I was saddened to hear about the passing on October 1 of an industry icon, David “Dr. K” Koranski, former horticulture professor and long-time industry consultant best known for two things: his pioneering research work on bedding plant plugs, and his work on the Benlate lawsuits in the 1990s. Dave, who was living in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, was 79.

Dave was a horticulture professor at Iowa State University from 1984 to 1995 and taught numerous undergraduate and graduate students, and mentored hundreds of growers over the course of his long career. He was the founder of the very successful International Plug Conference that Ball Publishing ran for many years and he was co-author (with Dr. Roger Styer) of “Plug and Transplant Production: A Grower’s Guide,” also from Ball Publishing. Through his independent consultancy, ETA. Inc., he worked with numerous growers over the years.

I had the pleasure of working with Dr. K for many years on the projects he did for Ball Publishing. At the Plug Conferences, he was a rock star, helping draw 700 or 800 growers from all around the world to learn the latest plug technology. Even as he stepped back from that and Roger Styer took the lead, we urged Dave to stay on the speaker list because we knew he was a draw.

I asked three of Dave’s closest industry colleagues, Roger Styer; Sim McMurray from Metrolina Greenhouses; and Chris Fifo, formerly of Swift Greenhouses and now with Ball Horticultural Company, for their thoughts on Dave’s impact on the industry and on them:

Roger: “Dave was my friend and mentor for many years, starting in the mid 1980s when we began working together to improve ornamental seed germination in plug (transplant) production. We discussed problems, designed research projects, and traveled together visiting plug operations, always looking for ways to improve production and train growers. Dr. Dave taught me many of the processes and concepts of how plants grow that I use today in my consulting with greenhouse growers. He was also the inspiration for me to go out on my own with consulting in 1995. Together we wrote the only book on plug production, which has helped many plug growers understand better the ins and outs of growing young plants. We also worked together to put on international conferences on plug and cutting production for many years. He will be greatly missed by the thousands of growers he has taught over the years and touched their lives. I am proud to have called him a friend.”

Sim: “Dr. K was a phenomenal teacher. When approached with a crop problem, he very rarely just gave you a black or white answer. He would basically force you to come up with the answer yourself, but he would help you through the process. By doing this, you not only learned how to analytically approach problems and come up with solutions, but you also learned how many things may interact to give differing results; and by manipulating those variables, actually use them to your benefit. In my opinion, he didn’t teach people how to grow, he taught them how to think. His love of plant science and his impact on the industry, especially on seedling production, will forever be missed. R.I.P. Dr. K.”

Chris: “Dr. K was my professor and academic advisor at ISU. At the time, if I had known how important he was, I probably would have made it to that 7:30 a.m. Hort 500 class more often than I did! Dave also consulted with me and Swift beginning in 1989. … He learned perennials through Swift, but a plant was a plant. He always dug into plant nutrition, environment, etc. Right down to the ppm Mo, Mn, B, etc. in the tissue.

“He worked very closely with Goldsmith and helped build their processes. When Rudbeckia Tiger Eye was being bred, Dave recruited me for cultural trials and data prior to launch. For this I was invited to Goldsmith’s Landscape Days, a week-long event at Goldsmith with industry speakers, all arranged by Dean Bemis and Dave.

“He was instrumental in the Benlate lawsuits, which ultimately led to his having to leave ISU. He shared many stories of his research and testimony against big chemical. [His wife,] Joyce shared stories of being followed by shady characters during this period of time.

“Each and every visit was very intense, doing a deep dive into how we can better manipulate plant growth to make them do what we wanted. In the case of perennials, this meant heavy bulking and root mass in the fall; and figuring out the flowering mechanism for hundreds of perennials to get more of them into flower when customers are in the garden center.

“My final year at Swift, he visited only a couple times due to health issues. When I accepted this position [at Ball] after being at Swift and working with him for 30 years, I called Dave. We had developed a unique friendship and I needed my friend there with me when I sat down with Scott and Todd [Swift] and told them I was leaving. He and Joyce came down on a whim to be by my side.”

Do you have your own epic Dr. K story to share? Send them to me at beytes@growertalks.com.

Another recent passing: George Lucht, long a fixture in Minnesota horticulture as patriarch at Malmborg’s Garden Center & Greenhouse in the Twin Cities area, passed away October 7 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 82.

