The heat and humidity came on as we’d expect for late June and consumers finally were forced to take a break from gardening. And growers and retailers took a well-deserved break, too, leading to scores of 7.7 for the U.S. and 8.6 for Canada for the weekend of June 27-28—still superbly strong for the tail end of the season. You even sent in seven 10s (out of 61 scores or 11%).

Here’s the map:

As I mentioned, that’s based on just 61 scores from 36 states and five provinces (that’s why I said you’re taking a break).

New England (8.4) and the Midwest (8.2) were the strongest regions, with the West coming in at 7.8 and the South just behind at 7.7 despite the heat kicking in. But if I watch the national weather map for the coming July 4^th weekend, this is where the heat really puts a stop to things—we’ve got seven days of 90-plus temps forecast for Chicagoland, for instance. Glad my AC and sprinklers are in good working order!

Canada was mostly strong, contributing two of our seven 10s, but also sending in a couple of 7s (the lowest score from the country). British Columbia was the strongest province at 9.3.

Indiana (8): “People are still wanting plants, but [we] are sold out of so many annuals. Perennials and shrubs sales are still strong.”—Ed Clayton, Clayton Garden Center

Illinois (5): “Hot weather and sporadic rain slowed down retail traffic in central Illinois last weekend. Perennial sales have been strong. Many customers indicate that they are feeling ‘project-ed out.’ They been doing a lot of home improvement since May and are ready for a summer break. So fewer big projects and more pop in perennials.”—Candi Scheuermann, Green View Companies

Washington (5): “Our weekend sales are declining significantly now, but we’re still significantly above comparable weekend sales of past years!”—David Vos, Vander Giessen Nursery

Iowa (6.5): “Families aren’t feeling comfortable enough to begin traveling, as the states are tightening back up. In our area, they are turning their yards into their own vacations. Pools, ponds and flowers!”—Heather Sage, Cedar River Garden Center

Wisconsin (8): “Last weekend was good, lots of DIY project-type sales. Traffic has slowed a bit with the heat and more people are out on the lake now.”—Down to Earth Garden Center

Montana (7): “Still killer sales despite the weather.”—Jeri Zirbel, Caras Nursery

British Columbia (10): “Another 10. Plus, we are running close to double last year, but I have to point out we are still only able to open four days a week (Friday-Monday) because of COVID protocols.”—John Derrick, Elk Lake Garden Centre

North Carolina (7): “Sales are still up 39% over last year—which was our biggest year ever! What a crazy, busy spring! We are still sowing some seeds for veggies and the sales go on. We had four Saturdays that broke all-time records! We are buying in shrubs for what we have run out of. Hydrangeas, Knockouts, Drift Roses and butterfly bushes are selling well. We are still planting perennials, which are still selling good. We have potted more succulents, which are still selling good. We haven’t had a drought yet or many days above 90F. Rain showers are brief and most of the rain has been overnight.”—Judy Mitchell, Mitchell’s Nursery & Greenhouse

Iowa (7): “The heat came this weekend, which usually slows us down, but we stayed strong in shrubs, perennials, furniture and home decor. A nice strong sales weekend to finish out June. The heat continues this week; we will see if that slows things down to ‘normal’ summer traffic.”—Kate Terell, Wallace’s Garden Center

Michigan (7): “The heat and dry weather slowed sales. Outdoor furniture [a] top seller, although sales in every category are up.”—Paul Begick, Begick Nursery

New York (6): “Summer has arrived and so did the heat and humidity. Perennials are still very strong, but annuals and vegetables have slowed. It’s a combination of limited selection and maybe they planted enough of them. Our nearest competitor is not having his famous 50% off sale this 4th of July for the first time in 50 years.”—Sig Feile, Atlantic Nursery

Washington (6.5): “Understandably slower this late in the season, but I think our ‘corona-conomy’ makes me expect more these days. I think we can keep the momentum through the summer with ‘yard-improvement’ plants, but spring is definitely over!”— Tom Van Wingerden, Van Wingerden Greenhouses

Alberta (9): “Even with rain in the forecast all weekend, people are still looking for a few plants to fill out their containers. We have begged our local suppliers to empty their greenhouses and give us whatever they can. As one driver put it, ‘I’m not sure where they’re getting this stuff from.’”—Kristen Busse, Greengate Garden Centres

Next week: I give you the final score and analysis of the season, along with your gut instinct scores. It'll be interesting to see how closely they line up!

When it comes to proper irrigation, there’s a lot more subtlety than just dry and wet. How do you define how wet is wet and how dry is dry?

