TECH ON DEMAND brought to you by GrowerTalks

Host Bill Calkins asked Jaime Kedrowski (Marketing Manager at Ball Seed Company) to join him for a discussion about the short-term future of our industry. This conversation was recorded live at the 2025 Ball Seed Customer Days open house event in West Chicago, IL.

For this episode, Bill had three “big ideas” that he introduced to Jaime one at a time to find out what she had to say about them (and if she had any even bigger ideas or...

Host Bill Calkins asked Seth Reed (Global Sustainability Manager at Ball Horticultural Company) to join him for a discussion about the short-term future of our industry. This conversation was recorded live at the 2025 Ball Seed Customer Days open house event in West Chicago, IL.

For this episode, Bill had three “big ideas” that he introduced to Seth one at a time to find out what he had to say about them (and if he had any even big...

In this episode of the Tech On Demand podcast, brought to you by GrowerTalks, host Bill Calkins sat down with SePRO’s Technical Development Manager (and PestTalks e-newsletter editor) JC Chong to discuss plant growth regulators. PGRs are critical for greenhouse professionals but really haven’t been covered much on the podcast. Now’s the time! JC and Bill start off with a conversation about what PGRs are and what they do before jump...

PAYING FOR THAT EFFICIENCY UPGRADE

FROM THE SUMMER 2025 ISSUE OF INSIDE GROWER MAGAZINE

WRITTEN BY DAVID KUACK

NARRATED BY BILL CALKINS

EXCERPT: When it comes to lowering operating costs for controlled environment growers, energy and labor are top of mind. The cost of labor is expected to continue to increase as the availability, hiring and retention of reliable workers becomes more challenging. The cost of energy—regardless of w...

GETTING THE MOST OUT OF TRIALS

FROM THE JUNE 2025 ISSUE OF GREEN PROFIT MAGAZINE

WRITTEN BY DYLAN SEDMAK

NARRATED BY BILL CALKINS

EXCERPT: Modern day variety trials—side-by-side comparisons of primarily annuals (along with some perennials, vegetables and even woodies)—take place across an array of institutions in North America. Beyond universities, companies have begun opening the doors to their own personal trial grounds. Many o...

EXPAND YOUR CANDIDATE POOL

FROM THE JUNE 2025 ISSUE OF GROWERTALKS MAGAZINE

WRITTEN BY TODD DOWNING

NARRATED BY BILL CALKINS

EXCERPT: Our industry is one of the most affected by the massive exit of so many retiring Baby Boomers who make up the green industry. Couple this with lower numbers of incoming talent and the demand for talent continues to far exceed the supply of candidates. While there are currently no magic answers, the...

This episode is a bit different—because it’s a live recording from a panel moderated by host Bill Calkins at the Darwin Perennials Day event in The Gardens at Ball on June 18, 2025. The audio quality is not as good as you’re used to hearing from this podcast, because it’s pulling from microphones in a tent with lunch being served and hundreds of growers in the background chatting about the plants they saw that morning and meetings ...

This episode includes critical information for both nursery and greenhouse producers! You may or may not know exactly how much time, labor and ultimately money you spend each year managing weeds in outdoor and indoor production, but chances are it’s a lot. If you don’t have protocols and strategies in place for weed control, that can lead to even bigger issues.

To discuss this topic, host Bill Calkins is joined by two guests from...

Corteva’s technical guru, flower grower and greenhouse and nursery “coach” Broch Martindale is back on the podcast to share strategies for controlling and preventing some of the more common pest and disease challenges you might face in poinsettia production—like whiteflies and powdery mildew—using chemistries like XXpire, Floxcor and Eagle.

Over the course of this episode, Broch and host Bill Calkins discuss safely using chemistrie...

This Tech On Demand podcast episode is all about fall control, integrated pest management and implementing biocontrol strategies that work. Host Bill Calkins is joined by Phil Gerry, a Technical Sales Consultant for the Northeast Region covering six states for Koppert. Koppert is a global market leader specializing in biological crop protection and team members have joined the podcast before covering biological IPM for spring crops...

Syngenta Flowers’ Lauren Kilpatrick joins Tech On Demand host Bill Calkins to talk combos—specifically Kwik Kombos multi-liners and the new Patio Playbook program. Lauren explains just about everything you need to know to select the combination that will work in your greenhouse and deliver results for your retail customers, as well as tips and tricks for producing them at the highest quality.

Lauren and Bill kick off the discussion...

POINSETTIA PRODUCTION: WHEN NEGATIVES CAN BE A POSITIVE

FROM THE MAY 2025 ISSUE OF GROWERTALKS MAGAZINE

WRITTEN BY JAMES DOUKAS

NARRATED BY BILL CALKINS

EXCERPT: A mastery, or at least a proficiency, in many growth strategies allow for a grower to select the correct “tool” from their “toolbox” no matter the situation that arises in the fall to achieve their desired goal for their poinsettia crop.

Read the Digital Edition: https:...

HOW MUCH DOES A GREENHOUSE PROJECT REALLY COST?

FROM THE APRIL 2025 ISSUE OF GROWERTALKS MAGAZINE

WRITTEN BY CHRIS BEYTES

NARRATED BY BILL CALKINS

EXCERPT: Anyone who’s completed a greenhouse project knows that a lot more goes into it than you might think. But how much, exactly, as a percentage of the total cost?

We asked three experts—Paul Golden with Prospiant, Matt Stuppy with Stuppy Greenhouses and Jeff Warschauer with Rovero...

Forcing perennials out of winter dormancy and into bloom for spring and summer sales isn’t a new concept for most growers, but growth in the perennial market has inspired a lot of folks to add perennials to their mix and there’s been plenty of research done to update protocols for breaking dormancy. Because of this, Tech On Demand host Bill Calkins wanted to have a quick discussion with perennial plant guru Chris Fifo (from Darwin ...

For this installment, Lorentina McKoy, the North American sales and product rep for Suntory Flowers, joins host Bill Calkins to talk about Princettia—the unique poinsettia assortment from Suntory that looks different than traditional holiday poinsettias because it’s bred to be different. This opens up some unique uses and retail specs and also requires some production nuances. Because breeding on Princettia is quite active, a whole...

One of the greenhouse pests growers have been dealing with more and more recently is broad mite. This specific mite pest is extremely challenging to diagnose and treat and can wreak havoc on a very wide range of crops across multiple seasons. Host Bill Calkins is joined by well-respected professor and extension specialist in horticultural entomology at Kansas State University, Dr. Raymond Cloyd, to discuss this pest—from susceptibl...

Host Bill Calkins welcomed GrowerTalks’ editor in chief Chris Beytes and editor Jennifer Zurko to the podcast to share thoughts on the event—the plants, the trends, the fish tacos—and the overall impact spring trials has on the professional horticulture industry.

When Chris, Jen and Bill return from Spring Trials each year, folks in the industry always ask for overall thoughts, hot new varieties expected to be big sellers and what ...

Just in time for warmer, spring temps and the insect pests that seem to come along, Tech On Demand host Bill Calkins caught up with Broch Martindale, the national nursery and strategic account manager at Corteva. The discussion centers on pest management in greenhouses and nurseries but because Broch is a phenomenal educator and “coach” there are plenty of best management practices and training strategies mixed in.

Broch and Bill s...

Recently retired Ball Technical Services Manager Dr. Will Healy joins host Bill Calkins to talk finished vegetative petunia production as part of the Tech On Demand series covering crop culture for key annuals and perennials AND this one is the final installment of our finished petunia miniseries—joining “common” seed-raised petunias and the Wave family of petunias in a dynamic trio of content.

From transplanting best practices a...