The CEO of Green Circle Growers discussed the largest expansion in the company's history.
In August of this year, Green Circle Growers announced the largest expansion in the company's history. This expansion will expand their facilities and workforce as they will add 30 acres of land and 250 new jobs in the next three and a half years. Green Circle Growers was founded by John van Wingerden in 1968 and has been home to Oberlin, Ohio for more than 50 years. Today, John's son CJ van Wingerden and son-in-law Scott Giesbrecht run the company as co-CEOs. They still regard Oberlin as their home base, and their factory occupies more than 120 acres of indoor planting space.
These additional jobs will bring the company's employees to more than 1,150. According to van Wingerden, "Many [these new jobs] will be at the administrative level, including a mix of operations, IT, senior leadership, administration, management, growers, etc."
The expansion plan for Green Circle Growers was developed with the help of Lorain County Community Development, JobsOhio, Team NEO and the Ohio Department of Development.
"It's really great to work with all these organizations," Giesbrecht said. "This is a real team effort of some very enthusiastic and dedicated people."
When asked how they accomplish such a recruitment feat during the labor shortage that currently plagues every industry (including our own), Giesbrecht attributes this achievement to the long-term planning of Green Circle Growers.
Giesbrecht said it was this long-term plan that made this expansion possible. Before the coronavirus pandemic even hit the United States, Green Circle Growers was already working with their suppliers for this expansion
"We have a multi-year master plan," Giesbrecht said. "If we don't have that master plan, we may not be able to achieve our goals through COVID, but all our suppliers know what we are going to point to." When COVID starts to look dangerous, Green Circle Growers can alert their suppliers to them Expansion plans, and they adapted together. Giesbrecht further praised the company's relationship with its suppliers, saying "Having these good relationships helped us through the difficulties."
According to Giesbrecht, the company should undertake one of its regular expansions.
“We usually expand every 12 to 18 months, so this actually fits this.” However, these conventional expansions are usually around 5 to 6 acres, so this 30-acre expansion is far beyond their usual growth range.
What led to the decision to make this expansion project so ambitious? Giesbrecht said that although Green Circle Growers has been growing for some time and has developed expansion plans, like many other greenhouses, the company has seen unprecedented growth due to the pandemic, forcing people to stay at home. The demand for potted plants and indoor plants continues to increase, and Green Circle Growers' indoor and outdoor product portfolio continues to expand. In addition, as Green Circle Growers expand into the digital market, they have been able to reach more customers.
Giesbrecht said: "It enables our physical stores to be distributed to more than 30,000 stores, now available to millions of consumers in the United States, and may be available in Canada in the future." With all the growth that Green Circle Growers has experienced, they need a Large-scale expansion plans to keep up with their growth.
Green Circle Growers incorporates long-term planning into all aspects of its operations, not just their expansion plans. Marcel Boonekamp, Planting Supervisor of Green Circle Growers, is already planning orchid production in 2025. Boonekamp explained that advance planning is necessary, not only because of the long production time for orchids, but also because the Green Circle Growers team values the consistency and reliability of such precise planning. Boonekamp thrived in this process, he said: "I like planning-it is a very strict plan."
Green Circle Growers is committed to sustainable planting practices, and this commitment is reflected in their expansion plans. At Green Circle Growers, “sustainability is not a buzzword,” van Wingerden said. “This is our DNA and an important part of every decision we make.” As Green Circle Growers said in the press release announcing its expansion, the core part of the expansion plan is “to be innovative, sustainable Significant commitment to continuous planting practices".
Green Circle Growers has implemented many sustainable planting practices, including water recycling. "We are now recycling a lot of water, but in fact we will try to take it to a new level-how do we treat our water and get everything we can from there, and then recycle it," Bonkamp explained.
In this expansion, Green Circle Growers plans to implement rainwater protection, reservoirs, pallet recycling and wood-fired boiler systems, which will be powered by waste wood from local communities.
van Wingerden explained that an additional 30 acres of greenhouse space will be used to meet the increased demand for our existing crops.
These crops include indoor and outdoor plants, especially the company's outdoor container series and indoor tropical flowering series. Anthuriums, succulents and bonsai are the main players in this lineup, as well as orchids, which are particularly famous for green circle growers.
