Nutritionally speaking

John Dole and Brian Whipker showed off NC State’s Research greenhouses. The current research is on nutrient disorders, using automated sump pumps and controllers.

This experiment uses 60 percent less labor and the fertilizers used in the experiment were cut in half.

The media is a silica sand that is prewashed. This crop is gloxinia, but the same research has been done on poinsettias, gerberas, cyclamen and will include cineraria.

What I Learned In This Issue Of Greenhouse Grower

We're wrapping up production of the November issue, and here's what I got out of it.

- Jennifer Polanz was right. The former managing editor of Today’s Garden Center would chastise garden centers for stocking geraniums on garden center shelves in Ohio in mid-April. But some grower somewhere was selling them that early. John Casertano of Casertano Greenhouses, our cover story subject, is fighting the A to Z retail mentality.

- William R. Carlson knows what he’s talking about when it comes to Web site design. His article highlights Stanford University’s 10 important guidelines for building excellent sites. My favorite: #5 Make it easy to contact you. “Have a ‘contact us’ section with clickable addresses.

- ANLA’s Management Clinic has a sock hop-type theme this year. Fun!

-Poinsettias and jalapenos make terrible roommates, according to Stuppy’s ad on page 45. Clever.

-Different rates are required if you’re topdressing controlled-release fertilizers versus incorporating.

That's all I'm telling ya. You'll have to pick up the November issue of Greenhouse Grower for the details.