Robin Rosetta, Oregon State University Extension horticulturist, demonstrates how to look for Eastern filbert blight. The North Willamette Research and Extension Center in Wilsonville, Ore., conducts extensive research.
AURORA, Ore. -- Reducing production costs on nurseries can mean the difference between sinking or swimming.
One place growers can look for cost savings is in pest control. In addition to saving on chemical expenses, reducing pesticide use can benefit the environment.
In many cases, g ...
Tuesday, September 01, 2009 1:40 PM
America's foundering economy, especially the housing and landscaping sectors, is doing no favors for nurseries that specialize in container and field stock.
The greenhouse sector, on the other hand, is doing well.
"Obviously, the economy is the major issue for our industry," said Joh ...
Tuesday, September 01, 2009 1:40 PM
Growers of native plants and seeds have found an expanding market in government roadside revegetation projects.
In 2007 U.S. Forest Service botanist Scott Riley co-wrote a paper outlining the opportunities for native plant growers created by new federal policies for forest highways in the ...
Tuesday, October 27, 2009 12:23 PM
A citrus-disease bill should be a sure thing this year, barring any bad luck.
Last year, with California in the earlier stages of a continuing budget crisis, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger put the brakes on all legislation to emphasize his budget-balancing priorities.
Among the legislat ...
Tuesday, September 01, 2009 1:39 PM
Chances are, the sweet and juicy strawberries you're eating this summer didn't come from seeds planted in the ground a few months ago.
They likely came from a third- or even fourth-generation plant that's been planted, harvested, shipped and replanted in a warmer climate.
Strawberry ...
Tuesday, September 01, 2009 1:39 PM
Often, insects are a producer's worst nightmare, but Western land-grant universities are working toward a bug-on-bug war to aid producers and reduce their dependence on chemicals.
The use of beneficial insects in orchards is the focus of research at University of California-Riverside, Ore ...
Tuesday, September 01, 2009 1:39 PM
Plant trends tend to follow fashion trends of the season, says Deby Barnhart, president of Cornell Farm, a nursery based in the Portland area.
"I'm always paying attention to what's being featured in retail stores," she said. "What colors are they showing, what's in the windows of Macy's ...
Tuesday, September 01, 2009 1:40 PM
Snow and ice storms that crushed greenhouses throughout Oregon's Willamette Valley at the end of last year continue to reverberate into 2009.
With nurseries reeling from depressed sales, costly repairs have aggravated the industry's economic distress, according to industry representatives ...
Tuesday, September 01, 2009 1:40 PM
Big box stores' adoption of "pay-by-scan" systems is fraying the relationship between mass merchants and some producers, industry experts say.
"It's kind of like a bad marriage," said Jerry Brown, marketing and business development director for the Fisher Farms Nursery in Oregon's Willame ...
Tuesday, September 01, 2009 1:40 PM
It's business as usual when it comes to sudden oak death in Oregon.
And that's a good thing.
After finding the disease in 15 to 18 nurseries annually earlier this decade, the disease has appeared only in four or five nurseries a year in recent years.
"People have changed behavio ...
Tuesday, September 01, 2009 1:40 PM
AURORA, Ore. -- Luisa Santamaria, who holds a doctorate in plant and soil sciences from the University of Delaware, has been hired as a nursery crops extension agent for the north Willamette Valley.
Santamaria, originally from Ecuador, brings to the table a knowledge of plant diseases and an ab ...
Tuesday, September 01, 2009 1:40 PM
WILSONVILLE, Ore. -- The Coalition for a Working Oregon -- a group of more than 20 business organizations -- was formed in 2007 largely to address the federal no-match rule, which at that time was being pushed by the Bush administration.
The rule, which has been tied up in federal courts ...
Tuesday, September 01, 2009 1:40 PM
Idaho nurseries, many of which specialize in cold-hardy trees for the Intermountain region, have seen their sales cool during the recession.
Nurseries and greenhouses in the Gem State sold an estimated $76.3 million worth of plants and plant materials in 2008, a 13 percent decline from 20 ...
Tuesday, September 01, 2009 1:40 PM
A tiny insect has turned an entire industry upside-down.
Fear that Asian citrus psyllids could infect the source of California's citrus trees with a deadly disease is driving citrus nurseries indoors, exchanging acres of growing space for square footage and a new environment. With the ch ...
Tuesday, September 01, 2009 1:40 PM
Meeting customers' needs -- and then some.
That's the prevailing tack nurseries take as they face the headwinds of a turbulent economy.
"It's businesses that have adapted that are seeing healthy bottom lines," said Jeanne McNeil, executive director of the Washington State Nursery &am ...
Tuesday, September 01, 2009 1:40 PM
