GGS Structures

If you think about it, Halloween and garden centers are a natural fit. Halloween is an especially community-oriented holiday, which parents taking children to neighbors homes to trick or treat. A local business which has been around for decades they way most garden centers have been makes it as familiar as anyone else in town. Throw in the plant yard and its abundant space, and you have an advantage over most businesses in attracting customers to your store.

Studies have clearly shown that sales increase when a plant is branded. There are many benefits for you and your customers in branding your plants, including increased recognition, value and repeat purchases. If you have a quality product line that you’re unsure about branding, here are some reasons to reconsider.

When it comes to energy issues, these little items can really add up! Energy conservation has been a popular topic of conversation, but there are many aspects that are often overlooked by today’s growers.

Maximizing lighting efficiency is a major concern for many growers who rely on supplemental lighting in their greenhouse. Here are some criteria to take into account when choosing and maintaining your lamps. The lighting you choose depends on many things like what developmental stage your plants will be grown to, whether the plants receive light from other radiation sources, and the photoperiod length per day for your plant.

If you missed us at the Oregon Medical Marijuana Business Conference in Portland last weekend here are a few snapshots of the highlights.

The Dutch Bloemencorso Parade will be held on September 13th, 2015. Every float is made from daliahs to create breathtaking displays. The flower parade has become the oldest and most celebrated ode to blooms in Europe since it first began in 1939.

How many greenhouse operations are concerned with energy savings? I will bet almost every one of them at one time or another! Energy costs are at the top of the grower’s expenses and yet there are many operations that do not spend enough time investigating how to lower their energy use.

If you could go back and re-design your existing greenhouse, how many changes would you make? How many of those changes would be minor ones and how many would involve major structural, heating or other mechanical changes? Avoiding this in your future expansion is easy; have a checklist of things you should have in your greenhouse now and incorporate them into the next build.

Bill MacDonald, Horticulture professor at Niagara College reports that progress is going well in the Dominican Republic where Niagara College has been working with the local coffee association, ASOCAES, in the town of Los Cacaos. Coffee production has declined significantly due to coffee rust and there is a great need to diversify the local economy.