George worked for the Malmborg family for many years before purchasing the business in 1972, keeping the Malmborg name but adding his own “Geraniums by George” tagline. He expanded the business in 1976 when he purchased the current growing range in Rogers, and developed greenhouses and a retail store on the site. They operate a second retail location in Blaine.

George’s son Troy owns the company and serves as President. Daughter Keri handles many varied aspects of the business including inventory, planning and customer service. Van Cooley, George's son-in-law, leads sales and marketing, drive-in retail and fundraising. George’s grandchildren are learning more about the business as they spend available time working in the greenhouse and retail stores.

George was very involved in the greenhouse industry, including serving in roles at Minnesota Commercial Flower Growers, helping establish the Widmer research fund at the University of Minnesota, serving as President of Professional Plant Growers Association, active in the Society of American Florists, serving on the board for FloraStar, and a long-time supporter of the American Floral Endowment. As his memorial states, George “epitomized the character of the industry with his collaborative spirit and benevolence when disaster would occur for others. His belief in promoting plants and flowers was of paramount importance to him. His insights, and optimistic attitude will be missed by all and cherished by many who were able to work alongside him.”

Dümmen Orange, which acquired the Ecke Ranch when it merged with Agribio in 2013, just announced that they’ve relocated all of the company’s pot and garden mum cutting production from Oxnard in central California to the old Ecke greenhouse facilities at the Ecke Ranch in Encinitas, California.

Why? A number of benefits, including weather, expertise and staff, they say. Southern California’s coastal conditions are ideal for year-round quality cutting production. Having the cuttings at the facility where all the R&D is done on new varieties helps them to completely understand the crops before they go into commercial production. And having all the staff at one place for trialing, growing, order entry and shipping allows for faster communication and agility for last-minute customer requests.

Sylwia Vaclavek, farm manager at Dümmen Orange, will be on-site, overseeing all mum unrooted cutting production and shipping. Having decades of stock management experience, she will handle forecasting, planning and production of the mum crops at the facility.



Here’s a VIDEO from Dümmen Orange featuring Emily Mason, Program Director for North America, explaining the move.

The Tropical Plant International Expo (TPIE) will once again be featuring the amazing Max Luthy as the opening keynote speaker. Max, Director of Trends & Insights at TrendWatching, has appeared before (most recently this past January), and he has the most amazing knack of connecting global macro trends to consumer interest in our products.

Ellen Wells and I were at Max’s 2020 talk this past January, and she reminded me that he mentioned epidemics and other issues that would force products, services and experiences to serve and benefit an aging population in his “Coming of Age” trend. Yes, Ellen, he nailed that one! I can’t wait to hear what Max has to say about consumers in the pandemic and post-pandemic worlds. The TPIE show management has reserved an extra big space for the keynote so they can space the seats at an appropriate distance and fit everyone in.

For a taste of Max's humorous and eye-opening style, HERE is a trend talk he gave in 2018.

As for TPIE, attendee registration for the January 20-22 event opens in mid-October. Don’t forget it takes place in Tampa this year, so don’t accidently book your flight to Ft. Lauderdale. Click HERE for more.

GreenTech is a Dutch greenhouse technology show that would have been live in Amsterdam October 20-22. They’ve gone virtual, like everyone else, but for most of you that’s a good thing, since you probably wouldn’t have a chance to visit otherwise. (Even I haven’t been yet, and I’m paid to travel the world to look at cool greenhouse technology!)

I checked out the website and, while there’s no virtual trade show aisles to “stroll,” there are plenty of opportunities to learn about the latest floriculture and controlled environment agriculture crops and technologies, through seminars and new product highlights. For instance, there are talks on The Autonomous Greenhouse, Feeding the World with High-Tech Greenhouses, Vertical Farming’s Role in the Circular Economy, Medicinal Cannabis, an interview with Steven Newell of Windset Farms, Greenhouse Design, Increasing Yield Per Drop of Water, Automation and Robotica, Artificial Light, and Geothermal Greenhouses, to name a few.

