Chris Beytes - Ball Redbook: Greenhouses and equipment

Ball Publishing

622 Town Road

West Chicago, Illinois 60185

www.ballpublishing.com

Copyright 2011 Ball Publishing. All rights reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, photographs were taken by Chris Beytes, copyright 2011 Ball Publishing. All rights reserved.

Ball Publishing would like to thank the following people and companies who contributed photography to this volume: H.E. Anderson, Blackmore Company, Bouldin & Lawson, Cravo Equipment, Dramm Corporation, Jaderloon, Nexus Greenhouse Systems, PanAmerican Seed, Private Gardens, C. Raker & Sons, Rough Brothers, TrueLeaf Technologies, Flier Systems, Westbrook Greenhouse Systems, and Jim Willmott.

Cover designed by Christine Truesdale.

Cover photography by Mark Widhalm, copyright 2011 Ball Publishing. All rights reserved.

Interior designed by Bay Graphics, Walworth, Wisconsin.

Edited by Rick Blanchette.

Printed by Walsworth Print Group, Marceline, Missouri.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage-and-retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Disclaimer of liabilities: Reference in the publication to a trademark, proprietary product, or company name is intended for explicit description only and does not imply approval or recommendation to the exclusion of others that may be suitable.

While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy and effectiveness of the information in this book, Ball Publishing makes no guarantee, express or implied, as to the procedures contained herein. Neither the authors nor the publisher will be liable for direct, indirect, incidental, or consequential damages in connection with or arising from the furnishing, performance, or use of this book.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Ball redbook. 18th ed.

v.

Includes index.

Contents: v. 1. Greenhouses and equipment / edited by Chris Beytes v. 2. Crop production / edited by Jim Nau.

ISBN-13: 978-1-883052-67-6 (v. 1)

ISBN-10: 1-883052-67-X

ISBN-13: 978-1-883052-68-3 (v. 2)

1. Floriculture. 2. Plants, Ornamental. 3. Ornamental plant industry. I. Beytes, Chris, 1960- II. Nau, Jim, 1958 SB405.B254 2011

635.9dc23

2011035401

ISBN: 978-1-883052-67-6

Printed in the United States of America.

1 2011

Dedication

This eighteenth edition, published on the eve of the RedBooks eightieth anniversary, is dedicated to its founder, George J. Ball, and to his son Vic. It was Georges vision that created what are today the Ball Horticultural Company, GrowerTalks magazine, and the Ball RedBook. For his entire career until his death in 1997, Vic Ball was the industrys champion of education, communication, and sharing. We at Ball Publishing are proud to continue the journey along the path that these two pioneers blazed for us all. As George wrote, circa 1930, Our books and trade papers are the most powerful source of information and exchange of ideas that we have. We believe that still holds true in 2011, even as books and trade papers are augmented by the Internet and all that it offers.

Most growers worldwide would agree that if they could only have one book on their office shelf, it would be the Ball RedBook.

The first edition of the Ball RedBook, published in 1932, sold for twenty cents, and was titled Ball Red Book, Miscellaneous Flower Seed Crops. George J. Ball penned the manuscript in longhand. At that time, almost all growers produced cut flowers, and most were also florists. That first edition featured cutting-edge crop culture on cut flowers such as asters (Callistephus), stock (Matthiola), snapdragons (Antirrhinum), larkspur (Consolida), calendula, sweet peas (Lathyrus), mignonette (Reseda odorata), zinnias, Clarkia (Godetia), centaurea, gerbera, Didiscus, and Scabiosa. The only bedding plants were petunias, candytuft (Iberis), marigolds (Tagetes), and lupine.

In todays floriculture industry, the bread-and-butter commodity cut flower production has moved offshore to Colombia and Ecuador, and most greenhouse producers focus on producing high-value, quick-turning bedding plants, perennials, foliage, and flowering pot plants. There are niche growers producing cut flowers, and, interestingly, many of the crops written about in the first Ball RedBook are viable, profitable cut flowers today. Incidentally, updated crop culture for most of these crops appears in this eighteenth edition.

As the industry changed, so has the Ball RedBook. Vic Ball took over the RedBook editing duties from his father and improved it with each subsequent edition. Over the years, the size of the book has increased to accommodate an expanding list of crops grown from seed and cuttings.

The Ball RedBook also has always touched on the technology side of the industry, with Vic sharing the contents of his notebooks filled with comments from growers all over the United States, Canada, and Europe on new ideas such as hydroponics, Dutch trays, roll-out bedding plants, open-roof greenhouses, round-robin production systems, transplanters, and more. There was no innovation that excited growers about which Vic Ball wasnt interested. His passion for encouraging innovation among growers and sharing information about growers was boundless. Vic was an inspiration to those of us who were fortunate to work with him and to every grower he encountered. Vic served as editor of the sixteenth edition of the RedBook and passed away in 1997, shortly after it was published.

When we published the seventeenth edition in 2003, we expanded the book into two volumes in order to devote even more pages to the topics of greenhouse production and crop culture. Volume 1: Greenhouses and Equipment, and Volume 2: Crop Production. Each volume is complete in its own right as a stand-alone book. Together, however, the volumes include enough practical information to set anyone interested in becoming a greenhouse grower on the road to success. Existing growers who have relied on the Ball RedBook as their first consulted reference text will find the volumes to be an invaluable resource.

This eighteenth edition continues the tradition of excellence set by the previous seventeen editions. Long-time GrowerTalks editor Chris Beytes again handled the editing duties on Volume 1, while Jim Nau, Greenhouses and Gardens Manager for Ball Horticultural Company, tackled Volume 2. An experienced horticulturist with several books to his credit, including the Ball Culture Guide and Ball Perennial Manual, Jim worked tirelessly for over a year to update the volume with many new crops.

Volume 1: Greenhouses and Equipment covers the basics of greenhouse structures and the tools needed to produce and market quality crops. This latest edition includes updated sections on open-roof greenhouse technology, water sanitation, lean flow, sustainability, robotics, and alternative energy such as biomass boilers, solar and wind power.

Volume 2: Crop Production covers the basics of floricultural production in the greenhouse. Written in laymens terms, the book is divided into two parts. Part 1 presents the basics of growingincluding broad topics such as water, media, nutrition, temperature, light, and postharvest, as well as applied subjects such insect and disease control and growth regulatorsall in grower-friendly text and graphics. Part 2 is a cultural encyclopedia of every important greenhouse crop, from annuals to cut flowers, perennials and potted plants. Dozens of contributors lent their expertise to its pages. There, youll find propagation, growing on, pest control, troubleshooting, and postharvest information presented in an easy-to-use format.