PANSY TRANSPLANT ESTABLISHMENT FROM THE JANUARY 2023 ISSUE OF GROWERTALKS MAGAZINE WRITTEN BY JAMIE GIBSON NARRATED BY BILL CALKINS EXCERPT: Every pansy grower strives for uniform growth while minimizing plant losses. One major source of pansy crop failure is the improper treatment of plugs upon transplant into the finishing tray. In order to be successful, you must consider several factors in the establishment of pansies. These include pre-plant plug status, substrate preparation, irrigation, f...
May 23, 2024•6 min•Transcript available on Metacast Ball FloraPlant released the Tropica collection of mandevilla and dipladenia at 2024 California Spring Trials with more than 15 colors carefully sorted into five collections. The flowering tropical plant category is booming with consumer demand and Tropicas seem to be entering the market at the right time. Host Bill Calkins is joined by BallFloraplant’s Southeast and Southwest regional territory manager, Maria Bolinger for a fun discussion about what makes Tropica different and why it’s cutting-...
May 16, 2024•33 min•Ep 124•Transcript available on Metacast KEEP YOUR POINTS DISEASE-FREE FROM THE MAY 2024 ISSUE OF GROWERTALKS MAGAZINE WRITTEN BY KURT BECKER NARRATED BY BILL CALKINS AND TO CELEBRATE AUDIO FILES #50! WHEN THIS ONE ENDS … JUST KEEP LISTENING FOR … A QUICK REVIEW OF POINSETTIA DOWNY MILDEW WRITTEN BY NORA CATLIN ALSO FROM THE MAY 2024 ISSUE OF GROWERTALKS EXCERPT 1: Poinsettia Bract Edge Burn is a common occurrence in this Christmas crop. Brown necrotic lesions occur on the bract margin. The primary cause for this is low levels of calci...
May 10, 2024•6 min•Ep 123•Transcript available on Metacast IT’S TIME TO FALL FOR MUMS FROM THE AUGUST 2020 ISSUE OF GROWERTALKS MAGAZINE WRITTEN BY NANCY RECHCIGL NARRATED BY BILL CALKINS EXCERPT: While every greenhouse and nursery operation are different, one consistent factor common to all is that preparation is key to success. Growing mums for fall sales means having to deal with the challenges summer production can bring. By planning ahead with an agronomic program, growers are prepared when the expected and unexpected arise. Read the digital editio...
Apr 30, 2024•7 min•Transcript available on Metacast PART 3 OF 3 (discussion starts at 1:35): Best by color; most unusual; what each guest wishes was in their assortment but is not; what’s an old variety you wish would come back; the most challenging poinsettia requests from growers and retailers; BEST POINSETTIA OF ALL TIME. For this 3-part episode of the Tech On Demand Podcast, host Bill Calkins turns the golden TOD mic over to Chris Beytes, editor-in-chief of GrowerTalks magazine. Let’s all welcome “Bossman Beytes” to his first-ever podcast! Ch...
Apr 12, 2024•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast PART 2 OF 3 (discussion starts at 1:35): Best for poinsettia “trees”; best for large containers; best traditional straight-ups; best poinsettias as cut flowers; best for independent garden centers; best florist type; best for fundraisers; poinsettias for landscape (?); energy-efficient varieties for cool growing; best for natural, compact finishing; varieties less-prone to whitefly (?); variety with longest shelf life, sturdiest varieties. For this 3-part episode of the Tech On Demand Podcast, h...
Apr 12, 2024•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast PART 1 OF 3: Guest introductions and experience; best early season varieties; best for autumn; best for big box promos/ad flyers; best for late season; best core red by region; best mini. For this 3-part episode of the Tech On Demand Podcast, host Bill Calkins turns the golden TOD mic over to Chris Beytes, editor-in-chief of GrowerTalks magazine. Let’s all welcome “Bossman Beytes” to his first-ever podcast! Chris asked three poinsettia experts—Gary Vollmer of Selecta One, Rebecca Siemonsma of Ex...