Having a standardized moisture scale that's easy to understand and use will benefit your entire greenhouse team. This video, “The 1 to 5 Moisture Scale for Container Substrates,” defines the 1 to 5 moisture scale used to manage irrigation of container plants. Hosted by University of Florida IFAS Extension, it’s available in English and Spanish. Check it out HERE.



The video was produced in conjunction with Dr. Ryan Dickson at the University of Arkansas, with Spanish language support from Javier López of Altman Plants.

This video and all the others you can find with it are training materials in the Greenhouse Training Online courses for growers in greenhouse management, including Nutrient Management 1 (Introduction), which begins July 6 (hort.ifas.ufl.edu/training). More videos are set to be released in the coming weeks.

For more information about the videos or courses, contact greenhousetraining@ifas.ufl.edu.

The summer shows that didn’t happen, I should add! But just because there are no shows doesn’t mean you don’t need to know what’s new. That’s why I’ve set about to do brief Zoom interviews with various industry breeders and manufacturers to find the answer to your burning question, “What’s new?” Ellen will be helping me out on the retail side.

We call the end results “The Goods”: short (six to eight minute) videos that cover three or four different products. We’re putting them all in a YouTube playlist by the same name that you can access HERE. There are seven so far, by companies as diverse as Benary, HydraFiber, Beaver Plastics and Sunset/Southern Living, with more coming every week.

Subscribe to our channel and click the notification bell, and you’ll know when we post new ones.

Can artificial intelligence replace growers? I don’t like to think so, but some boffins are trying to prove me wrong, and so far, the results are in their favor—especially when it comes to growing profitably and efficiently.

The Autonomous Greenhouse Challenge is a competition between teams attempting to use artificial intelligence to grow a greenhouse tomato crop. It started last year, as teams put together proposals; five were selected for round two—the actual growing of the crop (Axiany cherry tomato) remotely in 1,000-sq. ft. greenhouse compartments equipped with identical environmental controls and using artificial intelligence algorithms and a battery of sensors in the greenhouse—no humans allowed! At the same time, a team of “reference growers,” experienced Dutch tomato growers, grew the same crop the typical way.

All this took place at Wageningen University & Research in Bleiswijk, the Netherlands.

It just concluded with the team dubbed “Automatoes” taking first place. Automatoes consists of employees, researchers and students from Van der Hoeven Horticultural Projects, Hoogendoorn Growth Management, Keygene, and TU Delft (the Delft University of Technology).

Interestingly, all five teams’ crops outperformed the reference growers’ crop.

The main metric to determine the winner was the net profit generated per square meter over six months. Automatoes managed 6.86 euros ($7.70). Second place AiCU managed 6.26 euros ($7.03). The reference team? Less than half the profit, 3.10 euros ($3.48).

They also measured brix (sweetness) and the use of heat, electricity, CO2, water and nutrients (the lower the better). Automatoes also used the least energy and water. And the jury also judged their AI strategy as the most usable and scaleable.


Team Automators. Nothing artificial about their intelligence!

Want to see a video about the competition? Check it out HERE.

I’ve gotta say, I’m impressed by the high net profit and reduced inputs achieved with AI. If sensors, computers and algorithms can help growers do what they do more profitably, then I’m all for it.

With in-person events a rarety these days, you’ve got to get good at surfing the Web for products and ideas. On the plus side: No long car or plane rides, and you can watch in your comfy clothes! Here are a few new resources:

Benary’s Virtual Flower Trials 2020. With no Week 24 Flower Trials in Europe this year, Benary put together a batch of videos to show off their latest introductions. Each is presented by area sales managers, including Fulco Spithoven, Jean Bessette, Dominik Rust and Julia Wolfschmidt. Find them on YouTube HERE.

Coleus video from Terra Nova. Who doesn’t like coleus? And there may be more of them on the market than just about any other crop.

And here are some more!

Terra Nova Nurseries has released a new coleus video as part of its “Terra Nova Varieties View” series for summer 2020. The new video features a brand-new collection of coleus varieties named the Coleus NOVA Collection and several new variety additions to the company’s popular Coleus TERRA NOVA Collection. The VIDEO is hosted by Chuck Pavlich (who missed his calling as a TV pitchman), director of new product development for Terra Nova.



Danziger’s catalog. It isn’t a video, but it’s still full of information. You can view and download their Annuals, Perennials and Cut Flower catalogs, along with Novelties, ThinkPlants, and more for North America and other markets HERE.

