As labor costs soar and the need for efficiencies increases, Oregon nurseries are embracing technology like never before.
Nurseries use new propagation systems with biodegradable liners
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Nurseries are testing new propagation systems using biodegradable pots and are designed to optimize production and improve plant development.
Oregon nurseries say a good work-life balance is critical to their success
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In an industry reliant on labor, maintaining a healthy workforce is critical. And for many nurseries, ensuring the health of a workforce means much more than ensuring employees get home safe at night.
Greenhouse structures vary, so pick the one that suits your operation best
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At Little Prince of Oregon Nursery, a wholesale annuals/perennials grower in Aurora, Oregon, Mark Leichty works with several styles of greenhouses, including gutter connect, Quonset-style and peak-roofed structures. His preference is a GK Machine peak-roofed greenhouse, part of the Donald, Oregon, company’s 5000 series. And, fitting with Leichty’s philosophy, you can find several of the […]
Shippers must sift through layers of deception
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Shippers, brokers and carriers increasingly must be watchful for a fraudulent practice called ‘double brokering’
The problem of the root
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Growers, suppliers discourage tap roots and circling with pruning pots and grow bags.
Finding your flow
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Today’s technology can automate every aspect of irrigation, saving labor and water, but it comes with a price With irrigation controls at your fingertips and data on soil moisture levels and plant stress a click away, today’s nursery producer has more control over plant health than at any time in history. And with labor and […]
Stretched to the limit
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Extreme weather wreaks havoc on greenhouse poly film With 15 acres of greenhouses under his management, Jeremy Dewar at North American Plants in McMinnville, Oregon, replaces polyethylene (poly) film on a recurring basis. Lately, however, he is replacing it at a higher rate than usual. Like other greenhouse operations in Oregon, the greenhouses at North […]
A season of nightmares
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With low availability and higher driver and truck costs, shipping costs skyrocketed in 2022 For as long as Erica Hill can remember, Union Pacific railroad has provided the nursery industry with a special commodity rate to move stock during the spring shipping season. Until this year, that is. “With container availability issues and with the […]
Lean outdoor growers ferret out waste, boost profits
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Small margins and lengthy production timelines at nurseries mean that small changes implemented with Lean production techniques can add up to less waste and better margins — while better protecting workers.