In case you missed it, earlier this week we talked about nutrient management and growth regulation/tracking for garden mums.
This post will focus on which pests most often affect garden mums in Ontario, and preventative actions you may want to take. Keep reading to learn more.
This post was contributed to by OMAFA’s Greenhouse Floriculture Production Specialists past and present: Kathryn Russell, Abigail Wiesner, and Dr. Chevonne Dayboll.
As we feel temperatures rising, summer is on its way – and so are garden mums! Although generally an easy crop, there are several tweaks you can make to help save headaches AND money. This post has updated information to help you optimize your nutrient management and growth regulation/tracking in garden mum production.
Continue reading “Garden Mum Refresher 2025: Managing Nutrients, Size Tracking, and PGRs”
Thrips often get out of control in summer, when fall crop production is ramping up. But why is this?
Although some thrips enter your greenhouse via plant material (think tropical thrips like Parvispinus), common thrips like western flower thrips and onion thrips mostly enter your greenhouse through vents and doors.
Continue reading to learn when your thrips are likely to spike in your greenhouse, as well as how to effectively use mass trapping to combat thrips and other pests.
Continue reading “How-To Video of the Week: Mass Trapping for Thrips and Other Pests”
Every year at this time, growers start to think about strategies to minimizing western flower thrips on their chrysanthemum crops. This year, Thrips parvispinus is causing extra concern, given that chrysanthemum is one of its reported hosts.
Although there have been no reports yet of Parvispinus damaging chrysanthemums in North America, it’s still good to exercise a bit of caution. However, jumping the gun and spraying chemicals will likely just disrupt your biocontrol program for western flower thrips, leaving you with a bigger mess on your hands.
This post contains information on things you can do to put your mind at ease about all sorts of thrips this chrysanthemum season.
Continue reading “Potted Chrysanthemums 2024: Dips, Thrips and Threats”This post was contributed to by Abigail Wiesner, Drs. Sarah Jandricic, and Chevonne Dayboll.
As we feel temperatures rising, summer is on its way – and so are garden mums! This post has updated information to help you optimize your irrigation, fertilizer, pest management programs and more in garden mum production.
Continue reading “Garden Mums 2024 – Tips, Tricks, and Production Bits”This guest post was written by Jessie deHaan, Research Technician at Vineland Research and Innovation Centre (Vineland).
Economical and high quality plant production has always been a balancing act between fertilizer, light, irrigation and other input costs.
Unfortunately, supply chain issues caused by the pandemic slow-down, and exacerbated by the subsequent war in Ukraine, have negatively affected the global supply of fertilizer and plant nutrients. These supply issues are leading to rising fertilizer prices for growers.
As input costs rise, how can growers respond and save money, while still producing first-rate products?
Continue reading “Is Lowering Fertilizer Right For You?”
I’ve written about the tropical pest Thrips parvispinus, now being called “pepper thrips”, infesting certain tropical ornamentals in Canada before. But it appears this pest has become widespread in Florida.
As Ontario sources much of its plant material from Florida, it’s a good idea to exercise caution, even on non-tropical plants. The known host range of this pest is evolving, and thrips have the potential to hitch-hike on less-preferred plant hosts and spread to more preferred hosts in your greenhouse.
Read on for information on the situation in Florida and what you can do to help protect your greenhouse from this pest.
Continue reading “Thrips parvispinus (“Pepper Thrips”): The Importance of Inspecting Plants and Dipping Cuttings from Florida”(This post was co-written by S. Jandricic and A. Summerfield.)
Sometimes your thrips biocontrol program is working great. Other times, it seems to get completely overwhelmed. Thrips often get out of control in Summer, when fall crop production is ramping up. But why is this?
Several factors can contribute to rising thrips numbers, but the major reason involves HOW and WHEN thrips like to invade your greenhouse. Read on to learn about this, and what you can do to stay on top of thrips this summer!
Continue reading “Where Do Most of Your Thrips Come From? The Answer May Surprise You.”
As anyone battelling whitefly on poinsettia this season can attest to, good pesticide coverage in ornamental crops can be challenging. Hydraulic sprayers are the industry standard, but does that mean they’re the best option? Where does sprayer technology need to go in the future to get growers better results?
This summer, Dr. Jason Deveau, OMAFRA’s official “Spray Guy”, and myself did a trial at a local greenhouse with some experimental equipment to try and answer these questions. The results were intriguing, to say the least.
For all the details on this trial, check out the link to Jason’s blog post, below.
Continue reading “Can We Improve Pesticide Application in Greenhouse Ornamentals?”
Need a refresher on specific pests of floriculture, and what to do about them? Want to see how Canada – a world leader in biological control in ornamental crops – does things?
Then the following IPM training videos, made by specialists and consultants in Ontario, are for you!
Keep reading to learn how to access these videos, and the topics they cover.
Continue reading “NEW: Free Online IPM Training for Greenhouse Staff”