FORUM 



NE Greenhouse 

 Conference Update 



Richard E. Emerson 

 NHPGA Representative 



The 1992 New England Green- 

 house Conference is set for Mon- 

 day, October 19, through 

 Wednesday, October 21, in 

 Sturbridge, Mass. 



The program is made up of 

 educational topics as well as the 

 trade show. We're sure that 

 many of these topics will be of 

 interest to you. Hopefully, 

 they'll help you increase your 

 sales. 



The educational sessions will 

 includes talks on: Interiorscapes, 

 Outdoor Flower Production, Busi- 

 ness and Labor Management, Pest 

 Management, Environmental En- 

 gineering and Equipment, Mar- 

 keting and Merchandizing, New 

 Opportunities — Crops and Busi- 

 ness, and much more. 



New Hampshire will be well 

 represented by some of our well- 

 known members who will be pre- 

 siding over the educational ses- 

 sions. Those scheduled to 

 speak — so far — include Bill 

 Stockman, Siegfried Thewke, 

 Tom McElroy, and Doug Cole. 



So plan now to attend. Regis- 

 ter early. I'll see you there Oc- 

 tober 19-21, 1992. 



For more information, Richard 

 can be reached at 603'529'5525. 



VA Medical Center 

 Beautification 



The General Federation of New 

 Hampshire Women's Clubs is 

 spearheading a project to land- 

 scape the 33-acre grounds of the 

 VA Medical Center in Manches- 

 ter. 



The project is still in its plan- 

 ning stage, but landscape archi- 

 tect Richard Sheridan of Bow re- 

 cently presented plans for its first 

 phase — a design "using rhododen- 

 drons, maximers, olga mezzitts, 

 magnolias, pink crabs, Bradford 

 pears, and burning bushes" to be 

 used to beautify the front en- 



New Members 



Bayberry Nurseries 



South Road 



Hampton Falls, NH 03844 



Beans & Greens 



PO Box 7149 



Gilford. NH 03247 



■* 



French Farm 



27 French Road 



Henniker, NH 03242 



King Farm 



15 Scales Lane 



Townsend, MA 01467 



Our Place Lewis 

 192 Silk Farm Road 

 Concord, NH 03301 



Perception Gardens 



483 Federal Hill 

 Milford, NH 03055 



Plants International, Inc. 



PO Box 589 



Stafford Springs, CT 06076 



Riff Flower Shop &. Greenhouse 



PO Box 404, North Road 



Lancaster, NH 03584 



David Wheeler 



HC69, Box 171 



Wolfboro, NH 03894 



Yankee Gardener Greenhouse 



& Nursery 



PO Box 118, RFD 1 



Monroe. NH 03771 



trance of the facility. 



The Federation is looking for 

 assistance from the NHPGA and 

 its individual members. For fur- 

 ther information, contact Mary 

 Durant, Windham Women's 

 Club (603-893-9669) or Robert 

 Samson Program Manager, VA 

 Medical Center (603-626-6529). 



PDDL Update 



Cheryl A. Smith 



The Plant Disease Diagnostic Lab 

 (PDDL) is a place where commer- 

 cial growers, county agricultural 



agents and home owners can send 

 (or bring) diseased plants for a di- 

 agnosis of the problem. The 

 PDDL is located in Nesmith Hall 

 on the UNH campus in Eharham. 

 The PDDL has been providing 

 plant disease diagnostic services 

 to New Hampshire for nearly 15 

 years. Several graduate students, 

 supported by the Cooperative Ex- 

 tension Service and supervised by 

 Bill MacHardy, have been respon- 

 sible foe the operation of the 

 PDDL over this period. This tra- 

 dition is about to change. 



Over the past year ,the future 

 of the PDDL was uncertain. Sev- 

 eral factors contributing to this 

 uncertainty were (i) the lack of 

 an incoming graduate student to 

 replace the current diagnostician, 

 who will be completing degree re- 

 quirement by August, and (ii) 

 current and future budget con- 

 straints. These factors have been 

 addressed, and the decision was 

 recently made to fund the PDDL 

 for another year. As a result of 

 this decision, the PDDL will be 

 on operation, staffed by a full- 

 time diagnostician, through Au- 

 gust, 1993. 



The services provided by the 

 lab will not only include the di- 

 agnosis of plant diseases, but also 

 in-service training for county ag- 

 ricultural agents, talks to grower 

 groups (twilight meetings, etc.), 

 and new and updated pest fact 

 sheets, to list a few. 



The diagnosis of plant disease 

 problems will continue to be the 

 major focus of the PDDL, how- 

 ever. Approximately 500 samples 

 are received by the PDDL each 

 year, with the bulk of the samples 

 arriving from mid-April to Octo- 

 ber. Sixty percent of the samples 

 received are from commercial 

 growers, landscapers, aborists, and 

 golf course superintendents. 

 Woody ornamentals and green- 

 house-grown crops account for 

 more than half of those samples. 



There are several diseases 

 which consistently present prob- 

 lems to growers from year-to-year. 

 Pythuim root rot is the most fre- 



August/September 1992 3 



