Retired Ball technical manager Dr. Will Healy joins host Bill Calkins to share protocols for finishing Wave petunias as part of the Tech On Demand series covering crop culture for key annuals and perennials. From media selection and nutrition to water, light and temperature, finishing crops requires careful attention to avoid losses and send high quality product out the door on time. In this discussion, Will continues our finished crop miniseries on petunias by sharing nuances for finishing Wave...
Mar 11, 2025•34 min•Ep 174•Transcript available on Metacast Retired Ball technical manager Dr. Will Healy joins host Bill Calkins to share protocols for finishing more common types of seed-raised (multiflora and grandiflora) petunias as part of the Tech On Demand series covering crop culture for key annuals and perennials. From media selection and nutrition to water, light and temperature, finishing crops requires careful attention to avoid losses and send high quality product out the door on time. In this discussion, Will focuses on turning crops quickl...
Mar 10, 2025•33 min•Ep 173•Transcript available on Metacast Members of the Marketing Committee of That Flower Feeling join GUEST HOST Joan Mazat (Business Manager—Cut Flowers at Ball Seed Company) to share why this movement is so important to the cut flower industry. Join a dynamic group for an equally dynamic discussion about how and why industry leaders are actively working to motivate more consumers to view fresh flowers as a central part of their everyday routines, thereby raising overall floral integration and consumption. Guests: Karen Oie—Director...
Mar 05, 2025•18 min•Ep 172•Transcript available on Metacast This Tech On Demand podcast episode is all about spring pest control, integrated pest management and implementing biocontrol strategies that work. Host Bill Calkins is joined by Heidi Doering, the National Ornamental Team Lead and Technical IPM Consultant for the Midwest Region with Koppert. Koppert is a global market leader specializing in biological crop protection and Heidi has not only been with Koppert for almost 10 years but has a broad range of horticultural experience from greenhouse pro...
Mar 01, 2025•41 min•Ep 171•Transcript available on Metacast REDUCING THE RISK FROM A 2025 INSIDE GROWER MAGAZINE WEB-EXCLUSIVE ARTICLE WRITTEN BY TRACI DOOLEY NARRATED BY BILL CALKINS EXCERPT: An increase in the frequency of severe weather events, reduced market capacity, higher labor, material, and equipment costs, and unusually high jury awards are all causing insurance premiums to rise across industries. For horticultural businesses, as the cost and frequency of your risk increases, your insurance must account for them to help keep your livelihood pro...
Feb 25, 2025•9 min•Ep 170•Transcript available on Metacast Whether you’re finishing Zinnia Elegans, Marylandica or Angustifolia crops, Dr. Will Healy has the “rules of the road” to avoid or manage stretch (… if you turn your back on the crop, it’s going to stretch!) and mitigate disease risk. Zinnias are a true classic when it comes to home gardens and breeding has brought this crop a long way, with new varieties, colors and flower forms still wowing customers generation after generation. But sending high quality out the door to landscape customers and ...
Feb 18, 2025•36 min•Ep 169•Transcript available on Metacast There’s a lot of “Sweet William” going on in this video … Tech On Demand host Bill “Sweet William” Calkins is joined once again by Dr. Will “Sweet William” Healy to discuss tips and tricks for finishing amazing dianthus crops at a time of year that can be challenging. From receiving plugs in cold weather and starting dianthus under long days to soil considerations and phosphorous deficiency risks, Will has plenty of advice to share so you and your team can be successful. WATCH THE VIDEO: https:/...
Feb 17, 2025•34 min•Ep 168•Transcript available on Metacast Impatiens walleriana might be the most-recognized garden plant—certainly the favorite for shade gardens and landscapes. Ball’s recently retired technical guru Dr. Will Healy joins us once again to share tips and tricks for finishing key seed annuals. When you’re producing impatiens, there are plenty of best practices to follow to avoid issues like stretch, tip abortion and guttation. Will has tons of experience to share to help keep you and your production team on track with impatiens! WATCH THE...
