Chicago Botanic Garden

In late summer, the Perennial Plant Association named Aralia cordata ‘Sun King’ its 2020 Perennial of the Year. Find out why it deserves such accolades and why you should consider adding it to next year’s lineup.

Phenomenal foliage

‘Sun King’ emerges mid-spring featuring large, rounded clumps of golden yellow compound leaves. If it receives a few hours of sun a day in the landscape, the foliage will remain yellow all summer. In heavier shade, the foliage ranges from chartreuse to lime green.

Multi-season interest

The brightly colored foliage contrasts beautifully with reddish-brown stems. In mid- to late-summer, delightful racemes of tiny white flowers appear, followed by deep purple berries. The fruit is good for birds, but not edible for humans. Bees will visit the flowers in summer.

Terra Nova Nurseries

Not just for show

Production pointers

Plant the large plug into a trade 2-gallon container for best results. Aralia is a quick grower and becomes too large for smaller containers. 20 count plugs will finish a trade 2-gallon container in roughly 6-8 weeks at 65°F. Consistent moisture is important for Aralia. Do not allow plants to dry out. Provide light to moderate shade. Too much shade will cause the plant to lose its bright color.

Monrovia

In the landscape

This shrub provides a tropical look but is hardy in USDA Zones 3-9. It grows quickly to at least 3 feet wide by 3 feet tall but will likely grow larger. It’s reported to be deer resistant. Use in partially shaded areas and at the back of borders or as a focal point. Companion plants include Dicentra sp., Heuchera sp. or Athyrium sp. Introduced to the North American trade by Barry Yinger, this hardy shrub will likely wow consumers.

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The first time it happened to Mountain Strong Hemp Company in Steamboat Springs, Colo., in late June, a pilot refused to take off with a shipment of legal hemp. The cargo included clones that she’d mistaken as marijuana—hemp plants that were destined for Shady Lane Farms in Tennessee, according to Mountain Strong Hemp Company’s founder and CEO, Nathan Brough.

When police were called to the scene and verified the shipment was indeed legal, the pilot still refused to carry the packages, Brough says.

“FedEx [the courier] returned the package to us,” he adds, pointing out that when this interview was conducted, the company was still waiting for a refund.

A day later, Mountain Strong Hemp Company turned to UPS to ship the hemp—and police were again called to inspect the packages. Thanks to detailed paperwork, officers “realized that it was hemp and was OK to ship,” recalls Brough. But even so, UPS was still hesitant to proceed with the shipment. After complaints from Shady Lane Farms, UPS agreed to send the hemp to its final destination—but “told us not to ship with them again,” Brough says.

Unfortunately, stories like this are all too common for companies attempting to ship hemp.

“There's a lack of education about what hemp is and how it's different from the intoxicating cannabis that contains significant amounts of THC,” explains Josh Hendrix, director of U.S. hemp production for CV Sciences. It’s that lack of education can often lead to problems in transit.

“When you have a truck full of green hemp material fresh out of the field, to the average person, it's automatically marijuana due to the look and smell—and that's very unfortunate, but it is just where we are right now with this crop, for the most part,” Hendrix says.

Big Sky Scientific has encountered several problems while attempting to receive or ship its hemp products. In January, Idaho law enforcement stopped 6,700 pounds of hemp on the way from an Oregon grower to Big Sky Scientific in Colorado. The driver was arrested and charged with felony drug trafficking. Since then, “we’ve been stopped a few more times,” says Big Sky Scientific CEO Ryan Shore.

“Police officers have a very difficult job, and I think it’s important we acknowledge that,” Shore says. “They are required to stop marijuana and allow hemp to pass. How can they make that determination? There is currently no field test that can accurately assess the difference.” And that, Shore explains, “is why it is so important to make their job easier.”

With that in mind, here are some lessons learned from hemp shipments gone wrong—so that you can avoid them, and the costly legal fines and potential jail time that go with them.

Make sure the driver is educated about what he or she is transporting.

“We make sure that our driver can communicate clearly to the officer and is educated about what they are shipping,” Shore says. To do that, “we always explain all our transportation documents to each driver on every shipment” before he or she hits the road, Shore says.

There's a lack of education about what hemp is and how it's different from the intoxicating cannabis that contains significant amounts of THC.”

Consider shipping with USPS.

After its experience with FedEx and UPS, Mountain Strong Hemp Company now uses the U.S. Postal Service to ship its hemp, says Brough.

“We finally learned that USPS is the only way to ship CBD and hemp products,” he says. “USPS goes by the law and not company policy.”

Hendrix agrees that USPS might be your best bet.

“You are seeing much more support from the USPS, USDA, and other federal agencies clarifying the legality of interstate commerce as it pertains to hemp material from the farm, processed goods, and finished products,” he says.

Keep an accurate, detailed paper trail.

According to Hendrix, “the paper trail on hemp and hemp goods is the obvious answer” to shipment problems.

“Always having the legal documents required by your state and the state you're going to is a must,” Hendrix says. And so is “good communication,” he adds.