For specific products, check out the listing of GreenTech Innovation Award nominees. Here are three that caught my attention:

PanePower from Brite Solar. This is 80% transparent glass (actually more than 80%, they say) that is coated with “spectrum-shifting nanomaterials” and also has “mono-Si solar cells” built in. In other words, it changes the spectrum of the light coming into the greenhouse while generating electricity! The nanocoating absorbs UV light and re-emits it in the red region of visible light for more efficient powering of the solar cells and improved PAR light availability for the plants. Based on the image they provided, the resulting light spectrum almost resembles that of an LED light, with lots of blue, red and far red radiation. They also imply that you can get the “spectrum-shifting” coating without the solar cells.

Young plant grader from ISO. From the company that brought you the first cutting sticker, the ISO Grade 8000 is a machine that is able to sort young plants based on artificial intelligence (AI) and 3D imaging. With the newest techniques in AI, you’re able to sort based on various characteristics of the plant, making the sorting process much more accurate.

Airmix Model G from Van der Ende Groep. This is an unusual HAF fan that can ventilate, cool and dehumidify the greenhouses when the shade curtains are fully closed. The Airmix draws in air from above the screen and expels it into the cultivation area below. It also works as a standard HAF system.

Register for GreenTech for free HERE.

Here’s another good reason to join the Perennial Plant Association: access to the PPA Job Board, a new member benefit.

Members can post unlimited job openings for free on the Job Board at www.perennialplant.org/networking, and connect with quality applicants. Anyone on the PPA website can view the posted job openings, so the pool of applicants is not limited to members-only. Members also have the option to subscribe to notifications when new postings are created and can search resumes submitted to the Job Board based on certain criteria.

Of course, that’s just one benefit of your PPA membership. Others include registration discounts to PPA’s virtual and live events; participation in the renowned Perennial Plant of the Year program; the monthly PPA digital newsletter that keeps members informed of current events within the organization and perennial industry; and access to the online community and features such as the member directory.

Not a member yet? Join here: www.perennialplant.org/join.

To keep those mixed greens rolling off the greenhouse production line in Loudon, New Hampshire, lēf Farms has added Mariana Robles to its management team. Mariana is a 2015 graduate from the University of Los Llanos Colombia, specializing in agronomy. Mariana isn’t a new face at lēf Farms. She came to New England in 2015 and joined lēf in 2018 on the seedling line. She has since taken on additional responsibilities as food safety officer and cooler supervisor. As the company continues to grow, Mariana’s new position was created to provide more time for training, education, and coordination between different departments within the organization. As production manager, Mariana will be responsible for driving efficiencies, improving procedures and protocols, and increasing teamwork at lēf Farms.

Congrats, Mariana!

COVID may have limited the size of the audience attending Sakata’s annual California Field Days vegetable trials, but that didn’t stop them from bringing in a video crew to capture the event at both their Salinas and Woodland locations. The videos give you an overview of what you missed along with crop-specific details about new introductions.

Also very cool: An interactive eTrials book “loaded with video clips of buzz-worthy varieties and links to learn more.” You can click on any introduction in the book to get more details. Find it HERE.

Also newsworthy at Sakata is the hire (rehire, actually) of Bill McCarthy, Ph.D. to the post of Associate Director of Research and Development. Bill began his career at Sakata 27 years ago before spending 22 years as a plant breeder for Seminis, Monsanto and Bayer. 

“Bill changed the sweet pepper industry with the introduction of high-yielding and highly disease resistant products that have dominated the market in open field bell peppers for over a decade,” says Jeff Zischke, Senior Director of Research and Development at Sakata Seed America. “This includes Double Up, one of four successful pepper products that Bill created for Sakata, which we are still selling today.”

Bill, who will be based out of Sakata’s state-of-the-art Woodland Innovation Center, is enthusiastic about his return.

“Throughout my career, I have been passionate about creating environmentally-friendly products that reduce pesticide use for growers. Sakata Seed has a vision of sustainability and innovation that I have always admired. I am excited to return to Sakata, where my career began, and to work with such a talented and passionate staff to develop more market-leading products together.”

Bill obtained his Ph.D. (Minor in Plant Pathology) and a M.Sc. (Minor in Genetics) in Horticulture from University of North Carolina in 1993 and 1989 respectively. Bill also obtained his bachelor’s degree in Horticulture from Michigan State University in 1987.

Congratulations to Millet, Alberta, Canada, for winning the Best Blooming Community Award in the 26th edition of Canada’s Communities in Bloom program.

Pincher Creek, Alberta, took home the Floral Displays award—one we should particularly like as it features the stuff we produce!

HERE is a link to all the award winners in this year's event.