Watch for Botrytis on Poinsettia

It’s time to get your poinsettia crops past the finish line and out the door. There has a myriad of disease issue on poinsettias this growing season including bacterial soft rot, Pythium and Phytophthora root rots, Rhizoctonia stem rot, Alternaria leaf spot, powdery mildew and Botrytis to name a few...

The Eye Eats Before the Mouth, but What Attracts Customers?

Edible greens (e.g., leafy greens, lettuces, herbs, microgreens) have a variety of aesthetics. Color is a key aesthetic for these items, and they come in various colors from purples and pinks to various shades of green...

Aloha! Hawaiian Beet Webworm in Celosia

Each year eastern Long Island, NY is inundated with exotic summer visitors, including some of the entomological persuasion...

Check your roots and scout for disease

It is hot and humid across much of the USA. Heat and high humidity within enclosed production facilities are favorable for disease development...

What Are Your Worst Problems? Help Prioritize Research by Completing Survey

Complete the USDA IR4 Biennial Grower & Extension Survey and share which pest problems you find difficult to manage due to a lack of sufficient management tools...

Non-chemical Control of Weeds Inside Greenhouses

Weeds are a persistent problem in greenhouses, hoop houses, propagation houses, and other enclosed structures...

Thrips Tips

This spring the Diagnostic Lab received some interesting plant samples showing very different kinds of damage from the same cause: dramatic stunting and distortion of new foliage on fuchsia, stippling and dark specks (droppings) on the upper sides of calibrachoa leaves...

Phytophthora on annual vinca in greenhouses

Phytophthora crown rot and foliar blight, caused by Phytophthora nicotianae, was recently seen on annual vinca (Catharanthus roseus) within greenhouse production...

Propagation Reminders: Poinsettia and Fall Garden Mums

Though its early-May, it’s not too early to start thinking about poinsettia and/or fall mum propagation...

A Snapshot of Native Plant Growers In the U.S.

In 2022, I had the opportunity to dive deep into production factors that native plant growers use and how that compares to firms growing and selling non-native plants in the U...

Uneven Lettuce Growth in NFT Systems

Regardless of the material you use to germinate your lettuce seedlings, it is important that rooted seedlings make contact with the water in a nutrient film technique (NFT) system...

Irrigation Management for Iron Management

Water management can be a challenge as plants mature and warmer greenhouse conditions occur. In order to try to avoid drought stress, it is easy to irrigate more frequently...

Biocontrol Agent Failures Can be Linked to Past Pesticide Applications

Vegetable production in protected culture systems is growing exponentially in many communities as the demand for local year-round produce increases...

Pour-thru on Primula

During a recent grower visit, I noticed several primula plants that had begun to develop chlorotic foliage...

Such Bugs and Goblins! Another Thrips Threat

Apparently unexpected new pests have been appearing even since Shakespeare’s time. One popping up in recent discussions, Thrips parvispinus, was new to continental North America when first reported from Florida on Anthurium and Hoya in 2020...

In-store Signs – What Draws the Eye?

Customers are bombarded with a lot of information while shopping for goods. The same is true in the ornamental horticulture industry...

Increasing Daily Light Integral Improves Vegetable Transplant Quality

Vegetable transplants can be produced year-round for controlled-environment production; however, spring is the most popular season for greenhouse growers to produce vegetable transplants destined for retail garden centers and field production...

Gerbera: Distorted New Growth

Around 5 gerbera plants were found in a commercial greenhouse with new leaves that were darker in color, thicker, and distorted...

Trouble with Tropicals? Join our March 16th webinar!

Mealybug, scale, and spider mites, oh my! Tropical plants often carry troublesome hitch-hikers. Join Michigan State University Extension and Dr...

Growth Control of Rooted Cuttings

The time to stick and propagate unrooted cuttings is here and so is the time to think about methods to control growth of rooted cuttings...

Test Your Irrigation Water Source This Spring

Water is the most important input for greenhouse operators, yet it is also the input that is frequently taken for granted by growers until a cropping problem is observed...

Check Furnaces and Flues Before Putting Crops in the Greenhouse

Some growers shut down their greenhouses in December after their poinsettias have been shipped to their final destination and will fire up their heaters/furnaces again for the first time in late January...

Bugger Off

"Pest Resorts" is the best way to describe scattered weeds overwintering in the greenhouse. It amazes me when I inspect weeds in our greenhouses or at growers to find active colonies of spider mites, Western flower thrips, whiteflies or aphids...