On June 15 and June 16, PanAmerican Seed organized FlowerTalk where they shared information for young plant growers and finished growers in two separate webinars in which not only new products have been announced, but also technical and hot topics have been discussed. Curious? Below, the full webinars as well as a small summary on the topics that were highlighted.
Webinar 1: Focus on Young Plant Growers
In this first webinar, which is focused on the growers, Leon Vrijland, Cultural Research Officer for PanAmerican Seed and Kieft Seed at PanAmerican Seed and Diego Poot, Technical Support at PanAmerican Seed will give more information their efforts regarding limiting the use of chemicals and tips on how to prevent algae and fungus gnats. In the meantime, nice videos will be shown in which new varieties are being presented.
PGR's
The first topic is moving away from the use of PGR's, or the use of chemicals in general. A lot of retailers, nowadays, are asking for varieties without chemicals. He explains that they are looking into this at their location in Venhuizen; not only in breeding but also in cultivation. They try to breed more compact varieties, but when this is not possible, they look for alternatives that are still friendly for the nature, like changing the climate the plant is growing in, the use fertilizers and lately they are also trialing with the use of LED's.
Algae and fungus gnats
The, Diego gives more information on algae and fungus gnats. Algae developments is one of the big challenges for plug growers around the world as it sometimes can overgrow the seedlings, and can even create a water repellent layer on top of the soil. Light, high temperatures and moister is perfect habitat for algae In the webinar, shares some tips and focus points for the growers to where they need to put their attention to, because it is not just one thing the grower need to change or adjust to keep it under control. In short, he explains that the type of water is important, how it is stored, what kind of filtration is used, and if the grower use filtration, how the water is treated, the way the trays are being watered, how the trays, benches and greenhouse is being cleaned and so on. And if a grower is dealing with algae, they are often also dealing with fungus gnats. Luckily, there are several biological alternatives to combat these issues, but with biological control, it is important to stat at an early phase, not when it is already escalated.
Webinar 2: Focus on Finishing Growers
In this webinar, with the focus on finishing growers, Leon and Diego talk about biodegradable pots and plant diseases. In the meantime, nice videos will be shown in which new varieties are being presented.
Biodegradable pots
their initiatives and efforts regarding the use and suitability of their products for biodegradable pots. The question they asked themselves is: Can we have our genetics also be shown in a biodegradable pot? Together with Jiffy they did several trials over the years and nowadays, they notice several advantages.
Plant diseases and resistance
In this session, Ruud Brinkkemper, Breeder Director Europe and General Manager joined the table, when they start talking about different plant diseases. Growers are asked or forced to use less pesticides and as there are increasingly more new diseases showing up, breeding resistant varieties is becoming increasingly important. One variety of PanAmerican Seed that is know for it's high resistance to Impatiens downy mildew to is the Beacon series, which is bred by Ruud. He explains more about the history of the impatient, the resistance, the series and more.
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