Although he grew up immersed in a Virginia-based landscaping business that his father started in 1956, Greenbrier Nurseries, Jim Monroe’s passion for plants wasn’t fully ignited until he took horticulture classes at Virginia Tech in the ’80s. “I grew up around it and really didn’t want to do what I’m doing now, but I didn’t really know much,” Jim recounts. His summers were spent working at Greenbrier Nurseries with landscape crews, but he thought his path would lead him to a different career. However, after completing several horticulture courses at Virginia Tech, “I got impassioned with the plants,” he says.

Jim says that he credits a lot of that interest in plants to a professor at Virginia Tech’s Department of Horticulture, Dr. James (Jim) Coartney, who taught a course on woody plant identification. In that class, Dr. Coartney used the “Manual of Woody Landscape Plants,” (what Jim dubbed the “Dirr Bible”) teaching them how to identify plants and cultivars, and “everything from maples to rhododendrons,” he says.

“I just went overboard. I totally loved it and I think that was the moment in time, that class, where I had a dynamic shift of really being in love with horticulture,” Jim remembers. In 2012, Jim would receive the Outstanding Alumnus award for the School of Agriculture from Dr. Coartney, who Jim says commented that he’d “never had a kid that was so impassioned with plants” as Jim was. “I don’t [always] love the business and all [the challenges that] come with it, but I really do love the plants,” Jim says.

One Christmas, Jim received another book that further cemented his plant obsession, “Japanese Maples” by J.D. Vertrees. “After I got that book, I was totally obsessive-compulsive to have all these different varieties of Japanese maples,” he says. “Japanese maples is what got me hooked on the industry more than anything else.”

Around 1986, Jim convinced his father to build three production greenhouses to start a growing division in the business. Each year, Greenbrier built a few more greenhouses, and the expansion continued after Jim’s graduation in 1989. “By the time we got to 1993 or 1994, we had about 50 or 60 houses,” Jim says. In 1997, Greenbrier Nurseries purchased another farm on which they built another 60 or 70 greenhouses. By that point, Greenbrier Nurseries had 20 acres of container nursery stock and five or six acres of greenhouse space.

Jim now owns Greenbrier Nurseries, a grower-retailer that produces annuals, perennials, edibles and woody plants. In 2016, Greenbrier won the Small Business of the Year award from the Roanoke Chamber of Commerce. Jim says that the competition was fierce, and they were incredibly honored to beat out the other candidates. “We were up against this tech firm that had all these amazing projects going on all over the world, and a company here that does software for pharmaceutical companies,” he remembers. “We were up against these companies and we’re a garden center selling food [at our CSA and farmers market], and we won. That was a big deal.”

PHOTO BY RICHARD BOYD

Supporting independents

Jim also founded and leads Hort Couture Plants, a plant brand that “brings innovative annual flowers, vegetables and herbs to the marketplace with style and fashion,” according to its mission statement. Since its launch in 2008, Jim has limited the plant sales to independent growers and garden center retailers so that they could “have proprietary new plant genetics to help them compete with the big box growth in the marketplace.” That means coleus with unique foliage, tomatoes with golden leaves, Monarch butterfly-supporting asclepias, and other interesting plants that appeal to consumers’ desire for something different and growing their own food. Jim depends on his strong relationships with breeders as he seeks out new and interesting plants to bring into the brand.

Jim has remained steadfast in this strategy and belief in supporting the independents, which has been noted across the industry. “Jim always said Hort Couture is for independent garden centers only,” industry colleague and owner of Peace Tree Farm Lloyd Traven says. “‘It will not go into any chains. It will not go into any groceries. I won’t do it.’”

Another significant way Jim has been a leader for independent businesses has been through the creation of IGC Talk, a private Facebook group exclusively for independent garden center retailers. Jim, Lloyd Traven, Ellison Chair in International Floriculture at Texas A&M University Charlie Hall, retail garden center consultant John Stanley, and green industry consultant Sid Raisch co-founded it about six years ago as a community group and forum for independent retailers. “It seems like it’s a silly thing that it’s a Facebook page, but we are really impacting the industry,” Jim says. “That thing is like the social conscience of the industry.”

