Q: Is this workshop for beginners, growers with biocontrol experience, or all levels?
A: All levels.
Q: What’s a common misconception about biocontrol programs?
A: That you cannot use pesticides in conjunction with them and that they’re more expensive than conventional spray programs.
Q: Why do you think that’s a common misconception?
A: That’s a good question. I think biocontrol has always been held to a higher standard than pesticides because in the past, if people try biocontrol and they don’t work, they’re pretty quick to quit. Where, if people spray a pesticide and it doesn’t work, they’re willing to do that over and over again. I also think it’s an excuse because it does take a lot of education to get started and do biocontrol, but once people are there and cross over, they generally don’t go back.
Q: Are there biocontrol programs for growers who produce plants outdoors, or is it best for plants grown under cover?
A: Well, biocontrol started outside. If you look outside your window, every plant you see, biocontrol is going on. I actually think that outdoor biocontrol is almost easier than indoor because indoor growing is such a forced environment, even though there’s this idea that it’s designed for indoors. Yes, there’s been more research on indoor production than there has been on outside, but we’ve still been successfully able to do biocontrol outdoors. Not being able to do it outside is a big misconception.
Q: What should growers consider before starting a biocontrol program?
A: They need to look at what their pest complex is, and if their growers are on board with making this happen. They also have to look at their state and federal quarantine laws because if you’re in the fire ant quarantine zone, a lot of growers incorporate pesticides into their soil. Because of that, they’re excluded from doing some of the biocontrol agents in the soil. It’s also important to look at what the laws are in their area.
Q: What’s the learning curve for understanding biocontrol basics vs. traditional pest controls?
A: It depends on what your pest problem is. If you’re dealing with fungus gnats, it’s simple. But if you going with more complex programs where you’re dealing with whitefly and aphids, there’s definitely a learning curve with doing that. With today’s pesticides, there’s a learning curve with them because the pesticides in the market are more targeted, so we’re not seeing broad spectrum pesticides. Today, you have to be a lot smarter and identify specifically what your pest is before you can make a selection.
Do you have anything else you’d like to add?
A: This year’s workshop can be applied to multiple industries, not just ornamentals. Also, space is limited and it’s going to sell out so register early. It’s going to be a lot of applied and practical knowledge that can be learned the day of and put into production the day after.
Want To Go?
“Bicontrols Workshop: The How-to’s of Quality Control and Application Methods”
Saturday, July 13, 8:00 a.m.- 5:00 p.m., Eisenmann-Trott Cost: $165
Suzanne Wainwright-Evans is a horticultural entomologist who specializes in integrated pest management. With her 25-year career –18 as owner of Buglady Consulting – Wainright-Evans will share her knowledge on biological control and the proper use of pesticides. Not only is the Biocontrols Workshop eligible for pesticide recertification credit, it’ll also offer relevant skills that can be easily applied to production.
Columbus bound
Supplement - Cultivate ‘19
There are lessons to be learned, products to be marketed and connections to be made at Cultivate‘19.
As you make plans to visit the largest green industry trade show in North America with roots dating back 90 years, thumb through our Cultivate preview guide to find the nursery-centric educational seminars that fit your operation and crew needs. For additional nursery sessions, as well as greenhouse, interiorscape and retail sessions, go to www.cultivate19.org.
Cultivate’19 takes place July 13-16 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center, Columbus, Ohio.
Sat., July 13: Education sessions open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., trade show closed.
Sun., July 14: Education sessions open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., trade show floor open 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Mon., July 15: Education sessions open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., trade show floor open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Tue., July 16: Education sessions open 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., trade show floor open 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Some 10,000 attendees are expected and more than 650 exhibitors will be at the show.
Keynote: Sunday July 14 | 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM | Short North Ballroom
After a career in franchising that spanned 30 years, Kevin Brown decided to retire from corporate America and bring “The Hero Effect” message to as many people and organizations as possible. Attendees will learn how heroes create exceptional experiences, serving others with an authentic passion that turns everyday moments into superhuman experiences.
SATURDAY, JULY 13
Nursery Production Tour | 7:00 AM - 5:30 PM | Union Station Ballroom A The first stop on this tour is the Ohio Agricultural and Research Development Center in Wooster, Ohio where you will see a demonstration of a new, cutting-edge water and fertilizer injection system for nurseries. From there the bus heads to Willoway Nursery where you will see how the injector system has been integrated into their operations. We will also tour the grounds at both Willoway Nursery and Davis Tree Farm and Nursery where we will learn more about their tree and shrub production. Cost: $125
Biocontrols Workshop: The How-to's of Quality Control and Application Methods | 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM | Eisenmann-Trott Have you ever wondered how many mites are really in that bottle? Do you wonder if those nematodes can really kill fly larva? Come learn how to count, test, sex and many other useful skills in this biocontrol workshop. Attendees will learn skills in a classroom setting that can be used back at the greenhouse, making their biocontrol programs stronger. Kits will be provided with the tools needed to do the testing. We will also head offsite to a greenhouse to learn more about applying beneficials and other real-world skills. This session is eligible for pesticide recertification credits. (See page 46 for more details from the presenter.) Cost: $165
Next Gen Sensors: Using Smartphones for Seedling Quality & Plant Nitrogen Measurement | 2:45 PM - 3:45 PM | A223 Growth and quality are fundamental metrics driving profitability in ornamental industry. Technology available currently to accurately measure growth and quality of ornamental plants is still primitive. The measurements are usually destructive and manual in nature. High plant densities and increased labor and lab costs make manual and destructive measurements less attractive, and in some cases, not practical. In this session, we will show you the next generation sensors that we are developing at Purdue University. These new technologies use cheap cameras and smartphones to measure seedling quality in a flats or nitrogen status of plants in containers. Growers who are interested in the technology are strongly encouraged to attend this session as we are looking for 15-20 facilities in the U.S. where we can test this technology.