Apr 12, 2024•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast Our guest today is Jason Twaddell. Jason joins host Bill Calkins to tackle an important topic for all growers. In this STEM Rewind, he digs into the Why, What and When of trialing in an effort to highlight the importance of this critical piece of the growing puzzle. With margins getting narrower and the tolerance for inefficiency and shrink dropping to near zero, trialing and testing new genetics before replacing existing varieties is more important than ever. Some of the topics he covers includ...
Apr 09, 2024•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast RESISTANCE MANAGEMENT FROM THE APRIL 2024 ISSUE OF GROWERTALKS MAGAZINE WRITTEN BY DR. RAYMOND A CLOYD NARRATED BY BILL CALKINS EXCERPT: Resistance develops when pesticides with similar modes of action are continually applied to manage insect and/or mite pest populations below plant-damaging levels. It’s important to understand that pesticides don’t cause resistance; instead, pesticides select for naturally occurring resistance traits in insect and/or mite pest populations by removing susceptibl...
Apr 01, 2024•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast We are once again joined by Ball Horticultural’s retired Senior Technical & Research Manager Dr. Will Healy. The topic continues… watering and water management. This is part two in a two-part series and hese two episodes work best in tandem so try to listen to part one—The Language of Watering—before jumping into this one. In the first part, Will delved into the importance of speaking the same language of watering throughout the company and qualitative and quantitative ways to teach water ma...
Mar 20, 2024•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast This episode of Tech On Demand, brought to you by GrowerTalks addresses one of the most basic tasks in a professional greenhouse, watering. But proving that water management is fundamental and critical, we are joined by Ball Horticultural’s retired Senior Technical & Research Manager Dr. Will Healy—one of the most experienced and knowledgeable experts in all things greenhouse production. He’s also a great storyteller, which you will learn throughout the episodes. And yes—episodes—because thi...
Mar 18, 2024•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast SCOUTING: ESSENTIAL & THERAPEUTIC FROM THE APRIL 2021 ISSUE OF GROWERTALKS MAGAZINE WRITTEN BY PAUL PILON NARRATED BY BILL CALKINS EXCERPT: Regardless of the types of crops being grown or the size of the operation, scouting is essential to any company that produces plants. This important routine shouldn’t only be viewed as a necessary task to detect pest and disease problems, but as an opportunity to get intimate with the plants in a manner that really lets you observe the plants closely and...
Mar 13, 2024•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast TERRIFIC TRADE SHOW PREP & FOLLOW-UP FROM THE MARCH 2024 ISSUE OF GROWERTALKS MAGAZINE WRITTEN BY KATIE ELZER-PETERS NARRATED BY BILL CALKINS EXCERPT: Attending trade shows costs a lot of coin. Whether you pay for a booth, ship plants and fixtures out to the show, and cover hotel rooms and meals for staff or you send staff (and pay for meals and hotel rooms and transportation), at a minimum you’re spending $1,000. But your outlay might be closer to $50K with a booth. Are you getting as much ...
Mar 05, 2024•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast AVOIDING CROP CONTAMINATION FROM THE FEBRUARY 2024 ISSUE OF INSIDE GROWER MAGAZINE WRITTEN BY DAVID KUACK NARRATED BY BILL CALKINS EXCERPT: While food crop production in greenhouses or indoor farms might be considered safer than outdoor field production, plants can experience the same exposure to human pathogens regardless of where they’re produced. The CDC reports many kinds of produce, including organic leafy greens, can be contaminated with human pathogens. According to the CDC, leafy greens ...
Feb 21, 2024•11 min•Transcript available on Metacast GET FAMILIAR WITH IN-HOUSE DISEASE TESTING FROM THE FEBRUARY 2024 ISSUE OF GROWERTALKS MAGAZINE WRITTEN BY NICK FLAX NARRATED BY BILL CALKINS EXCERPT: Since the naked eye cannot see bacteria or viral particles, test kits are really the only way to home in on exactly which pathogen you’re dealing with. The alternative is to send plant samples off to a lab equipped with similar, higher -resolution diagnostic tools, but this can be time-consuming and costly, depending on the lab. In the meantime, w...