Feb 14, 2025•33 min•Ep 166•Transcript available on Metacast EMBRACING TECHNOLOGY AND SUSTAINABILITY FOR GROWTH FROM THE FEBRUARY 2025 ISSUE OF GREEN PROFIT MAGAZINE WRITTEN BY AVIVA LeSHAW NARRATED BY BILL CALKINS EXCERPT: Shoppers today want more than a good deal on plants. They’re looking for an experience—something seamless and personal. Research from the Square Future of Retail Report: 2024 Edition shows that a full 100% of retail businesses prefer automation for tasks like tracking inventory or ordering out-of-stock products, highlighting the growin...
Feb 12, 2025•9 min•Ep 167•Transcript available on Metacast Every garden center—big and small—offers tomato plants for home gardens. Your key differentiators are varieties, container sizes and quality. Be the top wholesale supplier in your market by following Dr. Will Healy’s tomato production advice! In this Ball Tech On Demand crop-specific episode, he takes you through all the key factors necessary to finish high-quality tomato plants and send them to retail ready to sell. Tips for avoiding stretch and building root mass are covered in detail, as well...
Feb 10, 2025•36 min•Ep 165•Transcript available on Metacast THE ROOT OF LONG-TERM ENGAGEMENT FROM THE JANUARY 2025 ISSUE OF GROWERTALKS MAGAZINE WRITTEN BY HARRISON DOWNING NARRATED BY BILL CALKINS EXCERPT: Just as early root health is the foundation of explosive plant growth in its influence on a plant’s ability to develop properly and produce high yields, so is the importance of a thorough onboarding program for new hires in a company. Read the digital edition of GrowerTalks Magazine—January 2025: https://www.ballpublishing.com/magazine/gt_25_01/index....
Jan 29, 2025•8 min•Ep 164•Transcript available on Metacast Ball Seed Cut Flower Business Manager Joan Mazat takes over the golden TOD microphone to join Ball Cut Flower Guru Dave Dowling for a wonderful discussion about cut flowers. Dave shares stories from his beginnings growing flowers, owning a cut flower farm in Maryland for more than 20 years and subsequent career in the world of cut flower supply and product management. He also shares about his long-term involvement with the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers (ASCFG) and how proud he is o...
Jan 27, 2025•23 min•Ep 163•Transcript available on Metacast COMMON SENSE FOR UNKNOWN PAYROLL PRESSURES FROM THE JANUARY 2025 ISSUE OF GREEN PROFIT MAGAZINE WRITTEN BY BILL McCURRY NARRATED BY BILL CALKINS EXCERPT: With the country headed in a potentially different economic direction, old truths prevail. All payroll factors are local to your area’s economy, your business realities, and your employees’ financial situations. Let’s look at ways to lessen employee stress, without pay raises that incur employer payroll taxes and employee income taxes. Read the...
Jan 22, 2025•9 min•Ep 162•Transcript available on Metacast RIGHT PLANT, RIGHT TIME, RIGHT SOURCE FROM THE JANUARY 2025 ISSUE OF GROWERTALKS MAGAZINE WRITTEN BY BILL CALKINS NARRATED BY BILL CALKINS EXCERPT: … the team-based approach Ball Seed and its perennials partners employ to help customers solve challenges and optimize assortments. In this case, the grower worked with their sales rep, who in turn worked with supplier technical experts and R&D managers to find the best solution. This type of success extends across the entire Ball Seed perennial ...
Jan 20, 2025•8 min•Ep 161•Transcript available on Metacast Ball Technical Services specialist Josh Henry joins host Bill Calkins to talk finished vegetative Angelonia production as part of the Tech On Demand series covering crop culture for key annuals and perennials. From transplanting best practices and nutrition strategies to irrigation management and container selection, there are plenty of nuances to be aware of—especially avoiding boron deficiency—and Josh is here to help. Resources: WATCH THE VIDEO! Finishing Vegetative Angelonia—Promote Branchin...
