FINDING RESOURCES THROUGH EXTENSION

I will be the first to admit, there is a lot I don't know about horticulture.  The field is so vast and there are there is just too much to know.  That is why I often find myself online searching up different topics.  This is where the problems begin.  There is a lot of noise on the internet.  Along with reputable and accurate information there are people trying to sell you stuff, opinions and biased recommendations and on  and on.  So how do you cut out the noise?

My go to solution for that is good old extension services.  For those that are not familiar, land grant universities have a 3 part mission.  Education, Research and Extension.  The extension service unfortunately has seen a lot of cut backs but they are still there doing what they can to provide the public with reliable researched based information on all sorts of topics, including horticulture.

So, here is how this works.  When putting in your search term, add the word "extension" to the search.  This will filter out a lot of nonsense and provide you with a lot more reliable information.  

Here is an example:

• Mushroom Compost
• 10,300,000 results
• 1 extension site
• Wikipedia,
• 8 sales sites
• 9 gardening site
• Sponsored product
• Mushroom Compost Extension
• 1,740,000 results
• 16 extension sites
• 4 garden related sites. 

So in this example, by adding "extension" to my search I cleaned up the results dramatically and put useful and reliable information on page one.

The content will be relative to the state publishing, but for the most part that information is transferable to anywhere in the country.  Certainly if you are looking for info on hardy trees for North Dakota, results from Florida will probably not be a useful.  Also keep in mind that soils will differ from region to region and some recommendations that may be useful in one part of the country may not transfer to yours.

A couple of sites I also turn to is e-gro, which focuses on floriculture production and the garden professors blog.  Their content is geared towards home gardening

http://www.e-gro.org/

http://gardenprofessors.com/

Remember that the trade groups both natinoal and local are there to help the industry and are a wealth of knowledge.  Be sure to participate and learn.  I myself regularly attend and present at the educational functionals they put on.

Lastly there are quite a number of trade publications that you should be staying current with.  Sometimes it feels like too many, but there are national and regional trade magazines that are full of useful articles and most have weekly newsletters coming to your inbox.  

This is by no means exhaustive and most of these publishing compaines have multiple trade publications for different industries like landscapeing, nursery production, greenhouse, cannabis, fruit growing etc.

Grower talks and many weekly newsletters from Ball Publishing

https://www.ballpublishing.com/

Greenhouse product news, I am partial to this one because I was in the 2018 class of 40 under 40

https://gpnmag.com/

Greenhouse managment

https://www.greenhousemag.com/

Greenhouse Grower

https://www.meistermedia.com/

Jumping Worms

A statement from Midwest Trading related to jumping worms in the Chicago market.

Jumping worms are an invasive, self-reproducing species known for their thrashing and jumping behaviors when disturbed. In recent years, jumping worms have been found within the region and have caused concern within the industry. They are of specific concern in natural environments, where the ecosystem relies on natural cycling of organic matter. The worms are often noticeable in landscapes after applying fresh layers of organic materials, which draws these worms to the surface. They are responsible for altering natural environments by changing the degradation patterns in soils.

The eggs overwinter in soil and are known for surviving extreme weather conditions. Ways to mitigate the spread of jumping worm include proper sanitation of equipment, and limiting the spread of soils and organic material from site to site. Temperatures achieved through commercial composting are sufficient in killing the eggs.

Here at Midwest Trading, we source our organic materials from reputable vendors. Our spent mushroom substrates are steam pasteurized prior to leaving the mushroom facility. Other materials such as bark and compost reach temperatures of greater than 135◦F. While these preventative measures are effective, they do not constitute a guarantee. We continue to work with industry partners to monitor inputs and work on solutions for adapting landscaping practices.

Image from Wisconsin DNR

Other resources 

https://ipm.illinois.edu/first_detector/Jumping_Worm_Handout.pdf

https://extension.illinois.edu/blogs/over-garden-fence/2020-02-18-jumping-worms-update

Using Soil Water Sensors to Evaluate Plant Available Water in Engineered Landscape Soils. Poster

Using soil water sensors to evaluate plant available water in engineered landscape soils from Kevin Donnelly


Had the opportunity to present some of our initial findings at the International Plant Propagators Society meeting in Madison in 2019. 