SUNDAY, JULY 14
Proven Perennials: Trial Update from Chicago Botanic Garden 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM | Union Station Ballroom A Hundreds of new perennials are introduced each year. Whether landscapers and gardeners are excited or disappointed depends in part on rigorous evaluations to determine their cultural adaptability, disease and pest resistance, and winter hardiness. In this session we will discuss the important of comparative trials and present an update from the Chicago Botanic Garden’s trials—an evaluation program that has been recommending the best garden perennials for 30 years. (See page 50 for more details from the presenter.)
20/20 Vision: See into The Future with Garden Trends | 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM | A223 This year's trends report gives you 20/20 vision into the future of the industry. Let’s connect the dots between the hottest new trends in gardening and consumer behavior and how you can use them to give your customers what they want. In this fast-paced session, learn current and emerging gardening trends and tips as well as examples to take these latest trends and apply them to your business to brand your company, attract new customers and grow sales. When you’re ahead of the curve, your company becomes a trendsetter and you become the go to place for what’s new – whether you are a breeder, grower, or retailer.
The New Way to Communicate in Business in 2019 | 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM | Short North Ballroom A Business communication continues to evolve at an unbelievable rate. In just 25 years, we’ve seen the evolution from landlines to pager codes to cell phones to smart phones to the cloud. Where are we headed next? How does the next generation prefer to communicate? What are the implications for business in 2019 and beyond? This session will walk attendees through the communication changes and cultural shifts that drive them in the past, present, and future. Attendees will learn how to more effectively communicate with customers and employees to improve every key business metric and utilize better communication to thrive including: the difference between 2-D and 3-D communication conversations and means; how to select the proper channel for conversations to maximize meaning and efficiency; new tools to improve communication in 2019 and beyond. (See page 48 for more details from the presenter.)
Redheaded Flea Beetle, Systena frontalis, the Native Invasive Insect | 10:00 AM - 10:30 AM | Live For Growers This presentation will briefly cover insect phenology for the mid-Atlantic and how it has provided some guidance with management in the southeast. There will also be discussion regarding larva and adult activity in relation to growing degree days and plant phenological indicators. Host plants fed on by the beetle will be discussed, and recent observations in the selection from different species and cultivars of hydrangea. You will hear about feeding preference trials conducted in the field and laboratory between different species of plants other than hydrangea. In addition, challenges facing management of the insect will be shared.
Winning the Battle with Rose Rosette Disease | 10:45 AM - 11:45 AM | A115 Rose rosette has destroyed thousands of roses and threatens the survival of the U.S. rose industry. However, all is not lost. Detection of the disease is critical for successful management at propagator, nursery and landscape levels. This session will focus on how to successfully develop best management plans for rose rosette and update research efforts toward resistant roses. (See page 52 for more details from this presenter.)
Perennial Production: Better Baptisia and Problem-Free Panicum | 10:45 AM - 11:45 AM | A213 Baptisia and Panicum are bright stars among native North American perennials. Both are beautiful, strong, and resilient in the landscape, but each poses challenges for growers. Join two professional growers from experienced nursery operations for this combined session. Learn about best cultural practices for baptisia from both liner and bare root inputs including scheduling, planting depth, and forcing. Boost your switchgrass smarts with best management practices for Panicum virgatum, including cultural regimens, timing, and cultivar selection.
Ship Plants Legally With Ease | 11:00 AM - 11:20 AM | Knowledge Center Plant Sentry offers a positive approach to controlling the spread of invasive plant species, pests, and diseases. This program can help alert the grower to plant issues and the impacts certain pests and aggressive plants can have on the environment. The Plant Sentry model is a simplistic approach that aligns with other common risk assessment programs (i.e. HAACP, SANC). This application can be audited like that of the SANC program and is the only e-commerce systems approach to date that ensures the standard meets current state and federal regulations. This systems approach offers a wide array of valuable information personalized to your inventory that is essential in growing your business efficiently the right, legal way.
Demystifying E-commerce: Selling Plants Online | 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM | A210 Selling plants online is one of the most challenging markets within the E-commerce space. Inventory tracking, boxing and transit, shipping compliance, online marketing, content creation, search optimization... the list of challenges can seem endless and daunting. This session’s speaker is from one of the first companies to sell plant material online and has tackled online selling challenges for more than 17 years. Come learn some of the key strategies for growth and success in the digital marketplace.
Transplanting Cuttings by Hand and Robotics | 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM | A213 Transplanting cuttings is one of the most labor-intensive operations in propagation. Find out if staff at your operation meet the industry benchmark of cuttings transplanted per hour. Learn about research on both manual and automated transplanting.
Irrigation Basics | 2:30 PM - 2:50 PM | Knowledge Center Discuss the basics of irrigation as it pertains to overhead and micro-irrigation in nursery and greenhouse production including design, hydraulics, uniformity, audits, and scheduling.
Mealybug Management: What Can You Do to Avoid Problems with this 'Sneaky Pest?' | 2:45 PM - 3:45 PM | A210 This session’s expert will discuss the biology, feeding behavior, and plant protection strategies that must be implemented to manage mealybugs in a production environment. As more plants are being shipped in various stages, mealybugs are becoming a very important insect pest. More importantly, mealybug populations are difficult to deal with using insecticides or biological control agents (parasitoids and predators). He will also present results from his latest research indicating that systemic insecticides are not effective against mealybugs. This presentation will really "bug" you!
Nitrogen Management for Nurseries | 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM | A210 Nitrate contamination of groundwater has become a serious environmental issue in some areas of the nation. In this session come learn about methods being used to reduce excessive fertilizer use and what is involved in developing a N Management Plant (NMP). Learn more about the health hazards of high Nitrate-N levels. You will hear about research being conducted at UC Davis that examines the fate of applied N to improve the tracking of N fertilizers in nursery production. Discussion will include the issues with N management, the reporting that CA requires, and the experiments conducted to characterize N movement in ornamental plant container crops.
