Another Cultivate has come and gone in Columbus, and it was quite the eventful one. There were more booths and companies there than ever dedicated to controlled environment agriculture, with quite a few of them focusing on hydroponic produce growing. I also got the added bonus of coming home early with a bout of COVID, so unfortunately, I wasn’t able to cover the entire show floor. I will give you the highlights of some of what I saw, plus what our other intrepid editors were able to cover. (Side note, I’m on the mend, but please take care of yourself out there if you’re traveling this summer. I’m reading transmission is increasing pretty rapidly.)

On to the tech ... One of the first booths I stopped at was Ingersoll Rand, which was debuting its Ion Solutions cold plasma water treatment system for oxygenation and disinfection. It was the first time the system had been shown in public, according to Global Marketing Manager Helen Mubarak Boultinghouse.

What makes it unique? Cold plasma doesn’t use synthetic chemicals and it uses a low amount of energy. The tech “uses cold plasma to inject ions such as stable oxygen nanobubbles and reactive oxygen species directly into the water,” according to the company. “The result is high quality, plasma-activated water containing dissolved oxygen and increased oxidation reduction potential.”

Helen says the technology uses about 10% of the energy normally needed to  accomplish the same tasks with other methods and it can be used to treat large tanks of water using a small machine. Find out more at www.ingersollrand.com.

It was hard to miss the Ag Glide booth, which was displaying a new vertical farming option of mobile racking system. The company, a division of Grow Glide, just launched the new system in the weeks prior to the show. It includes a modular table system with a variety of setups available, a flush-mounted drainage system and multiple options for integrating lighting solutions.

There are multiple levels with a ladder and catwalk system to allow growers to view upper levels and walk through to monitor all areas of growth. Check out more at www.agglide.com.

Another unique tech caught my eye down another aisle: the on-site hydrogen peroxide generator. I talked to Cord Nunez, sales director for agriculture at hpnow, who said the technology has been on the market since 2015 in Europe, but really has only been in the U.S. and Canada for about 18 months.

This machine, no larger than a refrigerator, is able to create hydrogen peroxide on site at a growing operation at a 0.25% concentration. It’s easy to use and eliminates the need for growers to bring in and store hydrogen peroxide that uses lots of stabilizers. The hydrogen peroxide from the machine is 99.99% pure and breaks down to water and oxygen downstream, he says.

Find out more at www.hpnow.com

Like I said, I only covered a portion of the show floor. Here’s what Bossman Beytes found during his time on the show floor:

Signify/Philips, one of the leaders in horticultural LED technology, introduced the dimmable Grid Light. Measuring 44 in. x 44 in. and powered by 120 to 277 volts, the Grid Light is suitable for small or large commercial operations, vertical growing, propagation racks, even home use. An application guide, based on 15 years of research, is included.

At the opposite end of the, er, spectrum, is “The Force”—a high-powered wide-beam light designed for high-wire crops like tomatoes and cucumbers. And cannabis. www.signify.com/en-us

Ebb-and-flow bench manufacturer Innovative Growers Equipment (IGE) of Sycamore, Illinois, saw a need for high-quality, domestically produced racks for vertical growing applications. So they now design and build them, utilizing heavy-duty steel, rollers and hardware for durability in the growing environment. And, of course, they accommodate their ebb-and-flow benches.

And if growers need LEDs attached to them, IGE can provide that, too, with in-house engineered and assembled LED racks with a spectrum selected specifically for cannabis. innovativegrowersequipment.com/grow-racks-cannabis

Want to see more of the show? The Bossman and our new videographer Osvaldo Cuevas highlighted our cool finds in a video on our YouTube page.

Didn’t know we had a YouTube page? We sure do. It’s at YouTube.com/GrowerTalks. Poke around to see the Retailer’s Choice Awards, too, and other videos we’ve done recently.

