August 2021 - 7

CELEBRATING 60 YEARS
member of the family who is active in
the business is Miss Margie Hartmann,
sister of Pat Hartmann Sr., who serves as
secretary and handles bookkeeping chores
at Grand Junction.
Danny Hartmann said that they sell
plants in virtually every state in the country,
Canada, New Zealand and throughout
Europe. Sales take place year-round,
although the majority of the plants are
shipped in containers from Grand Junction
between October and June.
Blue Crop is the leader in sales followed
in order by Blue Jay, Blue Ray, Elliot and
Northland.
In their commercial plantation the
Hartmanns planted eight acres of Blue Jay
in the spring of 1980. This variety is a 1978
Michigan State University (MSU) release
that should be ready for the initial harvest
in 1985.
They also are growing five acres each of
Northland, a 1965 MSU introduction, and
Elliot, which was introduced in 1974 by
the USDA. Other varieties they grow are
Collins, Blue Ray, Blue Crop, and Jersey.
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Danny Hartmann is shown by some of
the plants in the growth room where
1 million blueberry plants can be grown
simultaneously using tissue culture.
The blueberries are harvested with a
machine manufactured by BEI, located
at South Haven, Michigan. In fact, last
August they purchased the prototype of a
new BEI harvester.
All of the blueberries grown
commercially at the Hartmann Plantation
are marketed through the Michigan
Blueberry Growers Association, Grand
Junction.
Although Danny Hartmann said they
have " just been experimenting up to this
time with tissue culture, " the intensity of
this experimentation has placed them on
the brink of a commercial breakthrough.
" This is a new thing in blueberries, " said
Danny Hartmann, who added: " We have a
lot of problems to overcome. "
Three years ago they constructed their
26 x 26-foot building to be used as a
laboratory. This building consists of two
rooms with both of them maintained in as
sterile a condition as possible to prevent
contamination to the plant.
Two years ago they used tissue culture
to propagate their first blueberry plants
experimentally. " I knew little if anything
about tissue culture, but gradually
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worked through most of the problems, "
Danny Hartmann continued.
The idea for tissue culture came to
the Hartmanns from Pat Hartmann's
brother, James Hartmann, who is a plant
pathologist at Florida Atlantic University,
Boca Raton, Florida. " Without his support
and influence, it's doubtful we ever would
have started, " Danny Hartmann said.
Some of the advantages of incorporating
tissue culture into a nursery operation
include: 1) faster-growing plants; 2) better
quality; 3) minimize disease; and 4)
propagation of greater number of plants.
Danny Hartmann noted that with
traditional methods of propagation, up
to 10 years might be required to grow a
quantity of plants, 10,000 for example,
and with tissue culture this period can be
reduced to two years for the same number.
He said that although comparable
costs have not been worked out year, it
would appear that tissue culture is in the
same range as the traditional method of
propagation. This will apply to any variety,
he said.
In addition to tissue culture, the
Hartmann family has a number of
innovations in the blueberry industry to
its credit. For example, Pat Hartmann built
a packer into the fresh market line for
pint containers of blueberries. With three
people running the machine, up to 200
cases can be packed hourly. The packer is
now being handled by BEI.
The Hartmanns also were among the
first blueberry growers to use a water line
in their packing line. Now others have
followed their lead and installed water
lines themselves.
These and other innovations taking
place at the Hartmann plantation are a
tribute to Pat Hartmann who has always
encouraged his children to try new
ideas, including tissue culture, and make
whatever inputs are necessary for them
to work as a practical part of the farming
enterprise. FGN
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August 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of August 2021