MONDAY, JULY 15
The Importance of Cultivar Testing for Boxwood Blight | 9:45 AM - 10:45 AM | A213 How tolerant are cultivars to boxwood blight? Does it matter? 2018 saw a record number of boxwood blight diagnoses, including reports in new locations. At the same time, AmericanHort's Horticultural Research Institute (HRI) started a new initiative to better understand the range of tolerance and susceptibility of cultivars common in U.S. production. Come to this panel discussion to learn about the research underway as well new developments, from the researcher and grower perspective.
IR-4 Program: New Products and Upcoming Actives for Disease & Pest Management | 9:45 AM - 10:45 AM | A210 Learn about how the IR-4 Program coordinates research activities to develop data for new active ingredients and existing products. Outcomes for new products and upcoming new actives will be presented for Botrytis, thrips and more.
Putting Success in Your Succession Plan | 9:45 AM - 10:45 AM | Short North Ballroom A Is your business at a time and place when you are wondering what's next? For you. For your family. For your team. For your customers. For your company.
This session’s speaker and strategist will navigate this vital subject with a unique insight into our industry. He will pose two key questions--build to sell or build to last? Your answer will guide the discussion and the decision you will need to make moving forward, and you'll be given the steps you need to consider on your journey.
Join others that are on a similar path and share your fears, faith, and fortitude during this exciting and important time.
(See page 54 for more details from the presenter.)
Nutrient and Water Management in Field, Nursery and Greenhouse in the 21st Century | 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM | A213 Agriculture is one of the largest contributors to non-point source water pollution (EPA, 2012). Controlled environmental, as well as nursery and field agriculture, requires a closely defined balance between inputs and outputs to remain sustainable. Learn about a precision ion specific injection system that achieves real-time precision nutrient scheduling to provide an integrative and mechanistic understanding of plant and water requirements for the various production systems. During this session we will discuss the accuracy of applied nutrient recipe formulations, the control of nutrients on an individual basis, which is a key component to optimizing yield throughout crop growth stages and using proper scalability to match various facility production sizes and growing conditions, as well as increased resource efficiency.
Impact Washington: Advocacy Overview and You | 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM | C170 Not sure about what's going on in Washington and how it impacts our industry? Want to become more involved in shaping our industry but not sure on where to start? Join Tal Coley, AmericanHort's director of government affairs, to gain a better insight into what is going on in our industry and leave with knowledge and skills to take action.
Labor-Saving Swap Shop | 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM | A210 Hear directly from fellow nursery growers regarding ways they've found to save on labor.
IP Protection Strategies for Novel Cultivars | 2:45 PM - 3:45 PM | A210 Due to recent decisions at the patent office and the upcoming changes to plant variety protection (PVP) that are included in the 2018 Farm Bill, there are now multiple types of intellectual property (IP) that can be used to protect novel asexually reproduced plant cultivars. This presentation will discuss the three main types of IP protection that are available to protect novel plant cultivars (plant patents, utility patents, and PVP protection), the advantages and disadvantages of each, and how multiple types of IP protection can be used to build a strong picket fence of IP protection around your new cultivar.
Substrate Science | 2:45 PM - 5:00 PM | A213 Experts will discuss foundational principles of basic soilless substrate science informed by current research as well as practical on-farm evaluations. The workshop will use the dual platform growing systems of nursery and floriculture to illustrate the importance of substrate hydrology, biology, chemistry, plant-atmosphere interactions, and their subsequent impact on water and fertility management. After attending the workshop, growers will have a better understanding of the science behind the physics and chemistry of their substrates, the importance of processing that occurs before they receive the product, be able to create better on-site handling procedures, and most importantly, deploy strategies to rethink production systems that optimize substrate performance. The workshop will finish with a question and answer session.
Japanese Maple Scale | 3:30 PM - 4:00 PM | Live For Growers In this session, learn about a scourge from the orient, Japanese Maple Scale, and how to bring this major pest under control with new systemics.
TUESDAY, JULY 16
The Ornamental Plant Trials at Louisiana State University | 9:15 AM - 9:45 AM | Live For Growers This session will give a brief overview of the Ornamental Plant Trials at the Louisiana State University AgCenter's Hammond Research Station.
Push Back Against Armored Scale in Nurseries, Landscape, and Cut Woody Plant Operations | 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM | C210 Invasive armored scale populations are increasing on plants across the United States. The damage from armored scale can be extensive in your nursery, cut woody plant operation, or in the landscape.
Field research conducted by the University of Maryland and University of Delaware Extension evaluated several new classes of low risk pesticides to control these pests. Timing is everything in scale control. Learn how to identify, select the correct timing, and choose the best materials to deal with armored scales.
What to Do in a Crisis and Managing Difficult Employment Issues | 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM | C170 Are you prepared for the next emergency? Many companies have no plan for a crisis. In this session, attendees will discover practical solutions to the most challenging employment issues including employee drug use, sexual harassment, light duty, I-9’s and ICE raids, employee leave, criminal background checks and much more. Discover practical solutions to handling employee drug use and drug testing to ensure that their employees are safe and productive and learn how to respond to a Notice of Inspection (I-9 audit) or an ICE raid. You will also understand the different types of leave that an employee may be entitled to, how the various leave laws intersect, and practical steps that HR can follow to respond to any employee leave situation.
Left to right: Todd Gentry, Timothee Sallin and Chloe Gentry are part of Cherrylake’s leadership team.Carlos Amoeodo
Farmers, horticulturists, builders, stewards of the environment – the family that leads Cherrylake wants to be all of these things.
In 1979, Michel and Veronique Sallin purchased a 500-acre grove in the rolling hills of Groveland, Fla. and founded IMG Enterprises, which would become a multi-million dollar holding company for Cherrylake and IMG Citrus.
After their citrus groves were devastated by unforeseen freezes in 1983 and 1985, the family relocated its citrus operation to balmier climes and replanted their fields in Groveland with a hardier crop — containerized ornamental trees. They renamed the land Cherry Lake Tree Farm.
