites (like the ones already in mite sachets) directly to plants as an additional food source for A. swirskii and other predatory mites. Their method not only led to increased predatory mite counts on leaves, but also improved control of western flower thrips in a variety of greenhouse crops. This could definitely be an interesting and unique new option
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Tippy the Thrips and Olive the Aphid, the unofficial conference mascots (also used to tell researchers when to get off the
and being shown off by Marilyn
to boost a thrips IPM program.
Ronald Valentin from BioLine, one of our keynote speakers for the Grower Session, had a neat tip for those of you using trap plants for thrips and other pests (i.e., plants more attractive to the pest than the crop plant). When initially setting up your trap plants in the crop, place an open garbage bag under them. This way, when you go to remove the plant, you can just slide the bag around it, reducing the risk of distributing pests gathered on them.
Tackling Industry Challenges (the “WHY, OH, WHY”?!): Not surprisingly, there were several talks on pepper weevil (Anthonomus eugenii), an insect that’s been the bane of pepper growers in Canada for the past year. This pest burrows into buds and causes premature fruit drop, resulting in economic losses of up to $23 million in the U.S.
Researchers at AAFC Harrow, OMAFRA and the University of Windsor are busy looking for natural enemies for pepper weevil; several promising parasitoid species have already been identified from local weevil populations. The next step they’re working on is to
see if these parasitoids can be reared effectively for augmentative release. Another industry challenge that isn’t going to be resolved any time soon is successful integration of biological control agents and pesticides, without detrimental side effects. One piece of food-for-thought that came out of our discussions? Perhaps it’s time for us to re-evaluate IOBC guidelines that govern pesticide compatibility and natural enemies, or at least our interpretation of them. After all, a pesticide classified as “harmless or slightly harmful” in some online databases can still cause up to 25 per cent losses of a natural enemy in lab trials, and up to 50 per cent losses in field trials, according to the current guidelines. That’s a lot of bios you could be losing! And this doesn’t necessarily take into account sub-lethal effects on the population, like lower searching efficacy, or decreased reproduction, that can also derail a biocontrol program. We’ll see where the future takes us on this particular issue.
Research and YOU (the “WHO”): Pulling off a scientific meeting of this size required joint effort from members of the
Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs; Vineland Research and Innovation Centre; Agriculture and AgriFood Canada; Flowers Canada Ontario; University of Guelph; Cornell University; and several private companies (BioLogical Solutions, Ecohabitat Agri Services and Biobest).
We also couldn’t have made this happen without some very generous sponsors (see IOBCCanada2017.ca for the large list).
But the unsung heroes of this meeting are the growers around the world who not only bring us interesting challenges and questions relating to pest management, but also consistently open their doors to researchers so we can do on-farm, proof-of-concept trials. Without you, none of this important work would even be possible.
Dr. Sarah Jandricic is the greenhouse floriculture IPM specialist for OMAFRA. She is responsible for IPM for insects and plant diseases and conducts on-farm research trials in collaboration with growers. She can be reached at sarah.jandricic@ontario.ca, or 905-562-4141 – ext. 106.
Joe Sbrocchi is the new general manager with the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers (OGVG).
Sbrocchi has been active in a number of roles in the greenhouse sector for the last eight years. Previously he held management roles with national retailers such as Sobeys and Walmart, providing a solid body of
If consumers have ever wondered what it would be like to step into a flower greenhouse and be surrounded by thousands of flowers in bloom, they will have the chance to experience it this fall.
Petals & Plates is a new series of farm dinners that aim to put the focus on local flowers, the farmers that grow them, and their importance in Ontario’s agricultural landscape.
A 100-seat harvest table, beautifully designed by a local floral designer will be placed in the middle of a commercial greenhouse in full bloom. A delicious floral themed, locally sourced seasonal meal will be served by a local chef, preceded by a cocktail hour with floral drinks, local beer and wine, and a tour of the greenhouse.
“Each dinner will be a complete sensory experience, yet unique from each other in that the table will be surrounded by a different crop of flowers,” said Jesseline Gough, marketing coordinator at Flowers Canada (Ontario). “These dinners are a celebration of local flowers, food, wine, and the people who produce these wonderful things for all of us to enjoy.”
By including a brief tour of the facilities before being seated to dinner, guests can experience the age-old art, and modern sustainable practices, of being a flower grower in Ontario.
Visit www.petalsandplates.ca today for tickets and more details.
work throughout the entire value chain.
“We are pleased to have a quality leader join the OGVG at a point where his experience, skills and leadership can significantly support our sector,” said
OGVG chair George Gilvesy.
“I believe my lifetime in produce and in particular the past eight years in the greenhouse sector have prepared me well for this role,” said Sbrocchi.
“I am looking forward to representing Ontario greenhouse growers to the very best of my abilities.”
By Keith Currie
An estimated 185,000 Ontario jobs will be at risk from proposed changes to Bill 148, according to a recent study by the Canadian Centre for Economic Analysis.
The study also predicts an increase in consumer household costs by $1,300 a year.
These numbers aren’t adding up well for Ontario when it comes to implementing Bill 148, the Fair Workplaces and Better Jobs Act. A 32 per cent increase in minimum wage, paid sick days and other suggested legislative changes may sound appealing but the economic impact study reveals that the proposed bill will only serve to jeopardize
employment and increase the cost of living for all Ontarians.
