A little Bit of Everything All of the Time: Customer Service in the Internet Age

A Little Bit of Everything All of the Time: Customer Service in the Internet Age In this class we will discuss how to deal with the hardest, weirdest, most challenging customers (while continuing to delight the easy, pleasant ones) while keeping our cool and repping out brands using humor, a growth mindset and a lot of humor.

To E-comm or Not to E-comm – What are the questions?

Online shopping is a given in most of our daily lives. That means wholesale customers are starting to expect ecommerce options. Learn the questions to ask of yourself, your team, and your business before building or tweaking online shopping offerings so you meet your customers’ and your needs from the start.

Jeff Beattie
Winona Gardens
Winona, ON

Terry Colasanti
Colasanti Farms Ltd.
Ruthven, ON

Miguel Mori
Hendriks Greenhouses
Beamsville, ON

Panel: Experiences with E-commerce

Roberto Lopez
Michigan State University

Growing lettuce, herbs and vegetables in your greenhouse? Dr. Roberto Lopez of Michigan State University will share the secrets of success to improve seedling germination and growth, while reducing propagation time and unwanted stretch with temperature and light management.

Pierre-Marc de Champlain
Berger

Select the Right Propagation Mix to Help Secure Your ROI

Make informed choices related to growing media to optimize your production. What should be taken in consideration when selecting your mix?  Discover how your potting line set up can help streamline your operations and reduce manual handling.

Todd Cavins
Ball Horticultural Co. 

Best Practices for Storing Cuttings

Learn the key factors to ensure rooting success

James Gibson
Syngenta Flowers

911: Resuscitating a bad batch of cuttings

In today’s times challenges may arise in the unrooted and callused cutting supply chain. Border delays, unnecessary customs screens, airline re-routes, heightened or sub-temperature shipping boxes and personnel issues can result in receiving a bad batch.  What do you do if your cuttings come in looking poor? Sometimes it’s not worth reviving, but there are several scenarios when cuttings can rebound with specific cultural steps. Come learn these tips and tricks to revive a bad batch of cuttings.

 An Integrated Approach to Prevent Emerging Viral Disease Outbreak

In recent years, greenhouse vegetable growers are experiencing increased threats posted by several emerging viruses, including tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV) and pepino mosaic virus (PepMV) in tomato and cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV) in cucumber. These seed-borne and mechanically transmitted viruses are difficult to control. In order to bring these emerging viruses under management, three main parties, including seed companies, nursery propagators and greenhouse growers, would need to work together to prevent virus spread and disease outbreaks. Learn how an integrated approach can make it possible to protect greenhouse vegetables from emerging viral disease devastation.

Alex Grygorczyk
Vineland Research & Innovation Centre, ON

Consumer & Sensory Research at Vineland: Where we’ve been, where we’re headed & the growing role of digital media

This presentation will discuss themes that have emerged across multiple studies such as that consumers with higher levels of plant expertise may differ in their plant preferences from less knowledgeable consumers, sometimes in surprising ways. The growing influence of social media and digital marketing will also be covered with insights on how to use online tools to keep a pulse on trending plants and online garden centre shopping.

Katie Elzer-Peters
The Garden of Words

Hiring and Managing Web Developers & Marketers to Get Results

How do you hire and manage tech contractors or employees without speaking tech? What these people do isn’t magic, even if it seems like it is. Learn processes to follow and questions to ask your providers to ensure they deliver what you need on time and on budget.

Amanda Thomsen
Kiss My Aster

Into the Unknown: The Current & Future of Garden Centres

Into The Unknown: The Current & Future of Garden Centers 

Now that there’s no such thing as status quo and we are tapped out from all the pivoting, what’s next? Celebrate your flexibility and get inspired to continue to make the best out of difficult situations.

Learnings from the Field: Strawberry disease management

Recent work conducted in Ontario field strawberries on anthracnose fruit rot will be shared along with best practices for the new Neopestalotiopsis rot recently detected in Ontario.

From Transplanting to Harvest: Getting the most from your strawberry crop with dynamic lighting

With greenhouse strawberry production on the rise, light strategies need to keep up to ensure the production of high-quality strawberries throughout the year. However, there is no one-size-fits-all strategy as the optimal lighting conditions depend on the variety, developmental stage and the grower’s production goals. Pairing industry research with real-life case studies, this presentation will focus on how growers can use dynamic LED lighting to get the most out of their strawberry crop.

Getting Off the Ground: Growing berries in substrates

The introduction of substrate has had an enormous impact on Canada’s berry industry. By getting plants off the ground and into substrate, growers are extending their season and reducing overall labour inputs, while improving the quality and consistency of their product. But getting started with substrate can be intimidating. Tunnels or tabletop? Containers or grow bags? Which substrate is best for my plants? This Berry Substrate 101 presentation will share what systems to consider, what substrates are available and helpful tips to make sure you’re getting it right.

Strawberry Flower Mapping

Decisions regarding management practices in strawberry production should be based on the floral status of your plants.  You can assess floral status by flower mapping plants during any stage of production.  In this talk, Durner provides the science and methodology of flower mapping.  Flower mapping is not difficult and you can easily learn the technique and interpret the results to make science-based decisions regarding production practices rather than relying on tradition, calendar date, or guesses.