Big Sky Scientific prepares all relevant shipping documents in a binder for safekeeping. Shore recommends you also “make sure someone will be available to answer the phone should the police officers want to talk to somebody at your business as well as the driver.”

Create clear labels and bills of lading.

Big Sky Scientific makes sure its hemp products are clearly labeled before they’re shipped, and “we make sure our bill of lading [BOL] is completely accurate,” Shore explains. A BOL functions as a contract between a freight carrier and shipper, so it’s very important that it’s accurate. Accuracy can prevent misunderstandings between the shipper and customers.

Jillian Kramer is a journalist based in Cleveland, Ohio. Her work has been published in Food & Wine, Travel + Leisure, and more.

Weed control is most effective when herbicides are applied at the proper rate and proper time, and in conjunction with good sanitation. Keeping weeds at bay helps stop the spread of some insect pests and provides a more marketable plant at retail.

Sanitation

The first step to effective weed management is sanitation. Start with potting mixes that are free from weed seeds. Control weeds that have wind-dispersed seeds around the perimeter of the site. If weeds emerge in containers, remove them before they produce seeds. The more weed seed allowed to contaminate containers, the higher the probability that the weeds will germinate in areas where the herbicide barrier has been weakened or disrupted.

Maintaining a chemical barrier

Preemergence herbicides form a chemical barrier over the surface of containers. Though each herbicide controls weeds differently, preemergence herbicides provide control at the point where germinating seeds emerge through the chemical barrier.

If the chemical barrier is incomplete or disrupted, there will be a gap where weed seed can successfully germinate and grow. Several common practices can disrupt the chemical barrier, including but not limited to poking holes in the barrier with fingers or hands while moving containers, dropping containers, and allowing containers to blow over. Minimize all these activities to avoid disrupting the chemical barrier. Teach work crew members about this, because they are typically responsible for moving and working near the containers.

Pulling uncontrolled weeds also creates gaps in the chemical barrier. Pull weeds before they go to seed. Soon after removing weeds from an area, apply an herbicide to create a complete chemical barrier and prevent germination of more weeds.

Selecting preemergence herbicides

Preemergence herbicides are applied before weeds emerge, to prevent weed growth. This is in contrast to postemergence herbicides, which kill weeds after they have emerged and are actively growing. Base your selection of herbicides primarily on three criteria: the crop to which the herbicide will be applied, weed species to be controlled and herbicide solubility. Other considerations include the importance of rotating herbicide chemistry and the choice of granular versus spray-applied herbicides.

Crop tolerance of herbicides

Selecting an herbicide based on the crop being grown is critical. Every herbicide label describes how the product should be used, and which plants it can be applied to safely based on experimental tests. Chemical manufacturers make every effort to ensure that plants listed on labels can be treated safely. However, not every environmental or cultural situation can be predicted or accounted for when testing products. Therefore, before using a new herbicide, or using a familiar herbicide on a new crop, conduct a small trial to ensure the plant and herbicide are compatible under conditions specific to your production system (regardless of whether or not the plant is listed on the label).

Apply herbicides before weed seed germinates

The most important rule for application timing is that preemergence herbicides work best if applied before weed seeds germinate. Most preemergence herbicides will not control weed plants that are present and visible at the time of application. Two notable exceptions are spray-applied Goal (oxyfluorfen) and SureGuard (flumioxazin). These herbicides will kill weeds less than 4 inches tall. However, they are limited to field use and some container-grown conifers.

Existing weeds in containers must be hand-weeded before application. Weeds present at the time of herbicide application will continue to grow and produce seeds, thus perpetuating the problem. Applying preemergence herbicides to containers where weeds are growing is a costly mistake, wasting herbicide and the labor needed to apply it.

Herbicides at potting

Herbicides should be applied soon after potting. When potting plants into larger containers, before applying an herbicide, irrigate two or three times to settle the substrate (media). For best results, apply herbicides after recently potted crops have received about 1 inch of irrigation or precipitation. When using certain herbicides, wait 2 to 4 weeks before application when potting bareroot plants into containers (check labels for specific instructions).

If herbicides are applied immediately after potting, before settling, macropores in the substrate can allow herbicides to channel and make contact with plant roots, causing injury or stunting. If herbicides are withheld for too long after potting, weed seed may germinate.

About the authors: Ed Peachy is an associate professor at Oregon State University’s Horticulture Department and Lloyd Nackley is a nursery researcher at Oregon State’s North Willamette Research and Extension Center.

Jeff Allegood, the general manager of Old Courthouse Nursery, a 40-acre container nursery in Warsaw, N.C., has seen plenty of people in his state come down with a case of “hemp fever.” That’s his term for the buzz and activity around this emerging market. Hemp differs from typical legal cannabis production because it is more accessible for businesses. For instance, there is no cap on licenses and it’s cheaper to produce because it’s mostly done outdoors in the ground instead of in high-tech expensive grow rooms.

“That’s good in some ways because it gives more people an opportunity to make a play at it but it can also be bad because with the barriers to entry lower you get a lot of people jumping in that don't have a clue what they are doing or what's involved to be successful,” Jeff says. “The more novice people involved also creates opportunities for shady and unethical people to take advantage of them. There is no shortage of people trying to milk the situation for a fast dollar.”

