Hines Horticulture Files For Bankruptcy

Hines Horticulture has filed a press release stating that the operation has filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. There's been some comments going on over at my previous post on Hines, including a letter to employees posted by an anonymous source.

Another commenter says:

"Hines won't be the last. There are many growers in our industry on the brink. I am aware of many smaller players going under and leaving suppliers in the red."

Check out www.greenhousegrower.com for further details through the day.

Drywall gypsum as a soil amendment

USA Gypsum is now offering recycled drywall as a soil amendment. I'm not seeing if it's offered in bulk for commercial use, but definitely for consumer use. If they're not offering in bulk, I recommend they start.

Here's a video of how the process works:


Read about this at This Old House's blog, The Hardware Aisle.

The new GreenhouseGrower.com is live!

It's finally here - the redesigned GreenhouseGrower.com. We've added a lot of new features that we're excited about and hope will help you find and share content from the magazine. Check out the home page. When news happens, this is where you'll find it.

First off, full content! Our online database is now complete - check out our Top 100 Growers report for 2008 here. And our Medal Of Excellence awards here.

A other few features that I'm really psyched about are comments and the share function. You can now comment on every article we post, even anonymously, if you'd like. Like this one on how to use social media.

And share - the new site makes it easy to post articles you're interested in to sites like Facebook and Digg. I'm a Facebook junkie as of late, so this is pretty exciting for me.

If you get a second, check out the new site, and keep checking in. Lots more features are on the way.

It's not enough to be green

An interesting article in Forbes on some sustainable clothing lines and how they've done. One is thriving because of marketing efforts and one has gone down the tubes with the stagnant economy.

Also sort of related, I just saw on Mulch Ado About Nothing that an economist predicts that oil prices will come down in early 2009. It should be interesting to see what happens to the sustainability movement once the economy is stronger. Will consumers go green with their wallets?

Raising prices or cutting back on poinsettia production?

A few interesting points in this article on increased pricing or less supply of points because of increased heating prices:

Casertano will cut back from 60,000 poinsettias to zero this year. "The energy costs being what they are, we felt it was a wise move," John Casertano is quoted as saying.

If supply is down, won't demand be up? Is there another crop, maybe other than roses on Valentine's Day, that is more a must for a holiday?

Articles like this will reinforce in the consumer's mind why prices must be raised.

Blogger Of The Week: Steppin' Out With The Stepables Lady

Steppin' Out With The Stepables Lady is showing the industry how blogging is done. Frances Hopkins of Stepables is the blogger and is the perfect personality for blogging -- fun, interesting and upbeat. She tells us about her philosophy on plants ("I took some drawing classes in college. I was decent, but horticulture came calling and I guess I turned in the charcoal for a pair of pruning shears") and shares a little about herself ("I wanted to train wild animals too…but got bit by a lion".) And photos!

I just heard in a lecture on managment the other day that the number one factor that clouds employees' feelings about a job isn't the work, but their co-workers. I think the same can be said about the supplier/customer relationship. If your customers feel like they know and like you, they'll stay your customers. A blog is the perfect way to keep that relationship strong.

See Steppin' Out With The Stepables Lady at http://www.stepables.com/blogs/fran/