The topics of conversation on the IGC Talk page, which has a couple thousand members, can range from discussions about employee health benefits to product sourcing to problems with suppliers to simply sharing funny customer stories, Jim says. Lloyd describes IGC Talk as a “safe place to talk, to unload, to ask a question, to get information.” Jim founded it with one purpose — to push IGCs to communicate, innovate and improve their businesses. “To me it’s remarkable that he created that [safe space] and has kept that going for all this time,” Lloyd says. “[Jim] never gives up. He has a vision. And 99 percent of this industry simply repeats what they do over, and over, and over again. And he’s trying to change it up. Congratulations to him for doing it.”

There have been many examples of the real-life impact that this digital forum has had, Jim says. Earlier this year Sid started a discussion about spring pricing strategies that many retailers participated in, Jim says. In the spring, many of the retailers implemented those strategies and were able to increase their bottom line in a significant way. “I think it’s the most powerful voice in the industry,” Jim says. “The people on there are willing to say what they think, and they know that it’s not going to go back out into the industry.”

Jack of all trades

Throughout the years, Jim has gained experience through a variety of roles and responsibilities at Greenbrier Nurseries and Hort Couture, including greenhouse and nursery production, garden center retail, distribution, landscaping and plant genetics. “I have a unique, different perspective than most people because I’ve spent my whole life dealing with nearly every single facet of ornamental horticulture from growing food to garden center retail,” Jim says. He says that he has been able to carry out both the creative and the business-related tasks because he’s always been “pretty well-balanced between right brain and left brain.”

Jim says he’s lucky in that he loves what he does and is willing to work hard to accomplish his goals. “It’s not a job for me,” he says. “It’s who I am.”

Lloyd says that Jim is intelligent, charismatic and driven. “He has always had a vision of what he wants to do, and he’s willing to work incredibly hard to make that happen,” Lloyd says. “He’s relentless. He does not give up, ever, and he doesn’t stop. I have a lot of respect for that.” Jim doesn’t shy away from having difficult discussions and addressing sensitive topics. “He makes a difference because he talks about things that need to be said that are uncomfortable,” Lloyd says. “There are times when he gets on a roll and won’t let it go. And that’s exactly what we need. We need somebody who says the stuff that has to be said as an industry.”

When Jim’s not hunting for the next big plant for Hort Couture or running Greenbrier Nurseries, he enjoys golfing and playing the piano. “I guess at one point I thought I wanted to be a professional golfer,” Jim says. He had college scholarships to “two or three pretty good schools” to major in piano, and others to play golf. “I could’ve picked either one of those passions,” he says. While he may have pursued a career in horticulture, as his father did before him, instead of golf or piano, “Those two hobbies are things that I still love and still do.”

Looking for the next generation of plant people

Having been in the industry for his entire life in various roles, Jim has plenty of advice for young professionals, but says that the key advice he gives is, “Be ready to have a long day with a lot of different things going on.”

Greenbrier Nurseries works with Virginia Tech’s horticulture students, and Jim tells students to follow their passion. “If you are just sitting there in a major because this is what you maybe thought you wanted to do, and when you are closing the plant books you’re not thinking about plants at night or want to go out and look at plants when you’re not in school, you’re wasting your time,” he says. “Go do what you love.”

Although it can be a challenge to find and identify people like this, Jim says his best employees are those who share that same passion for plants and horticulture. It’s this passion that gets him through the chaotic moments. He may briefly question what he’s doing, but he loves horticulture and that “why” always brings him back to center.

Peter Orum learned the value of hard work at a young age. His father made him his first undersized wheelbarrow when he was five years old, growing up on his parents’ two-acre nursery in northern Denmark.

“The deal was, we kids would work in the nursery and we were not paid for that,” Peter says. “We each got a plot of land where we could grow vegetables.”

The Orum children travelled with their father to the market, bicycles loaded with their harvest. They were able to keep the money from any vegetables they sold. It effectively taught Peter a lesson that has served him well throughout his life.

“You got nothing without work,” he says.

A horticultural engineer

At 15, Peter left his family’s nursery in Jutland, Denmark. In keeping with the traditional European model, he took apprenticeships at Spejlborg and Vilvorde Nurseries before continuing his education at the Vilvorde Horticulture School in Copenhagen.

Then, he enlisted in the Danish army.

