Long time, no blog

Here's what's up at Greenhouse Grower lately. Our May Top 100 Growers list is just about to hit mailboxes, we just finished up work on our Mid-May structures issue and now we're onto our June issue.

We have a new number one grower on the list this year -- Color Spot Nursery. The operation added almost 5 million square feet of greenhouse area in the last year. Stay tuned to your mailbox and to www.greenhousegrower.com to read more details on the largest greenhouses in the U.S.

The mid-May issue of Greenhouse Grower follows Buckley Growers Illinois and Elzinga & Hoeksema's new greenhouse projects, and a really nice article by Danny Takao on tips for planning a new structure.

Looking ahead now, in our June issue, we're looking for your tags. Send me your custom-made labels and/or tags and we'll include them in the magazine. E-mail me at satambascio@meistermedia.com. Thanks!

And finally, I'll be attending the Southeast Greenhouse Conference this year. I've never been to this show before, so I hope to see and learn a lot. See you there.

What I learned in the April 2008 issue of Greenhouse Grower -- About Urban Outfitters' Terrain!

- Carroll Brothers is serious about saving water. Richard Carroll is currently using Aquamats, and his ultimate goal is to build an underground reservoir for rainwater, but he hasn't figured out the finances yet. The method would save a huge chunk of water needed for his crops.

- Dr. George Elliott of the University of Connecticut attended the Leonardo Academy stakeholders meeting for a sustainability standard. He thought the most contentious subject in the talks was around genetically modified organisms, which the draft standard prohibits.

- Urban Outfitters new Terrain retail concept will target the female consumer in her 40s and 50s and will keep the best of Styer's, the garden center chain Terrain purchased as its first retail platform. Terrain is in talks with Styer's existing growers as suppliers.

- In our Variety Central section, check out my favorites argyranthmum 'Spring Bouquet' by Paul Ecke Ranch (pictured) and the great begonias 'Black Taffeta' and 'Madame Queen' by Terra Nova Nurseries.

- Keep up to date on the sustainable garden trials going on at the University of Georgia at www.uga.edu/ugatrial.

What I learned in the February 2008 issue of Greenhouse Grower

Green Valley Growers’ Wayne Massey’s tattoos are of palm trees. That’s dedication to the industry.

Mercer Botanicals has a challenger in the coolest logo contest – Rocket Farms.

Growers can actually make money recycling greenhouse plastic. Some recyclers pay for shipping, too.

‘Goldalia Orange’ might be one of my favorite varieties. The bicolor is beautiful.

Since I love osteos, too, I should try Ecke’s ‘Crescendo Primrose.’ Allan Armitage says it stands up to summer heat.

What I Learned In The January 2008 Issue Of Greenhouse Grower

- 93 percent of our Benchrunner e-newsletter readers would be interested in knowing how their operations measure up in terms of sustainability. And 61 percent do not produce painted poinsettias.

- If you place 100 pounds of plant material into a drying oven, only about 10 pounds of dry plant material would be left. Plants are about 90 percent water, according to Bill Argo and Paul Fisher in their new series on plant nutrition.

-Three new Hort Couture programs will debut at Short Course 2008.

- Five fall sale weekends at Swanson’s added up to $1 million in plant sales.

- California Pack Trials are earlier this year, March 28 – April 6.

- I think our new Variety Central section will be really helpful in finding out what’s new. And our first shot at it in the January issue came out really well.

- Mercer Botanicals has possibly the best grower logo – a lizard in a labcoat.

What I Learned This Issue Of Greenhouse Grower

- Who our Grower Of The Year is. But I’m not telling you. You’ll have to wait till the issue hits your mailbox or the Web.

- There are young people in the industry! Gen X and Gen Y are not completely uninterested. Congratulations to Nirmal Shah and Kris and Stacy Van De Streek on their ventures, taking over Boven’s Quality Plants.

- European research has shown several Ecke poinsettia varieties to be “energy efficient.”

- A lot happened this year. Take a look back in our 2007 Year In Review.

- Our special insert, Steps Toward Sustainability, took me to school. Scientific Certification Systems, the organization behind VeriFlora certification, is conducting meetings to gage support for the Sustainable Agriculture Practice Draft National Standard for Trial Use.

- Michigan State has tips for non-chemical height control on its Web site (second story on the page)

- Earthstone’s GrowStones look like croutons, but replace strip-mined materials like perlite, vermiculite and pumice.

- Garden Bloomers Takao Nursery isn’t shying away from Gen-Y-type marketing, even in their commercial catalogs. Fun to read!

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.