Production Tour Offered During Michigan Greenhouse Growers Expo

On Dec. 12, a Greenhouse Production, Technology, & Labor-Saving bus tour will take place during the Michigan Greenhouse Growers Expo in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Join Michigan State University Extension Educator Heidi Lindberg for a tour featuring four greenhouse producers in western Michigan. Learn about how the crops are propagated, grown and finished for wholesale distribution.

The tour will highlight technology and labor-saving methods and strategies to reduce the cost of production while maintaining plant quality. Participants should dress warmly and wear close-toed, water-repellant shoes or boots and be prepared for a significant amount of time standing. The tour includes lunch and snacks.

The tour is limited to 55 people.

The tour stops will include:

Revolution Farms, a one-acre hydroponic farm in Caledonia that produces 10,000 pounds of lettuce each week. Participants will see hydroponic raft technology, high-intensity LED lighting, and numerous labor-saving techniques such as a rotational flow of product from the propagation area until the finished area, and conveyor belts into the cooler.

Henry Mast Greenhouse, a large wholesale producer of potted floral crops, rooted liners, and spring flowering plants. With a combined area of more than 32 acres of production, Henry Mast Greenhouse has three facilities in Byron Center.  Participants will see extensive technology including: MTZ Formflex basket systems, shade curtains, and LED boom lighting.

Spring Meadow Nursery, which has 40 acres of greenhouse and 100 acres of woody shrub stock fields. As the primary woody-plant propagator for Proven Winners, Spring Meadow Nursery produces plugs and liners of over 400 unique flowering shrubs, vines, and evergreens. Participants will see numerous energy efficiency projects: LED lighting, in‐floor heating, energy curtains, and shade curtains. Also see labor‐saving technologies and practices including: robotic vegetative cutting sticking machine, automatic transplanter, automated grading machine, trimming machine, parboiled rice hull top‐dress blower, and LEAN‐flow techniques.

Walters Gardens, which ships 20 million perennial liners each year to wholesale growers, landscapers, and municipalities in the US and Canada. Their growing space is 13 acres of greenhouse in Zeeland, and 1,500 acres of field production in Allegan county. The state-of-the-art greenhouse facilities include LED toplighting, in-floor heating, and tissue culture laboratories.

Visit www.canr.msu.edu/floriculture/expo for more information, including descriptions of each tour stop.