“Back in those days, in the Cold War, young men had two choices,” he says. “Either you enlisted or you were drafted.”

Volunteers had to serve a longer term, but they earned some money and had some say in where they were sent. Peter was accepted into the Army Corps of Engineers, where he rose in the ranks. He became a sergeant and later an officer. As combat and construction engineers, members of the corps would do anything from building roads, airstrips and bridges to training with demolition and as regular combat soldiers. Peter learned much in the army that helped mold his business acumen, but the most useful skills were organization and interpersonal communication.

“I learned a lot about how to deal with people, organize things, keep things straight,” he says. “Many people comment that they can see that in the nursery.”

His army experience even gave him a foot in the door across the ocean. After his second army contract, Peter wanted to return to his trade, but he also wanted to see more of the world. He set his eyes on the United States.

His plan was to stay for a couple of years, learn something about the trade and return to Denmark and start a nursery. In 1965, when Peter was 23, he was hired by Jack Hill, general manager of D. Hill Nursery Company in Dundee, Ill.

“My first boss in America said, ‘I didn’t hire you for what you knew about horticulture. I hired you because you were an officer in the army,’” Peter says.

After a few months of training, Peter was quickly promoted to superintendent of propagation and served in this position for almost seven years. However, a few factors conspired to change the course of Peter’s plan and his life. Most notably, he met Irma Hertzmann, his wife-to-be, in a Danish club in Chicago. She was born in Chicago of Danish parents; she went to the club to learn Danish. They were married in 1967, and the newlywed couple traveled to Denmark to explore the possibility of starting a nursery there. Peter visited with a former teacher at the horticulture school to share his idea.

“He was a very blunt man; he told me it would be a very bad idea, which was not what I needed to convince the new wife to move to Denmark,” Peter says. “I asked him ‘Why?’ And he said ‘Because we have too many damn plants over here. You should stay where you are and grow plants.’”

On the trip back to America, Irma and Peter decided to start their own nursery in Illinois.

The birth of Midwest Groundcovers

The early days of what would become Midwest Groundcovers were anything but lavish. In 1969, Peter and Irma stuck 12,000 groundcover cuttings in the West Chicago backyard of their friend and mentor, John Wilde. Later that same year, the Orums purchased five acres of land on Illinois Route 25, just north of St. Charles, Ill., and they moved the 12,000 groundcover cuttings to that location. He had no employees, just a dream and the passion to make it happen.

“It was my wife and I and family and friends that would come on the weekend and would work for beer and hamburgers,” Peter says. “Today, it’s not quite that way. We have more than 300 people working today. And they won’t work for beer and hamburgers anymore!”

The nursery evolved little by little into the well-oiled machine that cranks out 20 million plants each year. Irma used skills learned in her business administration experience in Chicago to help nurture the new company. In 1972, Peter hired his first employee.

“You double from 1 to 2 or 2 to 4 and it doesn’t look like much,” Peter says. “But when you double from 100 to 200, all of a sudden it starts looking like something.”

While the nursery grew, Peter supplemented his horticultural knowledge, management and construction skills from the Danish Army Corps of Engineers by taking night courses to learn accounting and business. In 1978, he earned a bachelor of science in finance and accounting from Northern Illinois University.

The Orums also welcomed children into their lives. Christa Orum-Keller, Peter and Irma’s daughter, is currently the chairman of the board. She grew up at the nursery, but it was not a given that she would take over the family business.

“When my kids were in preschool, they asked what my preschool was like,” Christa says. “It was me in the middle of the original five-acre nursery playing in the sandbox and on the swing set they built for me, while my parents worked around me. It was enjoyable and comfortable and I was surrounded by caring family and beautiful plants in the outdoors. As I grew older, my parents were never pushing me to be involved with the business and my interest came over a long period of time. I saw it as our way of life — a wholesome way to make a living while contributing to a most wonderful improvement of the world around us.”

In addition to a master’s degree in business administration, a bachelor’s in landscape architecture and an associate’s in horticulture, Christa is a Licensed Landscape Architect and an Illinois Certified Nursery Professional. She planned and designed Midwest Groundcovers’ St. Charles headquarters, sales, distribution and trial garden facility, a project that was completed in 1994. Since 2017, Christa has been the chairman of Midwest Groundcovers and Midwest Trading Horticultural Supplies, a wholesale supplier of nursery and greenhouse mixes that the Orums founded in 1981. Peter is still on the board, but his role has changed. The decisions are no longer his to make, but at 76 years old, he’s at peace with that. Now, he tries to help as he can, in the background.