When his parents pivoted from a disaster into a new business, Timothee Sallin learned why it was important to be open to change. Timothee, Cherrylake’s current president and his sister, Chloe Gentry, director of marketing and organizational development, have worked to develop a company culture that rewards innovation. At the core of innovation is change. But change isn’t easy to enact.
“It’s not natural for people in organizations to change, really,” Timothee says. “There is general discomfort with change and stability is often very appealing. So organizations can become very static. We’ve pushed against that and focused on building the culture centered around getting better every day.”
Todd Gentry, Cherrylake’s director of operations, says the culture comes from the top down.
“We have a saying here: ‘If it isn't broke, break it and make it better.’ That comes up a lot in our meetings and it's ingrained into the culture of constant improvement.”
The family further diversified its business in 2005 with the addition of a full-service landscape construction division. In 2016, the tree farm, landscape construction, installation and maintenance divisions were all integrated into the same name: Cherrylake. Choe says the rebranding was the perfect time to take stock of the company’s purpose, values and clarify a vision for the future.
“We started working on defining our values and trying to define what our culture was at that time and define what the experience was for the customer and the employee,” she says. “And we worked on defining those things at the ownership level, but also at the same time engaging the employees in the conversation because we do feel that while the ownership needs to guide and model those values, we also want the employees to feel engaged in that conversation and have input.”
Small changes add up
The entrepreneurial spirit and embracing change are crucial to Cherrylake’s success. They represent two of the company’s seven values, and they are necessary for the Lean principles that have become inextricable from the Cherrylake way.
“What we like about Lean is that it's not looking for radical change,” Timothee says. “It's not looking for some sort of home run breakthrough idea where, ‘oh my goodness, we've just completely revolutionized the industry,’ but rather it's small, incremental, continuous good change.”
The Lean principles neatly dovetail with Cherrylake’s focus on continuous improvement and empowered employees. Timothee and the leadership team want their employees to look for a way to make micro improvements. They want the people who are actually doing a job every day to ask questions like “How can I shave a second off this process?” “How can I reduce one click out of this process?” If it's a computer process, “How can I eliminate a piece of paper?”
To fully understand the capabilities of Lean in a nursery setting, you must pull back to look at the whole process. See how tasks flow and how value is created. For a grower like Cherrylake that grows trees and shrubs in containers up to 1,400 gallons, that process could take up to 10 years, spread over 1,500 acres. After you understand the process, you zoom in close to search for bottlenecks.
One example that Timothee found was Cherrytree’s 3-gallon potting machine. It was an ergonomic problem: how far the workers had to reach to grab a liner and place it into the 3-gallon pot vs. the speed of the conveyor belts. For the solution, Cherrylake’s mechanics built ergonomic tables on which the liners are set at just the right distance so employees can work more efficiently.
“Save a minute, save a penny, and then that repeats and eventually creates tremendous change,” Timothee says.
You can find a potential Lean project just about anywhere. For instance, every morning between 100 and 200 people arrive at Cherrylake for work. That process includes parking, punching the time clock, getting water and ice, fueling up the tractors, getting whatever small supplies they need for the day, getting on the tractors and out to the farm. When Cherrylake had the opportunity to design and build a new facility, Timothee and his team carefully observed the routine.
“We went out there with stopwatches and observed, filmed, talked and looked at what they were doing,” he says. “They were wasting so much time just filling up ice. It was just chaos. And you realize this is happening every day.”
The layout of the new building, which is called “the hub,” was designed to allow those tasks to take place in a centralized location. The more efficient process supports the flow of the morning routine. Timothee says the changes have saved 10 minutes a day per person. With 100 people, that’s 1,000 minutes per day. If you’re paying each person $15 per hour, you’d be saving $250 per day. That’s $88,000 per year. Over 10 years, you’ve saved almost a million dollars.
Creating leaders
Of course, developing a new building isn’t always an option. That’s why it’s important to get your employees to buy in to Lean principles. The Cherrylake leadership team wants its people on the front lines to improve their process autonomously. To enable that, they promote self-management and distribute decision-making authority. They’ve found that if you empower your employees, they will find ways to move through their workday more efficiently.
“This philosophy allows your organization to be more responsive because you're allowing the people who are closest to the work to think strategically, analytically and creatively about the work that they're doing and to go ahead and make changes,” Timothee says.
To give people the autonomy to make decisions, you have to give them a framework. Cherrylake does this by communicating its values, purpose and strategic goals — along with a bunch of metrics.
“If people know what the goal is, they know what the score is, then they can see for themselves where they stand and how they're performing and what they might be able to do to adjust or make changes to their workflow,” Timothee says. “Then you can really trust them and unleash their innovative potential. Because innovation can't be monopolized in the small place where one leader or a group of leaders are trying to come up with all the innovation. The more we can tap into our employees’ innovation and creative energy, that's what will allow the company to really take off. And that means the people that we bring over from Mexico on H-2A visas and the people that are operating the tractors and people who are in the field — everyone is hopefully able to contribute some degree of innovation to what we're doing here.”
One way Cherrylake empowers its employees is through creating crew leader positions and by providing the training they need to become more than just the best at their specific job. Whether it’s horticultural classes, sessions with a life coach or a leadership seminar, the organization takes professional development seriously.
“It’s easy to take one of your best performers and make them crew leader,” Todd says. “Just because they’re the best pruner doesn’t mean they’re the best leader. A lot of them don’t have that education, so we need to give it to them.”
One of the challenges the leadership team faces is how to get meaningful goals to filter down to the front lines without stifling the creative thinking that leads to innovation. Each Cherrylake work team has a daily huddle in which they are asked to set a clear goal and to discuss their work plan: What they're doing, how they're going to try to achieve this goal, what tools they will use in what sequence. They cover any safety issues and then they have a “lightning round” in which other team members have the opportunity to comment, ask questions or challenge the plan.
The tough part is setting a good, smart goal. Cherrylake’s team leaders aim for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-based goals.