While emphasizing the importance of the company’s partnership, van Wingerden stated that Green Circle Growers will work with long-term partner Prins USA to build the newly expanded greenhouse. Prins will build a Venlo-style greenhouse, which will be equipped with diffuser glass and shade curtains. As van Wingerden explained, the goal is to "ensure that we provide the best environment for our plants, so Prins has always been a good partner."
Green Circle Growers will also turn to another long-term partner PL Light Systems to illuminate the new greenhouse. Located under the dark sky of northern Ohio, it is especially important for Green Circle Growers to have a partner they can trust to provide them with high-quality lighting technology.
Growers rely heavily on its technology. Their factory in Oberlin looks like both an Amazon warehouse and a greenhouse. Boonekamp says that all the technologies they use have helped them achieve a high degree of consistency in production. For example, when it comes to their orchids, their advanced technology helps them ensure that each of their orchids have the same quality, the same height, and the same appearance. Their goal is that when customers see orchids grown by Green Circle Growers, the only difference between the plants is the color.
Of course, no matter how much planning, automation or technology a company invests in, employees constitute the backbone. The two co-CEOs were full of praise for the employees they considered to be teammates. Gisbrecht said: "Our employees are the best in the industry, and we are very happy that they have become our teammates."
Green Circle Growers plans to invest in their team through the new Leadership Academy. "Our absolute greatest asset has always been our team and will continue to be so," van Wingerden said. "We want to invest in them."
"The importance of our team in this journey cannot be overstated," Giesbrecht said. "And we have some excellent team members from inside and outside the horticulture industry. They really taught CJ and me a lot and helped us navigate a very complex environment."
Green Circle Growers will not only continue to invest in their team, but will also invest in innovation, professional customer experience, and professional operations.
Both van Wingerden and Giesbrecht are proud that Green Circle Growers is a family business, so they will always look forward and move forward in order to provide good business for the next generation.
"This expansion prepares us for the next generation. We are a multi-generational family," van Wingerden said.
As the chief grower of Walters Gardens, Drew Koschmann is keen on cooperation and innovation.
Drew Koschmann has cultivated a love of outdoor activities since he was a child, walking with his retired science teacher father in a state park. After graduating from high school, Kirschman began to study natural resources, but a side job in a local greenhouse changed his career trajectory. Now, as the chief grower with 18 years of experience, Koschmann is passing on his plant knowledge because he has innovated more effective planting methods.
After majoring in horticulture production at Purdue University, Koschmann began an internship at Midwest Groundcovers in his hometown of Michigan. By the time he graduated, they gave him the role of a perennial grower. He stayed there for eight years, eventually serving as a nursery manager before moving to the Andy Mast Greenhouse, where he served as the main grower for four years, producing annual plants.
At that time, the position of chief grower at Walters Garden was opened, and Koschman seized the opportunity to replant perennials.
“I had a good understanding of Walters Gardens when I worked at Midwest Ground Covers, and I bought a lot of plants from them,” he said. "Walters' high quality has left a deep impression on me."
Koschmann joined Walters Gardens in 2015. Since then, he has played a key role in team building and automated processes, helping the company produce more than 1,000 perennial plants in a 13-acre greenhouse space.
In addition to the greenhouse, display gardens and research and development beds also fill the Walters Gardens property in Zeeland, Michigan. "We really maximized our main facilities," Koschmann said. "So we decided to consider increasing the planting area." He said that the expansion began this fall, and the ongoing plan calls for "a few more acres of land for production next year."
At the same time, in order to make full use of the on-site space, Koschmann relies on technology to optimize the greenhouse conditions in order to complete various crops throughout the season.
"We are receiving tissue culture cuttings throughout the year, so in January we must have a warm place. We hold vernalization plugs, so we must also have cold areas," he said. "Moreover, because we have done a lot of off-season production of hosta and hibiscus, we proactively use LED and HPS lights to help them complete."
About five years ago, Walters Garden built a 15,000-square-foot breeding facility, called the domestication area, to hold trays of fresh cuttings. Koschmann worked closely with production managers and maintenance managers to develop the series-equipped with high-tech environmental control, automatic spray bar irrigation, heated floors, sunshade curtains, and atomization systems.
"We are satisfied that [automation because of it] helps us manage the temperature, irrigation and humidity levels required for crops to be completed on time," he said.
Throughout the week, Koschmann had one-on-one meetings with his three main growers to keep an eye on the progress of the plants, each of whom managed five growers. A three-person Integrated Pest Management (IPM) team also supports his team. During the peak season, Walters Garden added 100 employees to its approximately 200 employees through the H-2A Temporary Agricultural Employment Program.