I want to give a big shout out to this year’s winners of our annual GrowerTalks/The Ball Horticultural Company Young Grower and Green Profit/The Garden Center Group Young Retailer Awards. This year’s winners are:

Young Grower: Quinten Henning, 23, vice president of Henning’s Farm and Greenhouse in DeMotte, Indiana

Young Retailer: Ashleigh Munro, 32, garden center coordinator of Kiwi Nurseries in Acheson, Alberta, Canada.

You'll be able to read more about both of them in our upcoming September issue of GrowerTalks/Green Profit, as they'll be our cover story features on both sides.

I also want to congratulate our two finalists for each of the awards:

Young Grower: Mike Krueger, Midwest Groundcovers (St. Charles, Illinois) and Erika Ramos, J. Berry Nursery (Grand Saline, Texas)

Young Retailer: Casey McCollum, Plant Perfect Garden Center (Bismark, North Dakota) and Will O’Hara, Van Wilgen’s Garden Center (North Branford, Connecticut).

It was a pleasure meeting all of our nominees!

In non-Cultivate-related news, I recently talked to Matt Quiring, senior vice president of sales for Nature Fresh Farms, to find out more about their plans to jump into organic strawberry production at the Delta, Ohio, greenhouse facility. That is, after they finish a 45-acre expansion project. Here’s an excerpt from the story, which you can read in full on our new website, www.inside-grower.com. 

Currently there’s 45 acres in production right now in Delta for conventionally grown tomatoes, and the goal is to construct 45 more acres in one build over the next year to begin strawberry production mid-October 2023, Matt says.

“We decided we wanted to move forward with the build in Ohio for a number of reasons. Our team there is always eager to take on more and as a company we really believe in providing new advancement opportunities,” Matt said, adding their research led them to determine organic strawberries were a growth opportunity due to lack of availability in the market, particularly once field production was done. “Over the past two years we really made an investment into starting to get into this berry category. We’ve seen demand levels continuing and interest levels from retailers continuing to increase.

“Greenhouse strawberries seems to be continuing to take off and see a ton of demand at retail.”

CLICK HERE to read the full story.

My colleague Matthew Chappell recently ran an item in his newsletter that I wanted to get out to indoor growers, as well. Here’s what he wrote:

Certis Biologicals, the manufacturer of BotaniGard and Mycotrol mycoinsecticides, will begin sales of its well-known products to established nursery and greenhouse pesticide distributors on October 1, 2022. The company had distributed the two products through a third party under an agreement that ends in September. Certis Biologicals will begin selling the bioinsecticide products directly through their established distribution channel partners.  

“BotaniGard and Mycotrol are proven and highly effective products powered by Beauveria bassiana strain GHA. We are grateful for the opportunity to supply these products to the customers who have depended upon them to protect plants in their greenhouses, nurseries and gardens for years,” said Amy O’Shea, President & CEO. “We will be using the weight of our established distribution channel partners and experienced technical staff to support the transition of these products back into our portfolio.” 

Beginning October 1, customers will be able to purchase BOTANIGARD 22WP, BOTANIGARD ES, BOTANIGARD MAXX, MYCOTROL WPO and MYCOTROL ESO from Certis Biologicals through leading retailers and distributors. BotaniGard and Mycotrol products are manufactured by Certis Biologicals in their U.S.-based manufacturing facilities using the GHA strain of Beauveria bassiana. They provide effective control against all life cycle stages of aphids, thrips, weevils, whiteflies and many other insects that threaten the health and yields of crops. 

“Certis Biologicals has long been the leader in providing solutions for all growers, whether they are large-scale commercial producers who grow in-ground or in greenhouses or gardeners in their own backyards,” says Jim Black, Business Director. “Our successful partnership with BioWorks will continue as we work together to successfully transition customers of BotaniGard and Mycotrol to Certis Biologicals.” 

Certis Biologicals and BioWorks are collaborating to ensure that all customers are served during this summer and into early fall. Customers who are interested in learning more about Certis Biologicals can visit www.certisbio.com or www.certisbio.com/greenhouse.