An inspiration to others

One of the toughest tasks for any entrepreneur is letting go. Like many nurserymen, Peter knew plants. Running a business was different. He learned that there are different levels of delegation. First, you do everything yourself. Then, you hire a foreman and a crew and send them on certain tasks. But he says the level that determines whether your fledgling company will grow or collapse is if you can delegate areas of responsibility, not just tasks. One of the keys to Midwest’s success has been Peter’s ability to delegate to managers, then manage the managers.

“You have to learn to do that, and you have to learn how to feel good about it,” he says. “That’s the scariest thing for most people, especially those who have done things themselves. To cut out areas of responsibility and say, ‘OK, manager Jones, this is your responsibility now. You don’t report everything you’ve done, you keep me updated on how things are going and I keep an eye on it, and we plan things together.’ Many people are afraid they lose control that way. But the only way to be happy, and to function, is to develop yourself so you can feel good and accomplished by seeing others do the things you did.”

This level of delegation requires a willingness to let your employees stretch and grow, without swooping in to fix every little thing.

Joe Hobson is president and COO of Midwest Trading Horticultural Supplies, which is within the Midwest family of companies. Hobson joined the company in 2013 after 25 years in the landscape industry. He’s enjoyed working with Peter and Christa because of the trust they’ve placed in him.

“They did not micromanage and still don’t,” Joe says. “I think their expectations of me is ‘That’s your job, to run the company.’ Peter has always been that way. His vision is to try to get the right people in the right spot, give them a degree of direction and let them go.”

One of Peter’s longest-tenured employees is Gary Knosher, who recently celebrated 40 years with Midwest Groundcovers. He was hired as a plant propagator and worked his way up to become the company’s current president and CEO.

“Peter has many fine qualities, but what stands out to me is he is a true example of an entrepreneur,” Gary says. “He has passion, motivation and total commitment to the cause, whatever that might be. He is not afraid to take risks, and he has a strong sense of self — his likes, dislikes, goals and where he wants to go. The benefit to me and to anyone else who has worked in the Midwest companies, is that he has created many opportunities for those who have chosen to take them.”

Those opportunities may be within the Midwest family of companies, or they may lay elsewhere. As Midwest Groundcovers continued to grow, the Orums kept their entrepreneurial itch. In 1981, they founded Midwest Trading. In 1986, they founded Midwest GROmaster, a company that designs and manufactures EBB-FLO benches and provides custom irrigation solutions for other growers.

“We have many employees that have been here for 20 years or more,” Gary says. “For those he has inspired to be entrepreneurs, they are no longer here, and are out running their own successful companies, if they paid attention.”

Gary, of course, decided to stay. As he climbed the ladder from propagator to production manager, sales manager, and now president and CEO, he has remained grateful for the opportunities. But that’s how Peter operates: He gives people he trusts chances to grow, and if they make the most of them, they can go far.

“I have had the opportunity to travel and see other nurseries and other countries,” Gary says. “I have had the opportunity to meet and work with some of the most wonderful people in, and outside of the company, and to be involved in this great industry. To sum it up, he has created the opportunity for me to carve out a career in doing the things I love to do.”

Peter’s desire to see his employees accomplish more and more led him to begin a series of in-house management training classes that he would run with Midwest’s HR manager. The classes take place during the winter and cover subjects like how to be a manager, how to be a better communicator, how to be more organized — useful topics for upwardly mobile employees. He expects a lot from his team, but he provides the resources for them to succeed.

“Respect people,” Peter says. “Be honest with them. Be stern with them. We have to get the work done, and we are here to get the work done together. One thing I preach in my in-house training classes is to forget the word ‘I.’ It is ‘we’ that are doing these things. Some people, especially salesmen, love to say ‘I can get you 200 of those; I will get it delivered before the other guys.’ But I can’t do a damn thing without ‘we’ being together doing it.”

