Join a team of Cornell Cooperative Extension educators from across NYS for a virtual Greenhouse Grower School taking place on Wednesday February 9th. The morning will feature the following speakers:
9-9:45 Rick Yates – Title: Hot Topics in Pest Control
Join us for a deep dive on current pest-control issues from a grower’s perspective. Learn about the about newer pesticides and how to utilize them in a sound rotational strategy. Plant dips, the role of nutrition, advancements in biocontrols and related topics are included to help improve pest control reducing dependence on traditional chemistry.
9:45-10:30 Meg McGrath – Title: The Lowdown in Basil Downy Mildew
While there have been substantial advancements in management of downy mildew in basil, especially for greenhouse crops, since this disease was first detected in the U.S. in 2007, it continues to be one of the most important diseases in herb crops. Meg will cover new management tools plus changes detected recently in the pathogen affecting resistant varieties, and she will provide recommendations on how best to achieve effective control. Her webpage on basil downy mildew includes a section focused on management in greenhouses: https://www.vegetables.cornell.edu/pest-management/disease-factsheets/basil-downy-mildew/.
10:30-10:45 Break
10:45-10:50 NYS Flower Industries: Brief overview of NYSFI & membership
10:50-11:25 Rich Stup – Title: Strategies for Retaining Your Valuable Employees
In this time of labor shortages, the workforce has become a strategic asset for businesses. What steps are you taking to ensure you have the right people with the right skills when you need them? This session will focus on the keys to retaining your most valuable and productive employees.
11:25-11:45 Ag and Markets – Title: Update from NYS Department of Agriculture & Markets on the hemp industry
11:45- 12:30 Margery Daughtrey – Title: ”Hindsight! The Best Teacher!”
Margery will be showcasing some of the wildest and woolliest diseases of 2020-2021, showing how to recognize these problems and how to avoid them in the future through foreknowledge and cultural, environmental and fungicidal management techniques. Unusual fungal and bacterial leaf spots on begonias, cannas, ipomoea, New Guinea imaptiens and poinsettias; peculiar branching structure on dahlias; crown gall on mums; powdery mildews on new hosts; foliar nematodes on hydrangea; Phytophthora on ivy; Sclerotinia, Rhizoctonia, Fusarium and Thielaviopsis where they are least wanted; aster yellows on echinacea; Ralstonia solanacearum on geraniums, and Impatiens necrotic spot virus on lobelia, impatiens and coleus will be covered, showing the plant symptoms and how to arrive at a diagnosis. An integrated approach to management of these diseases will be presented.
PM Virtual Presentations
1:15pm-1:25: Presentation from Mike Mitchell on New York State Flower Industries
1:25-2:15pm John Sanderson – Title: How to handle and release biocontrol agents for best results
How can you ensure that the beneficials you’ve purchased will work their best? Learn how to avoid making mistakes about how you release and manage beneficial organisms to maximize the cost-effectiveness of your investment. Learn best practices for receiving shipments and storing a variety of beneficials (and which ones should not be stored), and how to release them into your greenhouse for best results.
2:15-3:00pm Judson Reid – Title: Biocontrols in greenhouse vegetables and ornamentals
Growing vegetable transplants and flowers together is a spatial necessity for most growers, but is mixing the two a good idea? Are there control options that can be used in both categories? Biological controls such as predatory insects and mites can reduce pest pressure and insecticide use in flowers and vegetables. In this session we will cover real life examples of how to implement biocontrols in mixed cropping systems, cost and effective species/techniques.
3:00-4:00pm EnSave/NYSERDA Greenhouse Energy Audit presentation
Up to 3.75 DEC credits are available for both the AM and PM sessions. The cost to attend the virtual grower school is $50/person. Payment is required at the time of registration. The zoom link will be sent the morning of February 8th to the email used in the registration. Registration is required by February 7th. Any questions can be directly to Laura Biasillo at lw257@cornell.edu.
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