September 2024 — Big Grower Big Grower, Management, Production, Variety Info

Growing to a higher standard at James Greenhouses By Keith Loria

As a young grower at a large perennial container nursery in South Carolina, Ken James realized there was room for more regional choices in vegetative liner production. 

With an enthusiasm for perennials, inspired by former professors Alan Armitage and Mike Dirr, he and his wife Leah started James Greenhouses in 1998 in Colbert, Georgia. 

“It was a simple idea: to provide vegetative hardy perennial liners to growers in the Southeastern U.S.,” Ken James said. “My interest was in propagation, Leah was interested in floriculture and design. We were first-generation growers.” 

What started as a two-person operation has evolved into a staff of 60, which grows in 120,000 square feet of heated propagation space and 260,000 square feet of shade/outdoor space.

Over 26 years, the couple has remained true to the original vision of producing excellent vegetative young plants, yet has expanded to include a myriad of varieties. 

Today, the operation produces about 650 varieties of perennials, tropicals and specialty annuals. The majority are grown in 72 cell trays, but custom sizes range from 21 to 288 cell trays. For those high-value tissue culture and rose items, Ellepots manufactured on-site are utilized to ensure minimum transplant shock. 

“Our business philosophy is to stay specialized with our product focus and treat others the way you expect to be treated,” James said. “‘Custom-grown to a higher standard’ has always been our motto. The higher standard is not just about plants; it’s about giving your best and expecting the same from your team, your suppliers and your customers.” 

The company sells to commercial growers of all sizes across the U.S. and Canada 52 weeks a year. Clients include large container nurseries and small grower retailers looking to produce a few crops of their own. 

“We don’t do much speculation anymore — it’s nearly all grown to order,” he said. “Most sales are via the broker network rather than directly to the grower.” 

STRONG BUSINESS 

The company’s experience, dedication and strengths have allowed James Greenhouses to continue to be successful. 

“We are agile. We are able to source inputs from around the world every week and our brokerage companies give us visibility to growers across North America, and a robust ERP software allows us to pull it all together,” James said. “This allows us to provide exactly what a grower wants, when they want it.” 

“The emphasis has always been on vegetative plant production,” James said. “We started with 100% cutting propagation, all sourced in-house. Now the majority of what we produce originates in tissue culture labs around the world. The trend for us continues to be high-value, challenging perennial crops, which is a natural evolution for a company like ours.” 

Helleborus is a prime example — it has an extremely high value at retail but it is slow and high-risk in the young plant stage. 

“Our helleborus liners program is perhaps the largest in North America,” James said. “Finished growers don’t need that additional risk and complication in their operations.” 

Because James Greenhouses is not a plant breeder, leadership is not that interested in another shade of “this or that” variety, so decisions on adding something to the product assortment comes down to how it fits in with the overall mix. 

“We always want to know what needs a product will serve for our customers,” James said. “Much of the feedback we look for is based on timing and performance in specific parts of the U.S.” 

TECH TALK 

At James Greenhouses, innovation is essential, and the owners are big believers in bringing in new tools and technology that can help the operation. 

For instance, the company utilizes mist booms, under bench hot water heat, sub-irrigation, naturally ventilated houses and computerized environmental controls. New programs like predatory mites and LED lighting were designed to keep quality up and costs down. 

“The largest single impact is software automation,” James said. “Our current system, Picas, allows for orders to come in automatically and for corresponding inputs to be purchased in a similar manner. It takes an enormous amount of setup, but once working, we only have to manage exceptions. It works extremely well and has easily allowed us to take on more business than we thought possible for our size.” 

When bringing in new technology, James looks for versatility. 

“We’ve always utilized automated environmental controls, which allow us to provide unique environments for different stages of liner production,” he said. “In production, we continue to invest in soil handling equipment, which allows us to use bulk soil, 2-yard bags and compressed towers. Almost everything we grow requires at least one pinch, so we utilize two automated shearing machines. They ensure well-branched liners that require less PGR and chemical inputs.” 

Additionally, the greenhouse utilizes two automated Ellepot production lines. Two (rather than four to six) people can comfortably produce 100,000 stabilized media plugs on a normal day. It has reduced labor, lead time and material storage costs dramatically. Plus, waste is low as trays are always fresh and ready to use. 

SUSTAINABLE MINDSET 

When it comes to sustainability efforts, James Greenhouses has a simple goal — use less. This applies to pesticides, water and energy. 

“Our most intensive efforts are focused on reducing the use of conventional pesticides,” James said. “We use seven predatory insects to combat various pests throughout the growing process. It takes considerably more management to operate this way and the materials cost is similar to the conventional approach, but the results are undeniable.”

Equally important is the improvement in the quality of work life of the employees — citing anything that gets one out of a Tyvek spray suit in August is a good thing. 

“The other important area for us is water conservation,” James said. “We utilize ebb and flood irrigation in about one acre of the facility, which reduces water consumption by about 90%. Outside, the majority of our runoff is captured and reused on outdoor crops. Georgia is home to many beautiful lakes and rivers that we all have a responsibility to protect.” 

As for energy consumption, James Greenhouses intentionally built a facility that is largely cooled by passive ventilation. 

“Additionally, we use hot water radiant heat throughout the facility and have recently upgraded to more efficient boilers, reducing both emissions and energy costs,” he said. 

OVERCOMING CHALLENGES 

In the course of 26 years, Ken and Leah James have faced many challenges and have worked hard to find solutions. These days, the biggest issues are labor availability and rising input costs. 

“This fast-paced physically demanding nursery environment requires constant focus on quality of work life if one expects to retain good people,” James said. “This begins with company culture and training. We do everything we can to promote from within and provide continual opportunities for employees.” 

The company offers employees some perks, such as cash bonuses for employee of the month, cash referral bonuses, vacation day prizes at company events, tuition reimbursement and more.

“It helps people feel like part of a community rather than just a workforce. With an average tenure of nine years for our salaried employees, it seems to be working. We have only recently embraced the H-2A program, but it has become a vital part of our operation,” James said. 

With input costs, the trick is in reducing waste. Seamless production with minimal yield loss is what the company strives for as it does its best to ensure the 600 line items it produces 52 weeks a year has little excess. 

“It starts with software investments that allow us to source products from vendors with the best track record and highest quality,” James said. “We start with the best, not the cheapest inputs, and manage those inputs with scheduled activities through the entire crop cycle. It’s a very regimented process that is repeatable and makes it easy to identify wasted materials, time and energy.” 

LOOKING AHEAD 

Things at James Greenhouses are not slowing down, as it continues to speed up the pace of doing business. 

“We continue to invest in software links to our suppliers and customers,” James said. “It allows us to offer accurate current and future inventory so we can all plan further out. It also allows for the inevitable plan changes to happen with minimal effort, reducing cost and complication.”