Jan 16, 2025•20 min•Ep 159•Transcript available on Metacast Ball Technical Services specialist Josh Henry joins host Bill Calkins to share best management practices for propagating vegetative angelonia from unrooted cuttings as part of the Tech On Demand series covering crop culture for key annuals and perennials. From receiving, prioritizing and handling through all stages up until transplant, Josh is going to help you reduce risk and produce top-quality liners. Research on optimum light levels and tips for holding cuttings (if that is necessary) are ke...
Jan 15, 2025•15 min•Ep 158•Transcript available on Metacast TAKING CONTROL EARLY FROM THE JANUARY 2025 ISSUE OF GROWERTALKS MAGAZINE WRITTEN BY TROY BUECHEL NARRATED BY BILL CALKINS EXCERPT: Building roots on young plants can be challenging. With poor weather conditions in winter and early spring, variable sun appearances, inconsistent rooting or germination, unknown plant genetics, etc., it’s difficult to build great roots. Although these issues are outside of a grower’s control, this article will cover some variables that can be controlled to help buil...
Jan 14, 2025•8 min•Ep 160•Transcript available on Metacast In this comprehensive episode covering a key cut flower, Ball Seed’s cut flower business manager Joan Mazat and Sakata Seed America’s product technical manager Bob Croft discuss the Champion II series of campanula—with a uniform, shorter flowering window compared to older series, saving time and providing a quicker cycle for growers. Bob shares tips and tricks for based on years of campanula production experience taking viewers from germination to transplant and on to finishing and post-harvest ...
Jan 09, 2025•26 min•Ep 157•Transcript available on Metacast MAXIMIZING PLANT POTENTIAL: SUBSTRATE INNOVATION EXPLAINED FROM THE WINTER 2024 ISSUE OF INSIDE GROWER MAGAZINE WRITTEN BY JOSE CHEN LOPEZ NARRATED BY BILL CALKINS EXCERPT: Choosing the right substrate for a particular application can be a challenge. Choosing the right beneficial microorganisms for a specific plant, mode of action and ensuring compatibility with other beneficial microorganisms can be excruciating. When choosing and adding beneficial microorganisms to the substrate, growers must ...
Jan 07, 2025•10 min•Ep 156•Transcript available on Metacast Syngenta Flowers’ Dr. Alicain Carlson joins host Bill Calkins to discuss some key components of successful cut flower mum programs. Dr. Carlson starts by discussing some of the reason cut mums are so popular before highlighting some key varieties in the Syngenta Flowers portfolio. Then she jumps right into cultural and technical tips and tricks for sending high-quality flowers to market. From the start, you’ll need to follow some best practices when receiving and handling young plants—planting i...
Dec 24, 2024•41 min•Ep 155•Transcript available on Metacast Retired Ball technical services manager Dr. Will Healy joins host Bill Calkins to discuss the ins and outs of finished African marigold production as part of the Tech On Demand series covering crop culture for key annuals and perennials. Will says African marigolds and French marigolds are like oranges and grapefruits when it comes to production protocols—meaning they’re similar (like the two citrus fruits) but very different in many ways. He takes you from plug transplant to shipping, with a pa...
Dec 18, 2024•43 min•Ep 154•Transcript available on Metacast Retired Ball technical services manager Dr. Will Healy joins host Bill Calkins to help growers finish French marigolds for quick turns as part of the Tech On Demand series covering crop culture for key annuals and perennials. If elementary school kids can grow French marigolds in Dixie cups, they must not be too difficult … But finishing professional-quality crops requires attention to detail—especially pH, nutrition, moisture management and lighting. Will is here to explain all the nuances so y...