A recipient of both NCNLA’s Bill Wilder Outstanding Young Nursery Professional Award (2013) and the Southern Nursery Association’s David E. Laird, Sr. Memorial Award (2015), Jeff and his team used knowledge and years of experience as nurserymen and propagators to learn the cannabis plant and then scaled up production. That’s what sets Old Courthouse apart from the start-up businesses that are caught up in “hemp fever.”

Old Courthouse has propagated plants to feed its own ornamental production for years and has learned to root a wide range of species and plant types. In some ways, hemp is just another plant. But it’s more complicated than that.

Nursery Management: How did you get started in this market?

Jeff Allegood: It's still such a Wild West scenario. We were watching hemp back when people were looking at it as a fiber crop. Then the CBD market came on so strong and we saw they needed propagated clonal plants. We already propagate. We already have greenhouse facilities and our nursery production feeds wholesale growers, field growers and other container growers. They kind of matched our model, so we just started to explore it.

We didn't have to break ground or build greenhouses. We had to upgrade ours, add some extra lights and whatnot. But we could step into it and if it didn't go like we wanted, we could just go back to growing ornamentals in there. We were able to test the market and make a play without as much risk as some of the companies that are starting from scratch and having to build greenhouses and facilities to even try it. There was enough demand that we mainly focused on propagating and selling the starter plants.

NM: So what types of hemp do you grow?

Jeff: We're strictly doing the high-CBD, low-THC varieties that are classified as hemp but are grown for the CBD extraction. There's a smokeable flower market that some people are chasing, but I'd say that the vast majority of it's going to be for extraction for CBD.

We are focused on propagating cuttings — we call them "liners" since that is what we call them in the ornamental world — but have tried to learn all we can about all aspects of the industry to help make our business and production decisions so we stay in touch with people on all levels of it.

NM: What kind of research did you do before ramping up production?

Jeff: Our background helped us, but we had to learn a lot. We went in knowing we didn't know this plant or all the processes or timing. That's the main thing I tell everybody: You’ve got to start small and learn it then scale up. We have 50 acres of containers and propagate all kinds of plants. But hemp is a whole different animal. With ornamentals, whatever kind of pests flare up, we've got a whole shed of chemicals to knock them back. With hemp, we've got to keep all that separate and keep any kind of chemicals out of there. We've had to learn beneficial insect cycles and non-toxic sprays. It was a big learning curve, but we knew what we didn't know. That's one of our advantages.

When we started propagating, we did four or five different hormone mixes. We did five to 10 different medias to root them in. The media that our ornamentals like doesn't match up to the hemp. Then, we did 10 or 15 different tray configurations, sizes and depths. It was a lot of trial and error the first year.

We ran through different kind of trials and experiments to see what worked. We noticed that guys from indoor backgrounds might do it one way or say, ‘Do this, don't do that.’ But they're growing in a controlled environment, transplanting to a controlled environment and finishing the plant out in a controlled environment. We're trying to make a plant that's going to go out into field soils and be planted through multi-row planters. It's a whole different set of parameters you need to hit selling a plant to someone to grow outdoors versus the processes you'd follow if you were going to an indoor greenhouse, where you can control more variables.

NM: Why did you decide hemp was a good fit for your ornamental container nursery?

Jeff: Whether you're propagating or growing in the field, hemp is boom and bust on labor needs. It’s hard to just be a hemp grower. You need a bunch of hands then you don't need many. Our guys can go and do pruning and potting and then when we need them, we can ramp up to prep and stick a bunch of cuttings.

NM: How do you determine which varieties to grow?

Jeff: All these varieties are so new to North Carolina that in two years you might have a whole different set. We have humidity and hurricanes and thunderstorms and a whole different set of field soils and climate than Colorado or some of these other states where the hemp strains were bred. We're going to keep watching to see what varieties perform well. Last year we had one of the wettest years on record and this year we had one of the driest. Something that thrived last year might struggle this year or vice versa.

NM: The hemp division has its own website, www.cbdplantsnc.com. Is it part of the nursery or is the plan to keep the businesses separate? What kind of feedback have you received from Old Courthouse’s ornamental customers?

Jeff: We keep them somewhat separate. But it's all the same footprint of ground and labor flows between the two. Ornamentals are still our bread and butter. Rumors got back to us that we were converting all the way to hemp. I had a few customers call me worried they weren't going to get their ornamental plants and I said, ‘no, we're not even close to that.’ We've got 50 acres of containers and four greenhouses of hemp. We don't plan on pulling out of ornamentals. That's what got us where we are.

NM: What does the future hold for the hemp market?

Jeff: In our area, the experienced, long-term guys have only grown it in the field for maybe three years. You can learn a lot in three years, but there's no historical yield data or fertility or genetics. Every aspect of it is getting figured out as we go. It's one big expensive experiment. You're planning to grow it for a profit, but every aspect of it is so new. Whether you want to be in it or not, you're part of the one big expensive experiment that is hemp in North Carolina.

For more: www.oldcourthousenurserync.com; www.cbdplantsnc.com