The first and only independent economic impact analysis of Bill 148 was commissioned by the Keep Ontario Working Coalition. The Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) is a member of the Keep Ontario Working Coalition, a group of business sector representatives, coordinated by the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, concerned with sound public policy to help produce jobs and grow Ontario.
The study measured the potential impacts of six key areas of changing in Bill 148, including changes to minimum wages, “equal pay” provisions, vacation, scheduling, personal emergency leave, and unionization.
The results clearly reveal that if the proposed legislation is implemented as currently drafted, there will be significant, sudden and serious uncertainty for Ontarians, from job security to family and household affordability.
The independent economic impact analysis of Bill 148 shows that Ontario businesses will be hit with a $23 billion challenge over the next two years. It concludes that challenge will be impossible for the Ontario government to mitigate through offsets, leaving businesses to somehow manage it on their own. These sudden and unprecedented reforms will put 185,000 jobs at risk, hitting the province’s most vulnerable workers – youth under 25 and women.
And in our agri-food sector, labour intensive farms will be hardest hit with higher, non-recoverable costs that could cause a drop in farm employment, adoption of labour saving technology and a move to less labour intensive crops.
None of these changes will happen easily or without disruption across the agri-food sector.
OFA has been working with industry and business groups to help the government understand the impacts of its proposed legislative changes. If Bill 148 is successful, Ontario farmers and our agrifood businesses will immediately become less competitive.
The changes will threaten Ontario’s food security and undermine the sustainability and variety of agricultural products available to Ontarians.
Keith Currie is president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture.
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One thing is for sure these days: nothing is for sure. Everyone in the greenhouse industry knows we’re in a global industry. Supplies, labour and produce are increasingly moved around the world in what we’re told is a good thing – “global trade.”
But a recent report from U.K.-based think-tank “Chatham House” suggests differently. “The world’s food security is increasingly reliant on 14 ‘chokepoints’ for trade” and “more needs to be done to protect key transport routes such as the Panama Canal, the Suez Canal and the Turkish Straits.”1
It goes on to further suggest that “Almost 25 per cent of the world’s food is traded on international markets” making food supply and prices vulnerable to unforeseen crises or climate change.
We all know that when food (and flowers) does get through these “chokepoints,” pests and diseases may also get through. We’re then left to fight this fight. “Non-native pests (also known as ‘alien species’ or ‘exotic pests’) are pests that are introduced to a country or region deliberately or by accident, outside of their natural habitat. If the new habitat is suitable, introduced pests can often survive, multiply and spread (becoming invasive).”2
that Canada imports over half a billion plants each year, and with them lots of thrips. We need sustainable, responsible ways to biologically or naturally control these and other plant passengers such as whitefly species.
At the same event, U.S. entomologist Suzanne Wright-Evans put out her list of “Challenges for IPM,” which includes:
• Knowing more about pesticide compatibilities, and
• Host plant range as it relates to both pests and beneficials.
• Having staff who are able to identify beneficial species and if they are being effective, including paying attention to product quality (as B.C. entomologist Brian Spencer has been telling us for years!), and
• Being aware of emerging (in the sense of new) pest species.
Dr. Deborah Henderson, director of KPU’s Institute for Sustainable Horticulture (I.S.H.), put out a similar message based on her work with biocontrol agents, in calling for a re-focus on industry resilience. Effects of climate change (sea level rise, drought, floods, saline soils, etc.) are almost always detrimental to plant growth. We “need to absorb these disturbances”3 and have “multiple tools to manage pest and disease challenges. These could include:
The ideal (pest defence) is to “start clean – stay clean.”
These may or may not be different to quarantine pests: “A regulated (or quarantine pest) is a pest that is regulated at the federal, provincial or municipal level, to prevent its introduction or additional spread. Regulations may prohibit certain plants from being grown in control areas, may restrict the movement or transport of certain plants, products or soil between areas to prevent a pest from spreading, and may require property owners to control certain pests.”2 “The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has the lead role in protecting Canada from the introduction of new plant pests and preventing the spread of certain pests within and between provinces.”2
Whether “non-native” or “quarantine” (some can be both), such pests cause untold financial impact, and we need to build resilient systems to mitigate their introduction, establishment or spread.
The ideal is to “start clean – stay clean” as industry stalwart entomologist Graeme Murphy says. Reporting on research from Vineland Research and Innovation Centre at a Flowers Canada event in B.C. in mid-June, Murphy says
• Options for different (varied) production systems.
• Biodiversity of crops.
• Innovation using local indigenous knowledge.
• Government, management and social equity (such as the ALR system), and
• Ensuring we pay attention to livelihood and well-being through healthy local economies.”3 What if this all goes wrong?
There used to be days when growers could get crop insurance reasonably easily – at a premium of course, but do-able. Maybe we need to go there again in the fight against exotic pests.
1 BBC News June 27th 2017, http://www.bbc. com/news/world-40415756.
2 Government of B.C., www.Gov.bc.ca/.
3 Dr. Deborah Henderson, June 14, 2017. Gary Jones is co-chair of horticulture at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Langley, B.C. He serves on several industry committees and welcomes comments at Gary.Jones@kpu.ca.
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