Joe Hobson says one of Peter’s most inspiring qualities as a leader are his excellent listening skills and his respectful demeanor. Christa Orum-Keller concurs, saying her father is a great teacher who always wants people to understand the “why” behind what they do.

“When I was 5, there was a need to expand production space in the original five-acre nursery,” Christa says. “The new greenhouse was planned to cover the area where my sandbox was and my father asked me if it would be OK if we relocated the sandbox. Being asked and included in the plans at such a young age made an impression and was meaningful to me. It illustrates one of the ways Peter is good at connecting deeply with people and understanding their motivation. The sandbox was moved and the greenhouse is still there growing plants for us.”

A (inter)national perspective

In the beginning, Peter didn’t have time for anything but building his business. But as the Midwest family of companies grew and he began to learn to delegate, Peter began getting involved with associations. In the 1980s, he joined the Illinois Nurserymen’s Association, which then became the Illinois Green Industry Association, and was president from 1991 to 1992.

Peter also served many years on the board of the Horticultural Research Institute (HRI), the research arm of the American Nursery and Landscape Association (ANLA) — now AmericanHort. He has been instrumental in establishing many HRI funds, four from the Midwest companies, including The John E. Wilde Propagation Fund, in honor of mentor John Wilde; The Lydia & Palle H. Orum Research Fund, in honor of Peter’s parents; and the Orum-Midwest Research Fund; in honor of HRI’s 50-year anniversary. Peter was president of HRI before joining the ANLA’s board, where he was president from 2004 to 2005. In 2001, Peter was named Grower of the Year by Nursery Management magazine.

Becoming a player in the national associations meant getting involved with politics. But putting on his political hat was never something Peter shied away from, and going to Washington to speak for his fellow growers as an association representative was a job he took very seriously.

“You have to be careful that you know which hat you have on at the time,” he says.

As an immigrant himself, Peter has a unique perspective on the immigration debate. But as a business owner in an industry that relies heavily on temporary labor from foreign countries, it’s a constant frustration.

“In all my years of political work, my biggest disappointment is that we did not get a comprehensive immigration reform,” Peter says. “It is that we didn’t get papers for those who are here and we did not get a guest worker program that functions. Will we get it someday? Yes, because we have to, but things don’t look real good right now.”

The landscapers, nurseries and independent garden centers that Midwest sells its plants to are buying, but the labor shortage is making it difficult to take advantage of the strong economy.

“I feel very good about having provided a livelihood for hundreds and hundreds or maybe thousands of families over the years,” Peter says. “It takes a lot of great people to do good things. It is only with good people that you can do it. We have and have had some very great managers who went to college for one thing or another and we have had a tremendous bunch of Mexican families working for us. In these days when there’s all the talk about throwing everybody out, I will certainly say if it hadn’t been for the Mexican people, there wouldn’t have been much of a nursery.”

Labor shortage or not, the business has kept evolving.

For decades, recycling, reuse and reduction of waste have been part of Midwest Groundcovers’ regular practices. Environmentally responsible habits such as integrated pest management and water runoff recycling at production facilities are a way of life. Midwest reuses plant containers, recycles growing shelter plastic and integrates vegetated swales into production facilities. While most nurseries dispose of all covering plastic each year, Midwest is one of the few nurseries to reuse 70 percent of it annually. The nursery works with recycling firms that recycle all non-reusable covering plastic and containers.

Midwest facilities also collect and burn wood, office paper and cardboard using the heat generated to warm greenhouses for ivy, perennial propagation, woody plant propagation and sedum production. At Midwest’s newest nursery, 90 percent of the irrigation water is reused.

The product mix has evolved, as well. “We do more than just old-fashioned groundcovers,” Peter says. Midwest grows more than 500 varieties of perennials and ornamental grasses, 275 different shrubs and evergreens, 250 species of native plants and yes, 130 types of groundcovers.

While sometimes a business owner has to make short-term decisions, Peter has always kept an eye on the long-term.

“Look at his vision — 15 to 20 years ago, this was a cornfield,” Joe Hobson says. “That took a lot of thinking, planning and doing to build this wonderful facility. Now we stand on their shoulders. It’s up to us to continue to work on those long-term goals and be the next generation of what we’re building so the next generation can stand on us.”

They’d do well to remember one of Peter’s frequent quotes: “Life is not always easy, but it is always interesting.”

