Nursery production tour set for Aug. 7, 2019 in west Michigan

Heidi Lindberg<wollaege@msu.edu>, Michigan State University Extension - July 18, 2019

Participants can learn about the diversity of nursery crop production in western Michigan. Sign up today!

Nursery hoophouse — Photo by Heidi Lindberg, MSU Extension

Michigan State University Extension will be hosting a Summer Nursery Production Tour on Aug. 7, 2019. Participants will tour three local west Michigan nurseries using field-grown and container-grown production systems. The tour will start at KP Tree and Nursery in southern Ottawa County (Zeeland) and will end at the last nursery in northern Ottawa County (Nunica). During the tour, participants will learn about the diversity of nursery businesses in west Michigan and production methods including weed, insect and disease management strategies.

The tour is free to attend, but participants must provide their own transportation between the three nursery locations. Registration is required in order to provide tour hosts with an approximate count of attendees and is limited to the first 50 registrants. The last day to register is Aug. 5. Register today!

Agenda

7:45 a.m. Refreshments at KP Tree and Nursery

8:15 – 9:15 a.m. Tour of KP Tree and Nursery, LLC

KP Tree and Nursery is a 500-acre retail and whole production nursery. KP Tree and Nursery produces balled and burlap (B&B) trees, potted trees, Christmas trees and wreaths. They offer U-cut and pre-cut Christmas trees at their Zeeland, Michigan, farm retail location and pre-cut trees at their tree lot in Jenison, Michigan.

9:15-9:30 a.m. Travel on your own (7 minutes travel time)

9:30-10:30 a.m. Tour of Propagation at Northland Farms, LLC

Northland Farms grows a wide variety of perennials, herbaceous perennials, ornamental grasses and container-grown trees. The 310-acre nursery includes propagation, hoop house container production and pot-in-pot tree production. Participants will have a tour of the propagation area of the nursery and the main emphasis of the discussion will be on weed management strategy in the field, in perennial crops and also in non-crop areas between the hoop houses. Participants will also tour the new chemical storage and fill station at the propagation nursery.

10:30-10:50 a.m. Travel on your own (11 minutes travel time)

10:50 a.m. – 12 p.m. Tour of Hortech, LLC

Hortech Inc. is a wholesale nursery producing, perennials, ground covers, vines, ferns, ornamental grasses and succulents. They have 5.5 acres of container-grown perennials in greenhouses, five acres of container-grown perennials outdoors and 50 acres of field-grown nursery stock which includes sedums and sempervivums. Their plant brand is “Grown Earth Friendly” representing their biological control, organic and sustainable practices. In addition to container-grown perennials, they produce and install green roofs and walls within their businesses LiveRoof and LiveWall. Chris Howe, assistant general manager, will lead participants on a tour of the facilities and talk about the business and their production practices. Then, Dan Busby, MAEAP verification specialist, will discuss MAEAP (Michigan Agriculture Environmental Assurance Program), common things nursery producers need to consider in order to become verified and the benefits of the voluntary, non-regulatory program.

12 p.m. Adjourn

This article was published by Michigan State University Extension. For more information, visit https://extension.msu.edu. To have a digest of information delivered straight to your email inbox, visit https://extension.msu.edu/newsletters. To contact an expert in your area, visit https://extension.msu.edu/experts, or call 888-MSUE4MI (888-678-3464).