Dec 16, 2024•31 min•Ep 153•Transcript available on Metacast Ball Technical Services specialist Chris Ferguson joins host Bill Calkins to talk finished lantana production as part of the Tech On Demand series covering crop culture for key annuals and perennials. From transplanting best practices and nutrition strategies to irrigation management and container selection, there are plenty of nuances to be aware of and Chris is here to help. Resources: Watch the VIDEO! https://youtu.be/Gqoz00MIr7M GrowerTalks Insecticide, Miticide & Fungicide Guide: https:...
Dec 12, 2024•17 min•Ep 152•Transcript available on Metacast Ball Technical Services specialist Chris Ferguson joins host Bill Calkins to share best management practices for propagating lantana from unrooted cuttings as part of the Tech On Demand series covering crop culture for key annuals and perennials. From receiving, prioritizing and handling through all stages up until transplant, Chris is going to help you reduce risk and produce top-quality liners. WATCH THE VIDEO! https://youtu.be/Tff-o5FfZ9U...
Dec 10, 2024•14 min•Ep 151•Transcript available on Metacast Syngenta Flowers technical lead Dr. Brian Krug joins host Bill Calkins to discuss two new series—Pansy Delta Pro and Viola Penny Pro—sharing tips and tricks for maximizing production of these breakthrough new varieties. The Delta Pro pansy series was released a couple years ago as a comprehensive upgrade to Delta, an industry leader for more than 30 years and Penny Pro violas are new for 2025. When such iconic series are completely retooled, it shows that the breeders have been hard at work and ...
Dec 04, 2024•44 min•Ep 150•Transcript available on Metacast Ball Technical Services specialist Josh Henry joins host Bill Calkins to take vegetative coleus to the finish line as part of the Tech On Demand series covering crop culture for key annuals and perennials. From transplanting and pinching to selecting media and producing for a range of finished container sizes, there are certainly best practices to follow when growing coleus. Josh covers all of this and more, including nutrition, light, temperature and PGRs to help you create a winning production...
Nov 27, 2024•14 min•Ep 149•Transcript available on Metacast Ball Technical Services specialist Josh Henry joins host Bill Calkins to share best management practices for propagating vegetative coleus from unrooted cuttings as part of the Tech On Demand series covering crop culture for key annuals and perennials. From receiving, prioritizing and handling through all stages up until transplant, Josh is going to help you reduce risk and produce top-quality liners. Resources: VIDEO: https://youtu.be/G32TupPcTF4 e-GRO Coleus Disorder Guide: https://www.e-gro.o...
Nov 25, 2024•11 min•Ep 148•Transcript available on Metacast In this comprehensive discussion covering a key cut flower, Ball Seed’s cut flower business manager Joan Mazat and Sakata Seed America’s product technical manager Bob Croft discuss F1 Anemone Gemstone (seed-raised anemone) and share tips and tricks for selecting and producing top-quality crops. Bob shares his experience with this F1 seed series—from germination to transplant and on to finishing and post-harvest care. He helps cut flower growers and flower farmers manage all factors of plant grow...
Nov 19, 2024•28 min•Ep 147•Transcript available on Metacast Ball Technical Services specialist and culture research manager, Dr. Nathan Jahnke, joins Tech On Demand host Bill Calkins to share research-based best practices for rehydrating unrooted cuttings before sticking. Cuttings can (and will) lose water at multiple points in the supply chain—arriving at greenhouses dehydrated by as much as 20%. As soon as harvest occurs, dehydration begins and although offshore farms have greatly improved harvest and handling processes in recent years, your young plan...
Nov 14, 2024•45 min•Ep 146•Transcript available on Metacast This episode is all about a cutting-edge approach to insect and disease control—the use of botanical oil-based pesticides within IPM programs. Host Bill Calkins is joined by the director of research and development with the crop technologies division at Kemin Industries, Emily Fuerst. Emily is a highly accomplished scientist with more than 15 years’ experience merging science with agricultural insights to drive innovation across product categories and her passion for insects and expertise in the...
Oct 31, 2024•30 min•Ep 145•Transcript available on Metacast 
