June 2020 - 34

This much is clear - we as a world are coming
together against this. It shows the best in people,
but unfortunately also brings out some of the
worst. I have had more fraudulent emails in the
past month than I can remember in the past year!
WHAT'S NEXT?
People are not traveling and, for the most part,
Pandemic
& Horticulture
Let's Talk
BY ANDREW BRITTEN
In these unprecedented times, growers must prepare for
the unpredictable season ahead.
A
s I sit here and write this, I am now
into day 73 of my Safer at Home
crusade. It is not because I had/have
the virus, but because I had five levels of my spine
fused together in my neck. To say the least, I am
probably the most ready person to get back to
normal of anyone out there, yet in 17 more days
when I finally get out of this brace, I probably
still won't be able to do a whole bunch. The good
news is that I am an avid concert goer and am
happily not missing any of the bands I really
wanted to see but could not with my surgery!
Being home, I have had a lot of time to watch
what is going on in our industry in reaction to the
34 JUNE 2020 GPNMAG.COM
pandemic. Our products bring joy and cleaner air
to our customers and as such have, in most areas
in the United States, been considered an essential
business. Without a doubt, we need to raise a
toast to all the health care workers, firefighters
and police that are on the front lines of this.
What we haven't done yet is raise a toast to all
of the hard workers in our industry that are still
coming in each day to make sure all the plants
around the country continue to look good and
make it to the stores and into people's homes. So,
here's to all the agriculture workers that continue
to work through all the craziness! You are all truly
heros as well.
really cannot. This is the time where we always
see an uptick in the plant industry as people
stay home and want to spruce up the place.
We see in the nation that people are learning to
social distance in stores and still be able to get
the plants that they want. It is nice to see that
grocery stores have also started stocking plants
again as well.
This is all new territory for us, so it is incredibly
challenging to predict exactly what is going to
happen. One thing for sure is that it is going
to happen in stages and not simply like an
on-and-off switch. Access to plants, landscaping
and outdoor activities will likely be the first things
to come back. I certainly do not expect to be
attending a concert in Miami anytime soon.
I am writing this in mid-April, so my predictions
will likely be known as right or wrong by the time
you read this. We have missed some of our key
spring sales this year, but people are still going to
be anxious to have their yards looking good.
Without a lot of the normal places for people
to spend extra cash available, there should be a
good flow of money for our industry. I predict that
June will become a large month for our industry
compared to years past. I am also predicting
there will be an increase in the purchase of
houseplants as well. We have already been seeing
the tropical trend increasing year over year
lately. Many of the interiorscapes have not been
maintained lately and will be changed out, putting
a large demand on the industry when things open
back up. Many landscape changeouts have been
delayed just the same.
I believe that now is the time that we need
to look at planting up crops, particularly warm
weather annuals and tropicals to meet this
upcoming demand. Remember that the first dump
is always the least costly. If you are holding onto
product in hopes to resell later, you are probably
best off dumping and getting a fresh crop started
for when the demand comes back in a strong way.
CROPS TO CONSIDER
For some ideas on things that would make
great plants to put in pots right now, I have put
together the following list.
1. Aglaonema - You can purchase rooted
cuttings of these and plant in a 4-inch pot
with a grow time of six weeks!
2. Chlorophytum - Spider plants are
something everyone knows and certainly an
item that brings me back to happy childhood
http://www.GPNMAG.COM
June 2020

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