Suntory’s “staycation” promotion. Suntory put together something they call “fun and simple … to help garden centers promote Sun Parasol mandevillas this summer.” It’s a collection of free graphics and posters you can use in-store and in your social media promotions to promote Sun Parasol. Says Suntory, “Vacation plans may be canceled, but you can bring the resort home, poolside, with tropical plants.”



Download the free retail media kit HERE.

The New England Floriculture Board and extension representatives have decided to postpone the Northeast Greenhouse Conference to the fall of 2021. However, they say they’re exploring the possibilitiy of educational webinars this fall in order to deliver content relevant to Pesticide Applicator Certification continuing education credit. Visit the Northeast Greenhouse website for more details as they are developed, www.negreenhouse.org.

GreenTech Americas didn’t even get a shot at their inaugural event. They’re moving from August 25-27, 2020 to March 16-18 March, 2021. The location will be the same: Querétaro, Mexico. Why a GreenTech event there? Organizers say it’s because “the agricultural market in Mexico has a lot of potential and is a major supplier of vegetables and flowers to the United States. At the same time Mexico itself is an important market for international companies.”

Bower & Branch, the e-commerce brand/network of independent growers, service providers and garden retailers announce the addition of Raemelton Farm of Frederick County, Maryland, to the grower network. Raemelton Farm is the first and only USDA-certified organic tree grower in our industry.

"We’re thrilled to move our trees through an entirely new sales channel,” says Steve Black, owner and operator of Raemelton Farm. “Giving retail consumers direct access to our diverse palette of sustainably grown plants is great for everybody. By offering a diverse set of ornamental, fruit and native trees through Bower & Branch, we can help consumers pick the tree they really want, not just what’s available in their local area.”

Don Eaton, founder and CEO of EdenGrene (DBA Bower & Branch), believes strongly that certified organic production will play an important role in the future of the green industry.

“Growers must step away and study closely their individual impact on local environments, as well as the impact on other environments where our plants are sold and planted,” said Don. "How we grow, what we grow, what inputs are used and how we package will all be, and should be, challenged by each of us in the coming years.”

Ramelton’s organic trees will be available exclusively on www.bowerandbranch.com beginning Fall 2020.

What’s a blocky pepper? I wasn’t quite sure myself, but research indicates it's a nicely lobed, square-shaped pepper as you tend to find in the grocery store.

Anyway, Sakata Seed America has purchased all the assets of Danziger’s blocky bell pepper breeding program, which they say will “further solidify Sakata’s prominent position in the global pepper market.” The acquisition includes several existing commercial varieties, which will be added to Sakata’s existing blocky pepper varieties.

According to Bryan Zingel, Senior Sweet Pepper Product Manager for Sakata, Danziger’s breeding program and commercial variety portfolio is focused on the Mexico mid-tech market, as well as U.S. growers utilizing high tunnel and shade cover growing practices.

Danziger developed its blocky bell pepper varieties using fast-track computational breeding technology from seed breeding specialist Equinom Ltd., an ag-tech seed innovator that integrates cutting-edge technology with data-driven breeding methodology. The technology enables the company to breed non-GMO varieties with high levels of accuracy and efficiency.

Ah, so that's a blocky pepper.

Micha Danziger, CEO of Danziger Seeds, said, “Here at Danziger, we are very happy that our pepper varieties are now in the hands of Sakata, as we are convinced that Sakata will do a great job in maximizing the potential of our breeding program and varieties to create value for Sakata, the pepper growers and consumers around the world.”

AmericanHort is doing its best to make Cultivate’20 Virtual much like the real thing and that includes relaxing with beverages at the end of Day 1, Monday, July 13, courtesy of the tHRIve Virtual Garden Party, hosted by the Horticultural Research Institute (HRI).

The online reception honors HRI donors and achievements. It’s a chance to “mix and mingle” with industry peers and “tour” around the country to see five gardens in Illinois (The Gardens at Midwest Groundcovers), Texas (Charlie Hall’s personal garden!), California (nurseryman Jon Reelhorn’s personal gardens), Michigan (Spring Meadow’s Dale Deppe’s personal gardens), and Texas (Todd Davis’ inviting backyard retreat).

Of course, you need to provide your own drinks for the hour-long event. And you need to RSVP, which you can do HERE.

Of course, keep in mind that it’s a fundraiser, so HRI will have options for accepting donations before and during this event. Be generous!

Have a great Independence Day holiday, everyone! I will start mine early, on Friday, by grabbing Laurie and heading out for our annual River Ridge Report drive. The results will come to you next week in a special edition of Acres Online sponsored by Sun Gro Horticulture.

It’s expected to be about 95F in the shade, so I will NOT be wearing my Sun Gro knit cap.