A leader might say “We're pruning trees in section 71 and our goal is to do 22 trees per hour.” Or “Our goal is to do six rows by lunchtime.” Or “We are staking trees in section 28; our goal is to do the whole section by the end of the day.”
Cherrylake also uses financial metrics like sales price, volume and margins. They conduct customer and employee surveys. But when you want to measure production efficiency in the workforce, it’s tough to beat a metric like trees per hour, such as trees planted per hour, trees loaded on a truck per hour, pruned, staked, etc.
“I know that what's important is profitability, but how do you translate that into something that can help somebody know how they're doing today?” Timothee says. “Usually it's going to be something like trees per hour.”
One way Cherrylake keeps its people on track is through “Task on Time,” a program built in-house that allows them to input work orders, follow a schedule and use dashboards to ensure a particular task is being done when it should be. The methodology is simple but effective, Todd says.
“It doesn't have to cost us more money to grow a higher quality tree if we do our task on time,” he says.
The program uses a calendar-based events and dashboards to track tasks like tree staking, pruning and fertilizing. There are production advantages to doing these tasks on time. If you prune on time, you’ll be pruning smaller branches, making you more efficient. If you fertilize on time, you’ll be providing the necessary nutrition to the tree right when it needs it. It can be very wasteful if you do it ahead of time or if you do it too late.
Left to right: Todd Gentry, Timothee Sallin and Chloe Gentry are part of Cherrylake’s leadership team.
Finding their “why”
Prior to the 2016 rebranding, the executive team engaged the company to truly define their organization. They felt that if they could get their purpose down on paper, they could find their “why words.” The concept was from author and speaker Simon Sinek: “It’s not what you do, it’s why you do it.”
In looking for their “why,” Cherrylake found five words: sustainable, vision, beauty, life and community.
Cherrylake’s vision is the knowledge that they are stewards of the land and aim to provide benefits for generations to come, through continuous improvement and innovation. Sustainability and life are important because they want their products to create environmental sustainability. They also want financial and economic sustainability for their partners, customers and employees. Beauty is what their products add to the world, from enhancing the look of a property with landscape designed in-house, using their own trees, shrubs and palms. And community simply means that as a large employer with nearly 200 workers for the bulk of the year, Cherrylake feels a responsibility to use the shrubs, trees and landscapes it grows, designs and installs to positively impact its community.
For instance, Cherrylake partners with local elementary and high schools to share their passion for horticulture — and to share career opportunities. A project manager tells fifth graders how math and technology are used in landscaping. Cherrylake also partners with nonprofits throughout the U.S. to donate and plant trees in protected conservation areas to help build ecosystems. Through its “1,000 Trees for 1,000 Years” program, the company has helped plant keystone species at Lake Apopka in Central Florida and the Audubon Nature Center in New Orleans.
“We love the idea that some of these trees outlive us,” Chloe says. “The Bald Cypress can live a thousand years. So the simple act of planting these trees today is connecting us to the future. And I think our team finds a lot of purpose in that and what we do.”
The proceeds from “The Farm Races” — a 5K, 10K and duathlon that takes place on the Cherrylake tree farm — is donated to local schools’ agriculture programs. There were 400 participants last year, and Cherrylake donated one tree for every runner to one of those conservation areas.
Cherrylake grows a mix of shrubs, palms and trees in containers up to 300 gallons, some of which can take 14 years to reach maturity for market. The company’s most popular product is the live oak, a keystone species in many of the states to which Cherrylake sells. Rounding out the inventory are magnolia, crape myrtle, holly, maple, elm and Leyland cypress. Its customers are wholesale commercial landscape contractors, theme parks and PGA golf courses.
The Task on Time system improves efficiency for jobs like pruning or staking trees.
A place people want to work
From yoga Wednesdays to walking meetings, Cherrylake’s commitment to wellness is not just for show. Chloe noticed that employees were taking time off from their lunches to walk the farm in an effort to be healthier. Chloe believes a healthy work-life integration is critical for employees to contribute to their full potential.
“We really believe that in order for them to do that, they need to be well: healthy mind, body and spirit,” she says. “So whatever we can do to help their wellness, we believe it'll pay back the company in their productivity and potential at work.”
Cherrylake has also supplemented their health care with a bilingual personal life coach and implemented a 24/7 phone service that allows employees to access a doctor. The company is currently building a housing complex for its H-2A workers on-site at the tree farm. It offers better amenities than the local hotel in which they usually live, including kitchens and large outdoor spaces to improve their quality of life.
The company brings in about 80 H-2A and 25 H-2B employees each year. Cherrylake is an E-Verified employer and has been working with the program for seven years, but 2019 was the first year they felt the possibility they wouldn’t receive their workers due to the H-2B cap.
“The irony of the program is that you have to prove that you have the work in order to apply for these visas,” Chloe says. “So we have to submit to our customers that we can do this work without having the guarantee that we'll be able to get these workers.”
Though they love their workers who return year after year, that element of risk makes it difficult to heavily rely on H-2B and H-2A help.
“We know these workers,” Chloe says. “They're trained, dedicated, committed and their culture fits. Still, we also recognize that the program is not stable. We can't rely on it too heavily. So we worked really hard to try to find creative ways to attract domestic employees. Our culture and wellness programs, we believe, are part of that solution. It's not just about competitive pay, it’s about creating a place where people want to work.”
Cherrylake’s workers stretch twice daily to reduce strain injuries.
It’s difficult to measure return on investment on culture initiatives. Cherrylake uses an employee net promoter score survey as a metric. The survey asks employees how likely they are to recommend Cherrylake as a place to work. Over the past five years, it’s steadily increased, culminating in a five-year improvement of 20 percent.
Chloe also sees the wellness programs as a way to get out ahead of skyrocketing health care costs.
“We can sit back and feel like there's nothing we can do about it and just take these rate increases or we can try to make our people healthier and well,” she says. “That's the approach we're taking. It's hard to really measure, because with healthcare costs, a lot of those costs are out of our control. But our hope is that we can better understand our employees’ health needs so that we can provide wellness programs that address them and make them healthier, which we hope will help us reduce our healthcare costs.”
