Marshall Dirks
Proven Winners

Trends for 2019 and Beyond – How the Consumer Will Change our Industry

Magda Pawlowska
Willowbrook Nurseries, Fenwick, ON

Perennial Flower Power

During the core selling season of May, garden centers are filled with colourful annuals and tropical plants while perennial plants are at times perceived as the plants that can be purchased and planted “later”.  Let’s change that perception! Find inspiration for selling perennials all season long.  Excite customers by offering them the right plant at the right time. Celebrate amazing perennials! 

Alice d'Entremont
Ouest-Ville Perennials, West Pubnico, NS

 Find Your Niche and Grow With It!

If you can’t find it, make it. The world of gardening, either ornamental or edibles, is always changing, and has so many opportunities for us to grow (pun intended).  But what if you can’t find the material you need to create your clients garden of their dreams? Now we have the possibility of a new venture. Grow with it!

Phil Johnson
The Grodan Group

Root Zone Management

Root Zone Management is an important tool for supporting and maintaining healthy and balanced plant growth. This presentation will talk about the definitions of vegetative and generative growth and the different parameters we have for control, especially those we can control in the root zone.  We will look to how we can use our irrigation and fertigation strategies to steer plant balance for maximum production. 

Melanie Yelton
Lumigrow

Smart Lighting in Greenhouse Cannabis Production to Increase Quality & Quantity

Lighting is one of the most expensive aspects of growing cannabis. Increasingly, LEDs are the lighting choice for indoor and greenhouse cultivation to effectively save energy and manage production. Smart LEDs offer growers the ability to define photoperiod, daily light integral and spectrum to create control over crop growth and drive production. Choosing LEDs requires a decision on what spectrum is best for different growing environments. Advantages of defined spectrum versus broad spectrum LEDs will be discussed. Results demonstrating that longer photoperiod, at lower intensity can reduce the vegetative cycle and how different wavelengths of light at specific times during the day can produce a more compact plant and may control THC levels.   Data will be presented on the effectiveness of using of a smart light sensor to optimize electricity usage while maximizing crop performance.

Vicki Hilborn
OMAFRA, Guelph

 Options to Control Light & Odour from Cannabis Production

This session will focus on the technologies and approaches available to cannabis producers to control light and odour from their operations.  Several options from operating facilities will be highlighted along with the comparative differences.

Allan M. Armitage
Athens, GA

This Thing We Call Horticulture, through one man’s eyes    (30 minutes)

Dr A has been working with the grower, retailer and landscapers in the industry as well as master gardeners and neighbors who talk about our plants to their friends. He will share his thoughts about what he sees out there concerning how we all got here, who succeeds and who doesn’t, his thoughts on story-telling to get people excited and what he hears everyone talking about. – all in Dr A’s unique style.  

Tom Shay
Profits Plus Solutions,
St. Petersburg, FL

 Advanced Professional Selling Skills       (60 minutes)

This session is for those who want to have a staff with the sales skills that are second to none. Explaining the nuances of the true professional with emphasis of the fine points such as word selection, questions to ask, how to ask questions, and even the stance a person takes that can cause substantial sales increases.

Suzanne Wainwright
Buglady Consulting

Judy Colley
Plant Products

Kevin Cullum
Koppert Inc.

A panel of industry experts discuss the latest approaches to IPM in cannabis production.