STEM: Insider Tips for Greenhouse Pros is a podcast created specifically for commercial greenhouse growers, horticulture professionals and the customers they supply – including but not limited to retail garden centers, nurseries and landscape professionals. Hosted by Ball Seed’s Bill Calkins, each episode will feature a guest sharing timely and relevant horticulture ideas, innovations and technology, as well as current greenhouse industry topics and news – practical information for greenhouse professionals.
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STEM: Insider Tips for Greenhouse Pros is a podcast created specifically for commercial greenhouse growers, horticulture professionals and the customers they supply – including but not limited to retail garden centers, nurseries and landscape professionals. Hosted by Ball Seed’s Bill Calkins, each episode will feature a guest sharing timely and relevant horticulture ideas, innovations and technology, as well as current greenhouse industry topics and news – practical information for greenhouse professionals.
This episode, we’re joined by Gary Vollmer, Product & Technical Manager for Selecta One. Selecta’s portfolio includes many best-in-class products but for this episode we’re focusing on dahlias.
We’ve covered a lot of crops over the course of 42 STEM episodes – from seasonal must-haves like poinsettias and mums to calibrachoa, lavender, Wave petunias and more. These deep dives tend to be some of the most downloaded and when I was putting together plans for future episodes earlier in 2019, dahlias came to mind almost immediately. We’ve seen many new series come to market in the past couple seasons, watched the class grow in popularity with home gardeners and spotted thousands of dahlia pics pop up on social media. It’s pretty clear this is a hot crop – for breeders AND consumers. It’s not a new crop by any means – dahlias have been popular for decades and have specialist groups and clubs in just about every state. But new developments in breeding and supply chain dynamics are opening these beautiful bloomers up to the mass public for many reasons. I also knew our guest, Gary, is a true expert on dahlias and has grown them for years and now is helping lead some of the latest developments.
Get ready to learn why dahlias are gaining in popularity. From diversity in color, form and size options to ongoing, cutting-edge research in modern production strategies, Gary will share reasons he and many others believe this crop is on the verge of a breakthrough. We discuss the trends but spend most of our time on selecting the best series and type for different uses and tips and tricks for producing a spectacular crop. Gary shares some specific dahlia challenges and how to avoid them and wraps up with best practices to put in place that will ensure the beautiful plants you ship out will perform at retail and ensure high sell through. And of course, he also calls out some of his favorite series, varieties and colors for quarts, gallons and larger formats. You’re definitely going to want to listen all the way to the end of this one.
Resource Links:Dahlia PowerPoint with Growing Information: https://www.slideshare.net/bcalkins/capitalizing-on-dahlia-mania-support-fileSelecta One Catalog 2020: https://www.ballseed.com/Virtual/2020_Selecta/index.aspxSelecta One Website: http://www.selectanorthamerica.com/Ball FloraPlant Website: https://www.ballfloraplant.com/
Contact Links:Email Guest Gary Vollmer: gvollmer@ballhort.comEmail Host Bill Calkins: bcalkins@ballhort.comNEW! Connect on Instagram - @STEMGreenhousePodcast
#STEMGreenhousePodcast
Connect with Ball Seed on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ball-seed-co/See Ball Seed Videos on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/BallSeedVideo
The STEM Podcast
STEM: Insider Tips for Greenhouse Pros is a podcast created specifically for commercial greenhouse growers, horticulture professionals and the customers they supply – including but not limited to retail garden centers, nurseries and landscape professionals. Hosted by Ball Seed’s Bill Calkins, each episode will feature a guest sharing timely and relevant horticulture ideas, innovations and technology, as well as current greenhouse industry topics and news – practical information for greenhouse professionals.