Cherrylake’s culture of wellness crosses into the realm of production in a few areas. About five years ago the nursery got serious about improving safety. To keep safety on the forefront of everyone’s mind, they established a committee and forced themselves to meet weekly to discuss safety issues. There was resistance at first, including workers who complained about having to wear safety glasses, for example, but the team made it clear that ignoring the mandated safety protocol would not be tolerated. Todd says the crews are performing better, and an improved experience mod rating with their insurer helped reduced the amount the company had to spend on workers’ comp insurance.
The company’s safety committee developed the slogan: think safe, work safe, go home safe. The team drills the importance of safety into their employees. Todd starts by asking them the question, “Who are you being safe for?”
“Not just yourself, but it's your family,” he says. “It's your friends, it's your kids, who you want to go home to each day because the work we do can be dangerous. You know, it can be a broken bone or a sprained ankle, but you could also lose a finger or your life.”
The nursery began a stretch and flex program to reduce potential work-related injuries. In the morning and after lunch they do a routine of stretches. The safety committee brought in trainers to show the crews the proper way to stretch.
“When we really started focusing in on safety and doing the stretch flex routines, the employee morale skyrocketed,” Chloe says.
Todd says the employee surveys began to show comments about safety and that program in particular like, “Thank you for caring about us and our safety.” It was eye-opening.
“The bottom line is we’re trying to do what’s right,” he says. “We want to be responsible land owners and farmers and do well with our employees.”
Water scarcity is a growing concern in the U.S. and beyond and is projected to become more severe. Competition for water exists among agricultural users, municipalities and industrial plants and is fueled by increases in population, urbanization of rural areas, increases in agricultural irrigation, climate change and saltwater intrusion. Currently, many sources of freshwater in the U.S. are at risk of depletion. Careful use of freshwater is becoming increasingly important as a result of this trend.
In this article we present ways to improve irrigation efficiency and suggest cultural practices that may reduce water use.
Irrigation Distribution Uniformity (DU)
If an irrigation system is properly designed, maintained and operated, all plants within a zone should receive nearly the same amount of water. If water distribution is not uniform, it could lead to:
Lack of uniformity in plant growth
Increased pumping cost due to basing irrigation on the driest plants within a zone (see scheduling coefficient section)
Overwatering plants that are in “wetter” areas of a zone.
Measuring DU
It is best to test DU when there are no plants in the plot, but if the plot already has plants in it, place catch cans just above the plant canopy.
Place 24 buckets or other impermeable catch cans in a uniform grid pattern inside the zone.
Run a typical irrigation cycle.
Record the amount of water in each catch can and list from lowest to highest.
Calculate the average volume of water from all 24 catch cans.
Calculate the average of lower 25 percent catch cans.
Divide the average of lower 25 percent by the overall average (step 4) and multiply by 100 to produce percent uniformity.
A minimum of 24 catch cans is recommended, but 16 have been used successfully in nurseries. In general, more catch cans will better characterize the DU. Using a multiple of four is essential.
For micro-irrigation systems, place emitters directly into collection containers.
DU is affected by:
System design
Consult an engineer to ensure that the system is designed properly from the beginning
Design system to accommodate the flow rates of the sum of all emitters/nozzles that will be operated at one time
Ensure that proper sprinkler overlap is occurring
Use nozzles that create matched precipitation within a zone
Operate within the proper pressure range for the emitters/nozzles – Pipe diameter, length and slope affect pressure
Height of nozzles should be above plant canopy
Replace old parts with identical parts
Make sure all risers are perpendicular to the ground. Stake with rebar if necessary
Ensure all nozzles are moving at the same speed
Emitters/nozzles
Ensure that all emitters/nozzles (and pipes) are free of debris
Use the proper emitters/nozzles for the current system and ensure that they are working properly
If emitters/nozzles are worn out, replace them with identical emitters/ nozzle (same manufacturer and model, not just same type of emitter/nozzle)
Wind
Wind can cause overhead irrigation water to be redirected from the plot
Consider adding a windbreak to minimize wind and improve irrigation uniformity
Do not conduct DU test if wind speed is 5 mph or greater
Pressure
Pressure is lost due to friction and is a function of flow rate, pipe diameter and distance
Bigger pipes cause less friction at a given flow rate, thus less water pressure is lost on the way to the emitter/nozzle
Valves, elbows, tees and any other similar changes in the pipe cause additional friction loss
Generally, the further the emitter/nozzle is from the water source, the larger the pipe needs to be
Pressure may need to be adjusted to increase uniformity
– If pressure is too low, emitter/nozzle heads may need to be changed or the number of emitters/ nozzles reduced
– Consider irrigating fewer zones at the same time
– If pressure is too high, pressure regulators and pressure reducers can help control and reduce pressure, respectively
Matched precipitation rate
To avoid watering roadways and other areas without plants, nozzles in the middle of a plot should be 360° nozzles, edges need 180° nozzles and corners need 90° nozzles. To maintain application rate uniformity, the flow rate of 180° and 90° sprinklers should be half and a quarter of the 360°, respectively. Selecting nozzles that will provide the same application rate (or precipitation rate) across a zone creates a matched precipitation rate. Using a 360° that applies 5 gallons per hour (gph) and a 90° that provides 5 gph will greatly decrease uniformity and will cause the area irrigated by the 90° to be more heavily irrigated while other areas will be underirrigated.
Maximizing efficiency with a single row of sprinklers
A single line of sprinklers will normally result in a lower DU than a grid or offset pattern, but is sometimes the only viable option in an overwintering house or narrow zone between overwintering houses. If full-circle (360°) nozzles are used in a single line, a general rule of thumb is the width of the production area watered by each line should be equal to or less than twice 40 percent of the nozzle output radius.