Feb 13, 2024•6 min•Transcript available on Metacast WHAT DOES “COMPATIBILITY” MEAN? FROM THE FEBRUARY 2024 ISSUE OF GROWERTALKS MAGAZINE WRITTEN BY DR. RAYMOND A. CLOYD NARRATED BY BILL CALKINS EXCERPT: … integrating BCAs and pesticides is complex due to the various direct and/or indirect effects that pesticides may have on BCAs. For instance, any delay in the population growth of BCAs by pesticides (and even fungicides) can substantially affect the ability of BCAs to manage pest populations below economically plant-damaging levels. Another facto...
Feb 09, 2024•7 min•Transcript available on Metacast Host Bill Calkins is joined by Dr. Josh Henry, a Ball technical service specialist with expertise in plant nutrition and fertility, to take you through a range of topics related to crop nutrition with the goal of setting you and your team up for success with spring production. In this discussion, Josh covers an early-season checklist that includes water testing, injector calibration and the importance of having an in-house testing toolbox handy. Then he digs deeper into options for fertilizer—ma...
Feb 07, 2024•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast Something some of you might struggle with early in production is tip atrophy, often called tip abortion. This is when you see symptoms during propagation, often on calibrachoa or petunia, where it looks like the cuttings were accidentally pinched—but you know they weren’t. Poor rooting, stunted growth and strappy foliage can also cause you to wonder what the heck is going on? To answer that question, we turn to Dr. Will Healy. As Will explains, this issue can be triggered by a handful of differe...
Feb 01, 2024•38 min•Ep 108•Transcript available on Metacast AVOIDING TAX AUDITS FROM THE JUNE 2023 ISSUE OF GROWERTALKS MAGAZINE WRITTEN BY MARK E. BATTERSBY NARRATED BY BILL CALKINS EXCERPT: Today, the IRS enforces the tax law in a number of ways, including the increasingly more common correspondence (examination by mail) audits and the dreaded field (face-to-face audit) examinations. The result is that many businesses are being scrutinized far more often than the numbers indicate. Read the digital edition of GROWERTALKS Magazine—June 2023: https://www....
Jan 31, 2024•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast As we’ve discussed in other Tech On Demand videos and podcasts, the key to successfully producing high quality crops often starts at the very beginning. How you and your team approach the earliest stages of germination and propagation sets the stage for uniformity down the line. We’re pleased to welcome back frequent guest Dr. Will Healy who continues to think about ways to share his knowledge and decades of experience working with growers of all shapes and sizes. This time, he's here to focus o...
Jan 24, 2024•34 min•Ep 106•Transcript available on Metacast As we’ve discussed in other Tech On Demand videos and podcasts, the key to successfully producing high quality crops often starts at the very beginning. How you and your team approach the earliest stages of germination and propagation sets the stage for uniformity down the line. We’re pleased to welcome back frequent guest Dr. Will Healy, who continues to think about ways to share his knowledge and decades of experience working with growers of all shapes and sizes. This time, he's here to focus ...
Jan 23, 2024•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast TWO TOBAMOVIRUSES TO KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR FROM THE FEBRUARY 2023 ISSUE OF GROWERTALKS MAGAZINE WRITTEN BY DR. ANN CHASE & DR. MARGERY DAUGHTREY NARRATED BY BILL CALKINS EXCERPT: Virus symptoms are notoriously hard to identify just by looking. They can be mimicked by genetic variegation, or by certain other diseases or disorders, even spray injury—especially from overspray or drift from herbicides. One virus disease can easily be mistaken for another. Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) and tomato mosa...