"It is really exciting to see how some of our growers can train H-2A labor to help manage crops," Koschmann said. "In the past three years, we have been working with many of the same employees, so they have become very important in our communications field, and they are learning more and more knowledge each year."
Koschmann holds more and more team meetings every week, using the various opinions and expertise of employees to solve problems. With decades of knowledge between them, this team is vital to the company's success.
"We work very hard to recruit experienced people," he said. "The main grower brings a lot of talent to the team. What I really like about being here is that if something goes wrong, I can ask [the grower] to help me through it."
By focusing on cooperation between growers, employees, seasonal workers, and interns, Kerschmann is developing a strong team in Walters Garden. Utilizing their comprehensive expertise is the key to company development and innovation.
"Growth is a team sport," Koschman said. "You should make judgments based on the team's recommendations. It is wise to give yourself strong talents, [people with skills different from your own], [because you] always learn from each other."
Bilyj is a freelance writer living in Cleveland, Ohio.
As production costs have recently reached record levels, saving as much money as possible is a prudent strategy.
Since labor is difficult to find and expensive to hire, it is important to make effective use of the employees you have. Training, material handling equipment and better working conditions can help increase production with less labor.
Provide training for new employees. Some prospective employees have never been to a greenhouse or are unfamiliar with how plants grow. If possible, train new employees and provide them with extensive experience. Training can take the form of videos on specific topics. It can also come from working with experienced workers with certain training skills.
Form a small team to get greater output. Many tasks require many people to work hard in a series of operations. The team approach usually yields the greatest output. Assigning a wide range of tasks to new employees can identify natural skills. Use these when assigning work.
Employee incentive. Workers are more satisfied with work that meets basic needs. Recognition and attention to good work can go a long way in building self-confidence and self-esteem. Helping to solve family or health problems shows that you care about their welfare.
Salary, including salary and benefits, is usually the main factor of motivation. Wages, hourly rates, and piecework work are used in the industry. Wages are common for supervisors and employees with flexible working hours. Tasks such as potting and transplantation are often compensated by piece counting. Other tasks, such as watering and material handling, work better every hour.
Reduce the amount of walking employees must do. Walking adds considerable time to the cost of plants. The average time to pick up or put down a plant is 1.5 seconds. Transport or walking can be calculated as 4 feet per second. At a labor rate of $15/hour, placing a pot of plants on a bench 10 feet away and back will increase the cost by 3 cents. It costs $0.25 to walk to the far end of the 100-foot greenhouse.
Electric carts have many uses. The personnel transport vehicle is characterized by a driver's cab and additional staff seats. They can save a lot of walking time in larger operations. The truck has a cab and a bed area for loading goods, which is very suitable for handling materials. The tractor can have an upright or seat compartment and usually has a very small cargo area. Choose the model that suits your operation and needs.
The conveyor belt accelerates the movement of plants. One of the most popular conveyor types is the multi-section conveyor. It consists of a part with a drive unit and additional parts that can be added to provide the required length. These are suitable for moving flower pots in and out of planting areas or loading plants on long truck beds. It takes about 5 to 10 minutes to set up a 75-foot unit.
Choose equipment that allows employees to keep pace. Variable speed belt conveyors are also suitable for potting, transplanting and packaging, providing uniformity and consistency. For medium-scale growers who mainly plant annual or holiday crops in spring, the transplanting conveyor can greatly increase the yield. Growers have reduced transplanting costs by 30% to 40% just by installing transplanting conveyor belts.
For larger operations or growers who produce plants throughout the year, there is an automatic transplanter that can meet your needs. Available machines can grow 10,000 to 50,000 plants per hour. In order to obtain the maximum output, the transplanter is only one device in the system, which may include a baler, a flat unloading stacker, a tray or tank dispenser, a container filling machine, a transplanter, a source tray feeder, and automatic marking Machines, watering tunnels and related conveyors. After the pallets are transplanted, a trolley or conveyor belt is required to transport 1,000 units/hour to the planting area. This equipment is the only way for large growers to complete orders on time.
One way to offset rising labor costs is to increase the efficiency of your current operations. Efficient work areas and easy ways to move plants and materials are usually the areas where you can get the most benefit.