As the horticultural market continues to innovate and evolve, insects and diseases remain an ongoing challenge. We are continually impressed by the commitment of growers to maintain clean, pest-free growing environments and are proud to be part of this unique industry.

We are honored to partner with Greenhouse Management and Nursery Management once again to recognize the extraordinary individuals who have made substantial achievements in the horticulture industry. Congratulations to the Class of 2018 Horticultural Industries Leadership Award winners: Nancy Buley, J. Frank Schmidt & Son Co.; Barbara Jeffery-Gibson, Jeffery’s Greenhouses; Jim Monroe, Greenbrier Nurseries; Amy Morris, N.G. Heimos Greenhouse/Millstadt Young Plants; Peter Orum, Midwest Groundcovers; and John Hoffman, Hoffman Nursery.

These recipients have demonstrated exceptional leadership and commitment, and have positively impacted customers, businesses and the industry as a whole.

Syngenta remains committed to partnering with you to help you grow your success. Earlier this year, we introduced Advion® fire ant bait to the nursery market, providing a fast and effective tool for growers with outdoor operations. We continue to offer convenient Multipaks to provide you added value and the opportunity to purchase broad-spectrum products in one convenient package.

Our broad portfolio of plant protection products is designed to offer greenhouse and nursery growers efficient, proven and effective solutions for insect, disease and shelf-life management. We’re proud of the innovative brands you have come to know and trust, such as Mainspring® GNL insecticide and Mural® and Segovis® fungicides, and we continue to invest in research and development for new solutions. One of these new developments, Acelepryn® insecticide, is expected to receive federal registration this summer and will help you better control key pests on ornamental plants, trees and shrubs.

Again, congratulations to the recipients of the 2018 Horticultural Industries Leadership Awards! Thank you for the vital role you play in growing strong, healthy and beautiful plants.

Tripp Trotter

Head of Marketing, Turf and Ornamental

Syngenta

©2018 Syngenta. Important: Always read and follow label instructions. Some products may not be registered for sale or use in all states or counties and/or may have state-specific use requirements. Please check with your local extension service to ensure registration status. Acelepryn^®, Advion^®, Mainspring^®, Mural^®, Segovis^® and the Syngenta logo are trademarks of a Syngenta Group Company. Syngenta Customer Center: 1-866-SYNGENT(A) (796-4368).

Rotation programs are key components of any operation’s disease management strategy. Resistance remains a concern for growers, and multiple modes of action are needed at times to successfully prevent the spread of diseases.

“Pathogen resistance to fungicides is well known, and the performance of many fungicides has been affected to some degree by pathogens developing resistance,” says Dr. Fulya Baysal-Gurel, research assistant professor at the Otis L. Floyd Nursery Research Center at Tennessee State University. “Using different mode of action fungicides in a rotation program is important due to the risk of resistance development.”

Preventing powdery mildew

Powdery mildew is a common disease that can affect a wide range of herbaceous and woody ornamental crops. Several different fungi cause powdery mildew and each prefers different plants, so preventing the disease early is crucial to prevent it from spreading.

“Powdery mildew may cause cosmetic damage that results in reddish-brown patches, reduce growth by attacking tender shoots and leaf surfaces, and cause premature defoliation,” says Baysal-Gurel. “The disease spreads very quickly, with masses of conidia produced from each new infection. Preventive fungicide applications in a rotation are critical to control powdery mildew.”

Baysal-Gurel conducted several trials evaluating rotations of Mural®, Palladium® and Concert® II fungicides at 14- or 21-day spray application intervals for control of powdery mildew on dogwood and crape myrtle.

The initial fungicide application of Mural (7 oz./100 gal.) was made after observing the first symptoms of powdery mildew disease. Then, Palladium (6 oz./100 gal.) and Concert® II (35 fl. oz./100 gal.) fungicides were alternated on 14- and 21-day application intervals.

“The fungicide rotation program and both spray intervals significantly reduced powdery mildew severity and disease progress compared to the non-treated control in flowering dogwood, as well as on both cultivars of crape myrtle,” says Baysal-Gurel. “This study also showed that the rotation program significantly increased plant height compared to the non-treated control.”