Following this general guideline will increase application uniformity by limiting the area in which plants are placed but it will also waste production space and water that falls in outlying areas. Sprinkler spacing within the line should be equal to the output radius or closer if located in a windy site.
Most irrigation companies have software that will calculate the DU based on riser spacing and sprinkler type, making it easy to select the ideal riser spacing for a given sprinkler and maximize use of irrigated space.
For example, using a 2009 impact sprinkler in a 200 feet x 50 feet area spacing, a single line of sprinklers with a radius of 34 feet yields a DU of 55 percent. Doubling the number of sprinklers for a spacing of 17 feet apart yields a DU of 78 percent.
This example does not hold true for all sprinkler types. The pattern of spray is very important in determining the best spacing for optimal DU.
Application rate
It is important to know how much water an irrigation system applies during an irrigation event. If plants in a plot only require 0.5 inches of water a day but the irrigation system uniformly applies 2 inches of water, current irrigation duration or run time is too long. Also see scheduling coefficient section.
It is easy to determine how much water an irrigation system applies to a plot while testing for distribution uniformity:
Place 24 straight-sided buckets or other straight-sided impermeable catch cans in a uniform grid pattern inside the irrigation zone. Catch cans that are too heavy to blow over work best
Operate irrigation for a typical irrigation cycle.
Measure the amount of water in each catch can using a ruler in inches and record.
Calculate the average of all 24 catch cans.
Divide the amount of time the irrigation ran (in minutes) by 60 minutes.
Divide the average of all 24 catch cans (step 4) by the number from step 5 to get inches applied per hour.
If too much water is being applied, decrease the amount of time the irrigation runs. If too little water is being applied, increase the amount of time irrigation runs.
Scheduling coefficient
A scheduling coefficient (SC) can be used to adjust irrigation run time to the driest portion of the zone.
It is the ratio of the average application rate for the whole zone compared to the contiguous area with the lowest application rate. The lower the necessary scheduling coefficient, the better. The ideal scheduling coefficient is 1.0.
Example:
If the average application rate is 0.8 inch per hour and the lowest application rate is 0.6 inches per hour, the SC is 1.3 (0.8 ÷ 0.6)
If plants within the plot need 1 inch of water per day, the irrigation must be operated for 30 percent longer in order to ensure that plants in the driest portion of the plot receive an inch of water 8 1 inch ÷ 0.8 in/hr × 1.3 × 60 min/hr = 97.5 minutes of run time
Cultural practices for water reduction
There are many strategies that can improve irrigation efficiency and decrease water use even before the irrigation system is turned on. These include grouping plants according to water needs, adjusting plant spacing and selecting the proper substrate.
Plant water requirements
Different plant species use different amounts of water. Grouping plants that have similar water needs into different irrigation zones and irrigating accordingly is one way to conserve water.
Smaller containers dry out more quickly and need to be watered more often than larger containers
Larger plants generally require more water per irrigation event than smaller plants; however, larger containers can retain more water between irrigation events
Solid-walled containers require less water, while porous containers such as root pruning containers or those made with porous materials often require more water and/or more frequent irrigation
– This is due to water evaporating from the sides of the container
Container color influences container temperature, which affects evaporation from the substrate
– As a result, dark colored containers require more water than light colored containers
Plants with thick, waxy leaves lose less water and therefore do not need to be irrigated as often as plants with leaves that are not waxy
Shaded plants do not require as much water as plants in full sun, which transpire more and lose more water to evaporation from the substrate
Newly planted liners need more frequent irrigation events than well-rooted plants that can access more of the container volume for water
Vase-shaped canopies have a high capture factor and funnel water into the container, increasing interception efficiency and requiring less irrigation run time than umbrella-shaped or spreading canopies which may deflect water away from the container
– Umbrella-shaped canopies with smaller leaves may deflect less water than those with larger leaves
Container spacing (overhead irrigation only)
Container spacing is a major factor in using water applied by overhead irrigation systems efficiently; proper spacing optimizes plant growth and the production area.
Too much space between containers decreases the number of plants that can be grown in a given block and increases the amount of water that is wasted.
In general, the further apart containers are spaced, the more irrigation water that lands between containers and is wasted
– Surface area covered by containers is 91 percent at best and drops drastically as containers are spaced further apart
– In most cases, 50-75 percent of overhead irrigation does not contact the substrate surface and instead falls between containers
– Evapotranspiration rate also increases as container spacing is increased due to:
– Increased air circulation between containers
– Increased sunlight penetration to container sidewalls
– When spaced so that branches overlap, vase-shaped plants intercept water that would otherwise be intercepted by neighboring plants. Therefore, closely spaced vase-shaped plants may need longer irrigation events relative to those at wider spacing because each plant may not receive the same amount of water as when spaced farther apart
Consider planting into the final container size and placing pots with no space in-between (pot-to-pot) until plant canopies begin to overlap to maximize water intercepted and retained from overhead irrigation and rainfall
– This can reduce labor needed to space smaller containers multiple times
– Until plants establish, the substrate will stay very moist, decreasing irrigation application amount even further
– Plant species must be tolerant of moist root conditions
Placing containers in an offset (rather than square) pattern will enable more of a plot’s surface to be covered by containers
– An offset pattern increases irrigation efficiency by 5 to 10% when compared with a square pattern
Growers using overhead irrigation for containers larger than a 7-gallon should consider switching to micro-irrigation as the interception efficiency of watering these widely-spaced containers drops below 25 percent
Substrate selection
Different substrates have different physical properties that influence the water holding capacity of the substrate and the portion of stored water that is available to plants.