John is an agricultural engineer, professor emeritus of extension at the University of Connecticut, and a regular contributor to greenhouse management. He is an author, consultant, and certified technical service provider who conducts greenhouse energy audits for the USDA grant program in New England. jbartok@rcn.com
All the cool kids have mother-of-pearls around the house, so if you want to join the crowd, here is what you need to know.
When walking in any gardening trade exhibition area, my eyes are always looking for cool plants. What is the next new or new plant for me?
When I walked in the Cultivate '21 showroom this summer, I was quickly attracted by some new fritillary varieties that stood out from the packaging. Both "Burning Heart" and "Hot Flash" make me blush. The color was so unusual that I had to stop and take a closer look. My first thought was, why are these not sold as indoor plants?
If you don’t already know, cool kids in the world of houseplant parents are fascinated by growing fritillaria indoors. One of my students who attended the UCLA Indoor Plant Promotion Course now runs his own plant truck in California called The Haus Plant (found them on Instagram as @thehausplant). If I tell you how much he charges per jar of fritillaria, you won't believe me.
Now, this is not to say that Fritillaria will not pose a challenge as an indoor plant, especially if one wants them to remain lush and leafy throughout the year. But we will talk about it shortly.
The genus Caladium, whose name is derived from the Latinized Malay name kaladi, includes seven species native to South and Central America. However, this plant moves around. This species is not only naturalized in parts of Africa, India, and other tropical regions, but there are also about 1,000 different named species—maybe more at the moment because I may not count them.
You will find Caladium spp. It grows naturally along river banks and bright and humid forest areas. This is why Fritillaria makes such wonderful shade and partial shade foliage ornamental plants for warm climate gardens.
Although studies have shown that many plants that grow in tropical or subtropical rainforest-type environments will grow more leaves before the dry winter (thus evaporating more and may bring them back to the rainy season), Fritillaria prefers to rush out And let the big tree do the heavy work. As the day length shortens (night duration increases, this may only be a negligible change near the equator, but as you move away from the equator, the difference will become larger), the autumn temperature will slightly decrease (depending on the location) and the humidity will decrease, Fritillaria leaves begin to wither, and tubers can enter a state of ecological dormancy in the dry winter. The hibernation state can last for several months or longer, depending on the conditions. When the rainy season returns, the tubers rejuvenate and grow new leaves.
Now, we all know that once you arrive in North America, this dormant reaction will become more intense, and the photoperiod and temperature changes will be more pronounced. You can bet that once the temperature drops below 60° F, the fritillary will not want part of it. Hardy is only available in the US Department of Agriculture Zone 9-10. Many gardeners across the United States have to pick tubers from the garden after the leaves wilt. As you move north, the photoperiod changes more significantly. These shortened days tell tubers the dry season The way to come to it.
So, how do these environmental sensitivities affect their use as indoor plants? Although you can of course keep plants warm enough indoors, this may not be enough to prevent them from entering at least a brief dormant state. The humidity in the indoor environment is relatively low, which may encourage plants to pass the winter south. Combine low humidity with a shorter photoperiod in autumn (yes, even indoors), and you may not be able to stop your fritillary from resting. Now, you can use the grow light to extend the photoperiod and place the mother-of-pearl under glass or in a glass cabinet to maintain high humidity (just like savvy plant parents now assemble glass IKEA cabinets, etc.), but there is still no guarantee that they will win Don't take a nap anyway.
What I want to say is that it is much easier to hibernate Fritillaria in your potted house than it is to remove Fritillaria tubers from the garden and store them. When the leaves begin to show signs of wilting in the fall, just reduce watering until the plant is completely dormant, trim off all old leaves, and then place the pot in a cool, dry place for a few months. That's it. In late winter or early spring, as the length of sunlight increases, put your plants back in the sunny windows and start watering lightly. Once the first pair of leaves begin to appear, give your potted fritillary a small amount of houseplant fertilizer to help it prepare for spring.
This is a fairly simple process, no different from the way we instruct customers to plant and store indoor forced amaryllis bulbs, which have a summer rest period. However, for industry professionals and family enthusiasts, growing Fritillaria indoors still seems a bit mysterious. With the speed at which indoor plant lovers are devouring all kinds of super challenging plants and high humidity Maranta and Calathea spp., I believe they are willing to accept the challenge of Fritillaria.
