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ELSEWHERE 



IN 



THE NEWS 



Show Business 



The fourth annual New England 

 Grows trade show (February 1-3 at 

 the Hynes Convention Center, Bos- 

 ton) attracted 9449 attendees — a 13% 

 increase over 1995 totals. 



The show included over 730 booths 

 displaying Green Industry products, 

 services, and equipment and an ex- 

 tensive educational program. A high- 

 light was the presentation of New 

 England Grows grant awards to the 

 Cooperative Extension systems of the 

 six New England states. 



NE Grows is sponsored by the As- 

 sociated Landscape Contractors of 

 Massachusetts, Massachusetts Ar- 

 borists Association, Massachusetts 

 Nursery and Landscape Association, 

 and New England Nursery Associa- 

 tion and is co-sponsored by more 

 than 25 allied Green Industry organi- 

 zations. (The NHPGA is a co-sponsor.) 



Next year, NE Grows is scheduled 

 for lanuary 30-February 1. For infor- 

 mation, please call 508-653-3009 or 

 fax 508-653-4112. 



The Eastern Regional Nurserymen's 

 Association (ERNA) has a new man- 

 agement firm. Management Solutions 

 Plus, Inc. (MSP), will be managing the 

 ERNA Show, replacing Larry Carville, 

 who retired this February. 



The show will have a new name — 

 ERNA's EXPO, The Industry's Market- 

 place — and a new location; it will be 

 longer be held at the Concord Hotel 

 at Kiamesha Lake, but at the Mead- 

 owlands Convention Center in Secau- 

 cus, New Jersey. Next year's dates 

 are lanuary 8-10. For more, call 301- 

 990-8350. 



On the Internet 



Federal agricultural surveys are now 

 available on Internet: growers with 

 access can connect to hffp://www. 

 usda.gov.nass/ 



Approximately 300 federal reports 

 are produced each year. Not all are 

 on at once, but they all do appear 

 there, usually for eight weeks. A na- 

 tional plantings survey, for example, 



will appear in late May or early June. 



Five or six states already have 

 pages for their own state-specific in- 

 formation. New Hampshire will have 

 its page as soon as soon as the 

 people at New England Agricultural 

 Statistics Service in Concord convert 

 charts in WP 6.1 to a system that will 

 read clearly on the internet. (Text in 

 WP 6.1 is no problem.) 



For more, contact Aubrey Davis at 

 1-800-642-9571. 



* 

 And (from Greenhouse Grower, March, 

 1996) you can figure out acids recom- 

 mended for your irrigation water by 

 tapping North Carolina State 

 University's acidification calculator on 

 the Internet. Using a "cookbook ap- 

 proach," growers can determine the 

 required treatments of such acids as 

 sulphuric, nitrate, and phosphoric by 

 inputting the current pH level, alka- 

 linity of the water used, and the de- 

 sired pH level. The computer then 

 presents recommendations and cost 

 comparisons for each treatment. 



Internet access is http:/www2.ncsu. 

 edu/ncsu/cals/hort-sci/floriculture. 



Reduced REI for Enstar II 



{GrowerTalks, March, 1996) 



Enstar II insect growth regulator has 

 been approved for a reduced Re- 

 stricted Entry Interval from 12 to four 

 hours. Manufactured by Sandoz Agro, 

 Enstar II controls a variety of insects 

 that includes whitefly, aphids, fungus 

 gnats, and mealybugs. 



Proven Winners: Toward 

 Brand Identity 



[GrowerTalks, March, 1996) 



Proven Winners, Encinitas, California, 

 has asked Oster & Associates, Inc., a 

 San Diego-based company specializ- 

 ing in horticultural and agricultural 

 advertising and public relations, to 

 develop a consumer marketing pro- 

 gram to create a brand identity for 

 the Proven Winners flowering plant 

 line Proven Winners hopes to stimu- 

 late demand through ads in con- 

 sumer gardening publications, a na- 



tionwide public relations campaign, 

 and aggressive trade advertising. 



First Transgenetic Mite 



(from The Gene Exchange, December, 1995) 



In late November, a University of 

 Florida scientist submitted the first 

 application to the US Department of 

 Agriculture to release a transgenetic 

 anthropod (Anthropods is a classifica- 

 tion of animals with "jointed feet" 

 that includes insects, spiders, mites, 

 crabs, and shrimp) — an engineered 

 mite that feeds on other mites. This 

 is the first of what is expected to be 

 a large number of similar requests. 



The engineered mite, developed 

 at the University of Florida, contains 

 a bacterial gene that functions as a 

 marker that makes it easy for re- 

 searchers to track the mite in the en- 

 vironment. Future experiments will 

 involve genes intended to modify 

 the mite to enhance its ability to kill 

 pests. The mite feeds on spider 

 mites, a pest of strawberries and or- 

 namental crops 



Super Seed 



(from Greenhouse Grower, March, 1996) 



A year ago we reported the merger 

 of three international vegetable seed 

 suppliers — Asgrow, Petoseed, and 

 Royal Sluis — under the umbrella of 

 Empresas La Moderna (ELM) and 

 George Ball, Inc. The conglomerate is 

 now operating under the name of 

 Seminis Vegetable Genetics, Inc. The 

 new company is a subsidiary of Semin- 

 is, Inc., a corporation based in Saticoy, 

 CA, and owned by ELM and George J. 

 Ball, Inc. 



The new enterprise will oversee op- 

 erations, production, research, quality 

 assurance, and seed technology for the 

 well-known Asgrow, Petoseed, Royal 

 Sluis, Bruinsma, and Genecorp brands. 

 Each brand, however, will continue to 

 be marketed independently with sepa- 

 rate sales, marketing, and breeding 

 programs. The primary advantage of 

 the conglomerate is to combine re- 

 search and biotechnology capabilities. 



THE PLANTSMAN 



