Digger magazine

Written to make you a nursery industry expert.

May 2020: Coping with COVID-19

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The COVID-19 pandemic has upended business-to-business relationships and the entire retail marketplace for the green industry. From navigating social distancing requirements on the worksite to offering services to quarantined customers, nurseries and greenhouses explain how they are doing their best in this issue. Plus, researchers describe how mycorrhizae amendments add to plant efficiency, and scientists […]

Michigan nurseries can resume operations

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Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has modified that state’s stay-at-home orders from March 23 and 30 with a new order issued April 24, thereby allowing the state’s green industry businesses to resume operations immediately — provided they follow “enhanced” social distancing rules, as required by the state. Although the state’s stay-at-home mandate was extended through May 15, […]

A helper for plant roots

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Mycorrhizae use in nursery and greenhouse production can enhance nutrient absorption and plant growth Mycorrhizal fungi are beneficial microscopic soil organisms that have evolved in a symbiotic relationship with approximately 95% of the world’s plant species over the past several hundred million years. These fungi predate the evolution of terrestrial plants, and it was the […]

Up and running — online

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For retailers, an unfortunate pandemic accelerates the trend towards online ordering It’s May, the month of Mother’s Day and, typically, the peak season for garden centers and nurseries in Oregon and around the Northwest. It’s the month when Americans usually spend close to $1.9 billion on flowers to honor their moms and when pastime gardeners […]

The first employee people see

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Imagine you hired an employee who, when asked about your inventory, could only tell people what you used to sell. Or when asked where an item could be found, could only inexplicably point to empty space or not answer at all. Simply put, a single interaction with this employee might lead your customers to assume […]

Nurseries problem solve a pandemic

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Ben Rough (pronounced “row,” rhymes with “now”) will never forget his first day of work at J. Frank Schmidt & Son Co. nursery in Boring, Oregon. The newly hired CEO of the company started on March 23 — the same day that Oregon Gov. Kate Brown issued a mandatory stay-in-place order for Oregonians in response […]

Director’s Desk: We have your back

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Gardening is not canceled. Oregon’s nursery, greenhouse, retail and supply chains are open for business. Our state and governor could have mandated full closures and declared our businesses non-essential. The fact they didn’t do this is a credit to the OAN’s leadership and its advocacy team. They were the perfect picture of vision, pure effort […]

President’s Message: Into the unknown

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Spring is a hectic time. Add in a worldwide pandemic with economic uncertainties, and it can be a recipe for disaster. The most unnerving aspect is the unknown. As an industry, we are accustomed to unpredictable weather. We see damaging frosts, rainy weekends, and hot, dry summers stressing the growing season. These are all hiccups […]

New Mexico garden retailers can reopen

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Independent nursery retailers in New Mexico have won the right to reopen for business, provided they do it via curbside pickup and/or delivery service only. The state government had previously left garden centers, retail nurseries and retail greenhouses off the state’s list of essential businesses, although farms — a category that includes wholesale growers — were […]