Particle size affects both total water holding capacity and the available water of a substrate
– Small particles = small pore space
– Small pore spaces increase water retention and decrease aeration
– Large particles = large pore spaces
– Large pore spaces allow water to drain, decreasing water holding capacity and increasing aeration
As organic matter decomposes, particle size decreases
100 percent pine bark has relatively low moisture retention and requires more irrigation events
– If pine bark dries out too much it becomes hydrophobic, making it hard to rewet
– Adding peat increases the amount of water a pine bark-based substrate can hold
– Adding sand does not appreciably change the total amount of water a container can hold, but it increases the portion of water that is available to plants compared with 100 percent pine bark (1/2 in. screened)
Even when substrate composition seems identical from one shipment to another, physical properties may vary due to differences in particle size
Increasing the water holding capacity or the ratio of available water to unavailable water can decrease irrigation frequency
– Overirrigating when using highly moisture retentive substrates can create an environment favorable to pathogens that cause root rot
Amy Fulcher is associate professor for Ornamental Plant Production and Landscape Management, University of Tennessee, afulcher@utk.edu; Whitney Yeary is an extension assistant, Plant Sciences, UT; and Brian Leib is associate professor, Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science, University of Tennessee.
Water wise trials
Features - Water Conservation
University of California, Davis evaluates plants and identifies the best candidates for low water use landscapes.
For areas prone to drought, low water use plants could provide growers, retailers and landscapers with a steady revenue stream. An uncommon and valuable trial at the University of California, Davis provides the data needed to know which plants use the least amount of water in the landscape.
The UC Landscape Plant Irrigation Trial (UC LPIT) evaluates perennial landscape plants for two years and the plants’ performance is based on varied levels of reduced irrigation. Planted in the fall, the trial plants are established the first year with regular irrigation – roughly weekly during the summer with 8.3 gallons applied during each irrigation event.
By the second spring, the crew begins deficit irrigation at three levels based on percentages of what a well-watered, full-cover turfgrass surface 8-15cm in height uses (also called reference evapotranspiration or ETo), explains Karrie Reid, environmental horticulture advisor at the University of California Cooperative Extension.
Lagerstroemia ‘Purple Magic’
“We don’t let them dry out and the plants are watered deep that first year,” she says. “Our target is a ½ meter deep. And in the second year we only irrigate in the summer.”
Dietes ‘African Gold’
During that second season, plants are irrigated with one of three different irrigation frequencies that correspond to the Water Use Classification of Landscape Species (WUCOLS IV, https://ucanr.edu/sites/WUCOLS) categories of low, moderate and high. These categories are based on percentages of reference evapotranspiration with local weather station data used for estimates.
In the second season, the crew waits to irrigate until 50% of the plant’s available water in the soil has been used up. The highest irrigation treatment in the heavy clay soil averages around every 10-14 days, Reid explains. And the lowest irrigation treatment typically equals about twice a summer.
“For a sandy soil, that irrigation treatment would be more frequent,” she adds.
At the end of two years, plants are rated for foliage quality, flower quantity, vigor, health and overall appearance. Height and width are measured monthly to calculate a growth index for each species at each irrigation level. Monthly plant growth measurements (l x h x w) are used to calculate a Plant Growth Index (PGI= [(l+w)/2 + h]/2).
Overall appearance, flowering time and duration, and pest or disease problems are rated monthly to provide a comprehensive assessment of performance, allowing the trial managers to make irrigation recommendations for these plants.
Plants are deemed low water use (20% ETo), moderate water use (50% ETo) and high water use (80% ETo).
Rosa Pink Knock Out
The trial and the recommendations are a boon to green industry professionals in California because of the strict water use laws.
“The California state ordinance regarding landscape water conservation says that if you build a new landscape or renovate a landscape over a certain size, you have to calculate an estimate of the annual water use for that landscape,” says Loren Oki, UC Davis Plant Sciences faculty and Cooperative Extension Specialist. “To do that, you need species coefficients for irrigation management, but those coefficients exist for just over 4,000 plants, and there are an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 cultivars being used in California landscapes.”
Vitex Delta Blues
There are currently two trial sites – the original at UC Davis and a second at the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources South Coast Research and Extension Center in Irvine. A Specialty Crops Block Grant from the California Department of Food and Agriculture provided the funds to set up the duplicate trial in Southern California. The trial team was recently awarded a grant from the Horticultural Research Institute, the research arm of AmericanHort.
The Davis trials are in USDA Hardiness Zone 9b in full sun. All plants are trialed in silty, clay-loam soil, Reid says. Each plant is spaced either 2 or 3 meters apart based on planting recommendations from the breeder. Plants are protected by 3 inches of mulch and all are on drip irrigation. There are eight plants of each variety in the trials. In Irvine, the trials are made up of sandy soil and plants are irrigated with reclaimed water.
(L-R) Karrie Reid and Loren Oki want to share trial results with growers, breeders, landscape professionals and consumers.
Photo courtesy of UC Davis
“We’re conducing the only irrigation-based plant trials,” Reid says. “In California, any time a new development or a permitted new landscape is approved, that project has to create a water budget based on the types of plants they use. WUCOLS is helpful, but it’s a static list as of now,” she says. “When the industry comes out with new plants every year, how can the developers and landscape professionals spec that plant if they don’t know its water needs?”
The trial staff wants to get the word to the green industry and explain the value of these ratings.
“There is tremendous value in identifying low water use plants that provide low water use lush to landscapes,” she says.
A more detailed website dedicated to the trials is in the works. For now, the industry and consumers can visit the UCLPIT Facebook page at www.facebook.com/UCLPIT.
This spring, the trial hosted an open house for landscape and horticulture professionals, as well as educators. Participants rated a representative sample of the plants in the field.
Photo courtesy of UC Davis
Recently, five plants received the UC LPIT Blue Ribbon designation, the trial’s highest award for plants that consistently performed at a very high level on low water, or 20% of ETo. The Blue Ribbon goes to: Dietes ‘African Gold’, Lagerstroemia Delta Eclipse, Lagerstroemia ‘Purple Magic’, Rosa Pink Knock Out and Vitex Delta Blues. These plants received only two irrigations between April and October – on June 25 and August 20 – for a total of 5.6 inches of applied water, or 29 gallons per plant. On this sparse irrigation treatment, these plants rated at least 4 out of 5 possible points in the category Overall Appearance over the entire period.
Matt McClellan
