MEMBER PROFILE 



Sunflower Industries — 

 Fitting the Pieces in Place 



IT'S THE GREEN FARMHOUSE a mile and a quarter 

 south of the Alton traffic circle. We haven't gotten to 

 putting up a sign yet." Bruce and Linda Holmes 

 have been here for only two years, but, during that 

 short time, they've built Sunflower Industries into a for- 

 midable operation 



Site work at the farmhouse began in February, 1996. 

 Three acres to the right of the buildings were graded 

 Gravel was there — no fill was needed; the first green- 

 houses — three I9'x96' Ledgewood Farm houses — were 

 up by the end of March. Ground posts were extended 

 twelve inches (to five feet) to create straight sides prac- 

 tical in snow season. 



The greenhouses are ten feet apart Between them 

 were set two seven-foot-high 8 l/2'x96' frames Once the 

 snow is gone, these are covered with single poly, then 

 filled with petunias and snaps Heat is brought from the 

 hot air Siebring furnaces in the larger houses beside 

 them through a tube inserted through the end wall. A 

 duct fan at the other end pushes cold air into the 

 larger house, creating a loop of moving air and good 

 heat circulation. 



The frames are also used to keep rain off summer 

 annuals and, in the fall, to protect 4 1/2-inch mums — 

 particularly ones with white or yellow blossoms — from 

 frost. 



Four 14'x96' houses went up in the late winter of 

 1997. The row was extended to eight; the last house 

 was put directly behind the row and perpendicular to 

 it. 



Then, last October, a 30'xl48' Star Steel house was 

 built across from — and facing — the first row. A garage 

 door on one end allows vans to be loaded inside. It's 

 currently used as a holding area for foliage material. 



More building is planned — a three-bay 60'xl50' gut- 

 ter-connected house is next — to be put up alongside 

 the Star Steel, beginning a second row. And finally, the 

 central headhouse which will connect the gutter-con- 

 nected houses with the first three Ledgewoods. This 

 will be the main work area, a place for storage, and a 

 more logical shipping and receiving point "A central 

 building you can expand off from is how most people 

 would start. We did the opposite, but we needed pro- 

 duction space as quick as possible." 



THE GREEN FARMHOUSE OPERATION is strictly whole- 

 sale. People are encouraged to pick up orders at the 



farm, "although this'll be easier once the headhouse is 

 built." There are two vans and six routes. One van cov- 

 ers south-central New Hampshire ..Nashua, Manchester, 

 Plaistow...; the other covers Maine — Portland, north-cen- 

 tral, the northern coast as far up as Blue Hill The 

 Maine route is a lot of mileage, but works out well be- 

 cause the driver, Russ Bleakney, lives in Cornish and 

 doesn't need to drive all the way back each night. On 

 the two days he's not on the road, he works with head 

 grower Dave Hilton in Alton. "We encourage people to 

 order ahead, but many buy what looks good to them 

 right off the van " 



A steady, year-round portion of sales are of foliage, 

 most of which comes from Florida. Growers there often 

 specialize and Bruce is in the process of grooming 

 those that best fit his needs. He and Linda have vis- 

 ited individual operations and attend the Tropical Plant 

 International Exposition in Fort Lauderdale each Janu- 

 ary: "It's a vacation, but also a chance to meet people 

 and get new ideas." Six-inch ivy is one of the most- 

 called-for items; assorted three-inch foliage in trays — for 

 sale individually or used in dish gardens — is another 

 and he's found high-quality suppliers of both. He's also 

 found a good source of ferns, another often-requested 

 item. A trucking line arranges pick-ups and ships up 

 about a third of a trailer-load every two weeks. 



A lot of the seasonal material is grown in Alton. 

 Methods are basic: he uses one mix; material is potted 

 up in each individual house; hangers are watered with 

 spaghetti tubing; bench crops are watered by hand. 



He buys in plugs and would like to grow more from 

 seed, but right now "we're too busy to concentrate on 

 the timing." Cuttings are taken from some of the hang- 

 ers and herbs. The last house in the row is used for 

 propagation. The process is straight-forward — cuttings 

 are direct-stuck in trays or three-inch pots filled with 

 the basic mix and put under mist. 



"Spring's tricky," Bruce says. "We need to offer a 

 wide range of material that appeals to a broad base of 

 people, yet is somehow "special'." Fads are approached 

 cautiously; it's within the standard framework that vari- 

 ety occurs: for example, one house may be devoted to 

 nothing but 4 1/2-inch zonal geraniums — but twenty-five 

 varieties are grown there. 



Eight-inch foliage hangers — spiders, English ivy, 

 philodendron: there are maybe a dozen basics — sell 

 year-round ("eventually, I'd like to have 25 of each al- 



FEBRUARY ■ MARCH ■ 1998 