“Securing reliable disease protection with a robust rotation that can be applied on an extended spray interval provides many advantages for the nursery,” says Nancy Rechcigl, technical services manager for ornamentals at Syngenta. “Selecting the proper fungicides to use in a rotation program is very important. Mural, Palladium and Concert II are not only proven to control powdery mildew, but can be used to control leaf spots and rusts as well.”

Rechcigl notes that Mural offers contact, translaminar and systemic activity, which allows it to have both protective and curative properties.

“As a foliar spray, Mural provides protection by inhibiting spore germination and penetration on the plant surface,” says Rechcigl. “Its translaminar and systemic properties allow it to penetrate and move throughout the tissue, stopping the growth of mycelium internally within the plant. This provides an advantage when battling difficult diseases like rust or powdery mildew.”

Powdery mildew is a disease that is most likely to develop in the early summer or fall, when temperatures are warm, relative humidity levels are 70 percent or greater and rains are less frequent. It is important to be aware of these conducive environmental conditions, as they can signal the ideal time to begin a preventive strategy.

“By incorporating products with both translaminar and systemic activity, like Mural, in your rotation with other protectant fungicides, you can likely extend your treatment interval while maintaining good protection,” says Baysal-Gurel.

Taking down downy mildew

Systemic fungicides can also be beneficial when combatting a disease like downy mildew.

“Downy mildew is hard to control for so many reasons – it is very often a systemic disease, not just a matter of leaf spots,” says Margery Daughtrey, senior extension associate at Long Island Horticultural Research and Extension Center at Cornell University. “It can establish during propagation and be passed on through the production chain. It can be carried on seed sometimes and cuttings all the time. Some downy mildew oospores linger in the soil for years and produce new epidemics when healthy plants are placed into contaminated flower beds.”

Dr. Mary Hausbeck, university distinguished professor and extension specialist at Michigan State University, recommends fungicide programs for a disease like downy mildew, particularly on impatiens.

“The fungicides available today can be very helpful in keeping impatiens healthy,” says Hausbeck. “It is important for greenhouse growers to adhere to the fungicide program so if the impatiens are planted into a landscape site contaminated with the downy mildew pathogen, the plant will remain protected.”

Rechcigl recommends a “systemic sandwich” approach to controlling downy mildew. This entails applying systemic fungicides as drenches at transplant and prior to shipping, and other fungicides with different modes of action and contact or translaminar activity as sprays in between to prevent resistance.

“The use of systemic products as a drench prior to shipping provides extended protection in the landscape for the consumer,” says Rechcigl. “This is critically important for the ornamental industry as a whole. If impatiens do not perform well in the landscape for the season, consumers will not want to purchase them in the future. We saw this occur several years ago when the disease was becoming more prevalent across the U.S.”

“Systemic fungicides often protect a plant very thoroughly because they are redistributed within the plant and are not as subject to variations in spray coverage,” says Daughtrey. “Using some systemics and some contact materials in a rotation is often wise. With impatiens downy mildew, in particular, it seems wise to use a thoroughly systemic, long-lasting fungicide as the last treatment before the plant material goes out for retail sale.”

To help provide a solution, Syngenta launched Segovis® fungicide in 2016. It provides a unique mode of action with systemic activity for long-lasting control of downy mildew. Segovis can help growers diversify their rotation programs while also mitigating resistance concerns.

“I’ve tested the active ingredient in Segovis across different downy mildews and it is a highly effective fungicide,” says Hausbeck. “I would certainly call it a ‘stand-out’ for downy mildew control. It’s a wonderful tool for greenhouse growers and provides a unique mode of action against downy mildews.”

Differentiated products can be crucial for greenhouse and nursery growers. With continued innovation occurring in the industry, there are newer, unique control options available in the fight against tough diseases.

“Others’ experiences have taught me that it is essential to use rotation programs with downy mildew management in greenhouses,” says Daughtrey. “Once a population is resistant to a previously valuable fungicide, the utility of that active ingredient is lost. Rotation preserves the effectiveness of the tools we have to use against downy mildews.”

“When highly effective products are chosen and used in a program that alternates among different modes of action, downy mildew doesn’t stand a chance,” says Hausbeck.

Syngenta has created greenhouse and nursery rotation programs for a wide variety of diseases. They can be downloaded at www.GreenCastOnline.com/Solutions

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