Jan 12, 2024•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast THE RISE OF VERTICAL FARMING FROM THE FEBRUARY 2023 ISSUE OF INSIDE GROWER MAGAZINE WRITTEN BY DANIEL PILSWORTH NARRATED BY BILL CALKINS EXCERPT: The sky is the limit: In 1999, Columbia professor Dickson Despommier used the term “vertical farming” to describe a system of agriculture in which crops are grown indoors on vertically stacked platforms. His students imagined skyscrapers with lush greens, bursting from the sides of city buildings and providing hyper-local produce to dense urban centers...
Jan 09, 2024•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast REHYDRATING UNROOTED CUTTINGS FROM THE JANUARY 2024 ISSUE OF GROWERTALKS MAGAZINE WRITTEN AND NARRATED BY BILL CALKINS EXCERPT: Fact: Dehydrated cuttings root non-uniformly. This means in the earliest stages, unless rehydration strategies are in place, you run the risk of getting off to a weak start. Poor moisture management at the beginning of the process will cause problems throughout production. In a recent Tech On Demand video, Ball technical managers Dr. Will Healy (now retired) and Dr. Nat...
Jan 02, 2024•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast As we’ve discussed in other Tech On Demand videos and podcasts, the key to successfully producing high quality crops often starts at the very beginning. How you and your team approach the earliest stages of germination and propagation sets the stage for uniformity down the line. We’re pleased to welcome back frequent guest Dr. Will Healy. Will recently retired as Senior Manager of Ball’s technical services group but continues to think about ways to share his knowledge and decades of experience w...
Dec 26, 2023•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast Can you believe it’s the 100th episode of the Tech On Demand podcast? Well, it is—and this is going to be a special one! For the 100th episode, host Bill Calkins wanted to have some fun while also digging into a wide range of topics related to horticulture. His guest is none other than Chris Beytes, the editor-in-chief of Ball Publishing. Get ready for a fun conversation with a guy who’s one of the best storytellers around and someone who knows a little about a lot of things and a lot about plen...
Dec 21, 2023•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast THE IMPORTANCE OF TRANSPARENT COMMUNICATION FROM THE DECEMBER 2023 ISSUE OF GROWERTALKS MAGAZINE WRITTEN BY AUSTIN BRYANT NARRATED BY BILL CALKINS EXCERPT: The challenge lies in placing plants with similar watering, spray requirements and lighting together while considering the available square footage. This complex juggling act continues as salespeople manage prebooked orders, adjusting contracted versus speculative material. It’s a dynamic process that unfolds until the last cutting and plug f...
Dec 18, 2023•7 min•Transcript available on Metacast TRAIN TO RETAIN FROM THE DECEMBER 2023 ISSUE OF GROWERTALKS MAGAZINE WRITTEN BY BROCH MARTINDALE NARRATED BY BILL CALKINS EXCERPT: … there are numerous ways technology has changed even the simplest of tasks. As we hire and train the next generation of growers, it’s important to keep up with technology. Or are we waiting for the evening news to tell us what we’re doing tomorrow? Read the digital edition of GROWERTALKS Magazine—December 2023: https://www.ballpublishing.com/magazine/gt_23_12/index....
Dec 04, 2023•7 min•Transcript available on Metacast In a conversational episode, host Bill Calkins and his guest (and friend) Rich Christakes cover an extremely wide range of topics related to the modern greenhouse and garden center industry rooted in the goal of providing perspective and opportunities for action. Rich, CEO of Alsip Home & Nursery (a grower-retailer with two locations in Northwest Indiana and Chicagoland) and founder of the Ship My Plants online marketplace, has a unique perspective on garden center retail, variety selection,...
Nov 22, 2023•47 min•Ep 96•Transcript available on Metacast SANITATION & PREPARATION: STARTING STRONG FROM THE FEBRUARY 2021 ISSUE OF GROWERTALKS MAGAZINE WRITTEN BY PAUL PILON NARRATED BY BILL CALKINS EXCERPT: Many growers take for granted the benefits of having a strong start, and when less-than-ideal conditions are present from the beginning, they often struggle to stay ahead of these issues throughout the crop or the entire spring season. A strong start likely has different meanings for different growers, but here’s a few methods I like to employ...
Nov 20, 2023•6 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