Reusing common outdoor crops as unusual and ideal indoor plants boils down to providing consumers with some simple step-by-step instructions and helping them imagine indoor plants. If you do not market common tubers (such as Fritillaria) together with other bulbs and bulbs as indoor plants, you may miss an excellent opportunity.
Leslie (CPH) owns Halleck Horticulture, LLC, through which she provides horticultural consulting, business and marketing strategies, product development and branding, and content creation for green industry companies. lesliehalleck.com
Controlling the growth of various spring crops can be a challenge, but a properly organized PGR strategy can help.
Trying to control the growth of all the different spring crops can be a challenge. Because our greenhouse has so much diversity, people can work hard to maintain all the requirements for different species and cultivars (Figure 1), and the plant growth regulator (PGR) strategy is no exception.
There are several methods of applying plant growth regulators to greenhouse crops, including foliar sprays, substrate soaking, lining dipping, and bulb soaking. Each of these methods is effective for applying PGR, but each method has advantages and limitations.
Lining impregnation and bulb soaking are applied techniques at specific stages of production or for specific crops. Foliar spraying is the most widely used application technique, for example when transplanting seedlings into the final container.
However, I believe that the substrate infusion must have a place in your PGR toolbox to control the growth of spring crops. This article will focus on how to maximize the effectiveness of PGR infusion to control the growth of container crops.
If foliar spraying is so common, why consider applying PGRs when the substrate is soaked? First, the immersion solution is to apply a known volume of PGR solution to each container. Compared with foliar spraying, this helps to improve the uniformity of crop growth control. Compared with spraying, water immersion can also provide longer growth control time. Although if too much PGR is applied, the increase in activity duration will increase the chance of over-regulation, but when applied correctly, this can give you an advantage.
One of the most important aspects of applying a matrix wetting solution is to choose the correct chemical or active ingredient. When applying PGR to a substrate, you need to choose a PGR with substrate activity. Ancymidol (Abide, A-Rest) flurprimidol (Topflor), paclobutrazol (Bonzi, Paczol, Piccolo) and biconazole (Concise, Sumagic) are the most commonly used substrate soaking active ingredients. Although methylammonium chloride (Citadel, Cycocel) does have some activity when applied to substrates, it is not labeled for leaching in the United States. There is currently no label for ethephon (Collate, Florel) for substrate impregnation, but as recent studies report the effectiveness of ethephon impregnation, the label may change in the near future.
Soaking can be used at different points in the entire crop production process, from after transplanting to the last stage before transportation.
Generally, the roots should not be soaked before they have grown through the substrate and contacted the container wall. This time will vary depending on the size of the container and the type of plant, but it is usually between 1 and 2 weeks. If you plan to prune crops, spray when axillary branches begin to grow and are between 1 and 2 inches in length. Similarly, although the application time after pruning varies with plant species and vigor, it is usually between 1 and 2 weeks.
Although most PGR applications are carried out earlier in the production cycle, late spraying can be used to control unwanted stretching at the end of production. For example, poinsettia usually uses delayed wetting to counteract the delayed stretching that may occur.
Similarly, a lower concentration spray application can be used to slow down or hold the basket later.
When you consider how much to apply, the amount of active ingredient delivered to each container is a function of the volume and concentration of the solution. First, the amount of solution applied must be proportional to the size of the container. As the size of the container increases, the appropriate solution volume also increases. For example, although 2 fluid ounces are recommended for 4-inch containers, 4 fluid ounces are suitable for 6-inch containers and 15 fluid ounces are suitable for 10-inch hanging baskets.
As with any PGR application, the degree of activity increases with PGR concentration (Figure 2). It is important to know that the concentration of PGR for flooding is usually much lower than the concentration for foliar sprays. Although specific recommendations are beyond the scope of this article, please do some research to understand which concentration you should start trialing in your facility.
The growth substrate composition also affects the concentration of the immersion solution. For example, when mixed with peat, steamed rice husks will not reduce PGR activity when watered. When PGR is applied to a substrate containing bark, the efficacy of PGR will be reduced, because the bark will bind some PGR, making it unusable for plant roots. When treating plants growing in a substrate containing bark, increase the concentration of the PGR solution instead of the volume of the solution.
The active ingredient, application time and application rate all affect the effectiveness of the wet liquor. Conduct internal trials to understand how PGR infusion can improve your production.
Christopher is an associate professor of horticulture in the Department of Horticulture at Iowa State University. ccurrey@iastate.edu