Strategic Solutions for Substrate Success!

This post was originally written by Abigail Wiesner, Acting Greenhouse Floriculture Production Specialist.

For the last few decades, growers in North America have been reading headlines about the steady decline of peat used for horticultural purposes across multiple European countries. With Canadian sources of peat, and trade primarily between the United States, local growers haven’t been severely affected by global changes in peat use and reduction trajectories.

Even though Canadian growers haven’t seen the same reduction of peat use in the local market, it doesn’t mean we can’t learn from Europe’s goals, decisions, and success stories.

Read on to learn about the benefits of trialing new components for your media mixes.

Continue reading “Strategic Solutions for Substrate Success!”

Controlled Environment Technology Webinar, Part 2: Managing Greenhouse Environments Under Blackout Curtains – March 12

The OMAFRA Greenhouse Vegetable Specialist is continuing an exciting webinar series on technology in controlled environments!

This series is relevant to anyone producing in controlled environments – from vegetables, to herbs, cannabis and flowers. The second webinar tackles the use of black out curtains for light abatement in these systems, and how their use can impact plant production. Industry experts from AAFC, Hoogendoorn, Ludvig Svensson, Van der Ende Group and 360 Energy are all participating. so don’t miss the opportunity to hear from so many experts at once! This webinar covers each company’s approach to addressing challenges of production under curtain cover, and involves a panel-style discussion about integrating these systems.

Details on this installment of this webinar series can be found below.

Continue reading “Controlled Environment Technology Webinar, Part 2: Managing Greenhouse Environments Under Blackout Curtains – March 12”

COVID-19 Resource List for Growers.

If you’re anything like me, you might be having trouble keeping track of all of the resources related to managing Covid-19 on your farm.

To help, OMAFRA has created a landing page with a list of resources relevant to Ontario farmers.

Continue reading “COVID-19 Resource List for Growers.”

Diversifying your Greenhouse Crops with Hothouse Strawberries

Fresh, delicious, hothouse strawberries in the dead of winter…can’t you just taste them?  We would ALL love to see more local strawberries in our grocery stores, wouldn’t we?

Perhaps you’ve thought about growing strawberries in your greenhouse.  Or you’ve dabbled in production already.  Maybe you are a well-seasoned strawberry grower but eager to stay connected and continue learning.

If any of these sounds like you, you’ll want to check out an upcoming course on hydroponic strawberry production by Hort Americas.

Continue reading “Diversifying your Greenhouse Crops with Hothouse Strawberries”

Which Thrips Are in Your Flower Crops: When Paradigms Shift (Part 1)

WFT on hibiscus_Caitlin McDonald_1Up until this point, most of Ontario floriculture growers (and me!) assumed the only pest thrips we were dealing with was Western flower thrips (besides Echinothrips in a few crops like gerbera and poinsettia).

But a survey conducted in major commercial operations in 2016-2017, AND recent outbreaks of serious damage have proved us wrong. (You know what they say about assuming!). Keep reading to find out the truth about thrips! Continue reading “Which Thrips Are in Your Flower Crops: When Paradigms Shift (Part 1)”