GETTING TO THE ROOT OF IT-Growing Substrates and You

GETTING TO THE ROOT OF IT-01/22/2020 from Kevin Donnelly


Presentation on growing substrates at Invigorate U in January of 2020

THE MANUFACTURED SOIL ENVIRONMENT-Turning specificatgions into deliverable soil blends.

Presentation from Invigorate U in January of 2020 on engineered soils design and testing process for soil blenders.

THE MANUFACTURED SOIL ENVIRONMENT-1/22/2020 from Kevin Donnelly

Rain Simulator Project

Rain Simulator for Drainage Testing

When designing mixes, one of the most important aspects to consider is structure. While there are treatments to amend a soil’s pH and EC after the fact, the structure that leaves the mixing line is the structure that you are stuck with, for better or worse. This is crucial because large aspects of a soil’s performance are determined almost entirely by structure. The size of the particles and how they fit with one another can determine how a soil settles, its weight, and, most importantly, how it drains.

Drainage in soils is a result of how much water the media holds, and how tightly it holds on to it. Particle size has everything to do with this characteristic. Sand, for example, is made up of fairly large particles compared to clay; because these larger particles can’t pack as tightly together, there are tiny pockets of air in the media. This pore space is the part of the media that can be occupied by water. Large pore spaces allow the media to take up water quickly, but also allows it to leave quickly. In a media with small particles and pore spaces, like clay, the water will be taken up slowly and retained for a longer time. In other words, it drains more poorly.

CHSTR's Rain Simulator

In the case of horticultural soils, structure and drainage is controlled by the addition of different materials such as sand or varying sizes of pine bark. In order to model how these additions change the performance of a mix, you can employ a rain simulator. The basic idea of a rain simulator is to have a constant flow of water into the mix, so we can note differences in how quickly water moves throughout the media, ultimately draining.

 In the design I used, a 2-gallon nozzle was suspended over each drum, with a hole at the bottom. Water was collected from each hole in plastic carboys over a set amount of time. The amount collected in this window of time gives us insight into how quickly the mixes drain and gives us another data point to consider when designing new mixes or testing the performance of older recipes.

Michael Conway- Midwest Trading's Horticultural Soils Intern

pH

What is this thing we call pH and why is it so important?

First and foremost, pH stands for Potential Hydrogen, meaning the amount of  Hydrogen present within a solution. The pH scale ranges from 0-14; ranges falling between 0-6 are considered Acidic, 7 is considered Neutral, and 8-14 are considered Alkaline. So why are these seemingly random numbers so important? Although small numerical values, these numbers carry big implications, meaning pH can make or break your growing production! Below is a picture of the pH scale and different solutions, along with their range on the pH scale.

Neptune, C. (2019, March 27). 

pH is an important factor when dealing with overall wellness of plants- if the pH is off in your soil, it can create all kinds of problems for nursery or greenhouse operations. Aside from lending information on the acidity and alkalinity of your growing media, pH deals with the nutrient absorption via the root systems. Certain nutrients are only absorbed within certain pH parameters. The ideal range of pH for most nutrient uptake lies between 5.5-7.0.

Rosen, C. J. (2014, March 14). 

Nutrient absorption is defined in three ways: Deficiency (insufficient availability of nutrients), Healthy (adequate availability of nutrients), and Toxicity (excess availability of nutrients). Though there's great variability in these nutrient levels, the warning signs are similar in regards to deficiencies and toxicities. Common symptoms include chlorosis, interveinal chlorosis, discoloration, and necrosis.

Chlorosis is the yellowing of leaves due to photosyntetic issues related to chlorophyll. The colors present will range from a green yellow to a flashy, neon yellow appearance in color. Interveinal Chlorosis is s type of cholorosis that appears within the vein structures of a plant. The veins themselves appear with a yellow hue, while the actual leaf structure maintains its normal spectrum of green coloration. General discoloration often appears on the leaves of a plant. appearing in a red-purple-bronze spectrum. 

Other symptoms of nutrient deficiencies and toxicity include mosaic patterning, wilting, stunted plant growth, and shorter plant life cycles. Below I have shared an image of common nutrient deficiencies associated with specific nutrients. Remember to be cognizant of your pH and happy growing, friends!

- Alexis

K S, K. (2012, June 03).