Greenhouse Operation and Management, 7th edition

For courses in Greenhouse Management.

Based on the author's life-long practical experiences both in the industry and in research, Greenhouse Operation and Management, Seventh Edition, offers students a state-of-the-art guide to the operation of commercial flower and vegetable greenhouses. The text presents coverage in the order in which decision-making concerns occur for a person entering the greenhouse business. Exceptionally comprehensive, yet accessible, it provides detailed, step-by-step instructions in layman's terms for ALL aspects of the business–from the physical facilities, to the day-to-day operations, to business management and marketing.

Exceptionally clear writing style without sacrificing depth or rigor that makes the full range of concepts–Accessible to all students, whether or not they have a previous background in the sciences.

• Gives optional background information for each topic.

Practical and thorough approach–Covers each topic and task from basics to step-by-step specifics through completion.

• Provides users with the information and details they need to be successful, making them took an important and valuable as-the-job reference.

Complete cyclical coverage of greenhouse operations and management.

• Follows the natural sequence of questions and concerns facing someone involved in the industry, i.e., status, trends, and future of the industry; the physical facilities; the operations; business and marketing.

Business perspective throughout–Includes current and future trends, business management and marketing, and pricing, to the business aspects of choosing and using standard and alternative technologies.

• Makes the book a valuable resource for growers, providing all the need-to-know basics of operating a greenhouse in the ever-increasingly competitive marketplace.

Step-by-step procedures and example problems–Develops the specifications of a greenhouse heating system, a summer cooling system, and a winter cooling system.

• Provides users with models and "how to" information that will be useful in an on the job setting.

Sample problems for designing fertilizer solutions.

Pictorial guides to insect identification and to nutrient disorders.

• Provides visual references to help users with identification of common problems.

Six chapters have been completely rewritten by experts in these fields: Regulation of Plant Growth, Insect and Mite Management in Greenhouses, Disease Management, Maintaining Postproduction Quality, Marketing, and Business Management

Chapter 1. Floriculture - A Global Industry: World-wide statistics on floral production and marketing have been brought up to date.

Chapter 4. Greenhouse Cooling: The discussion on passive cooling of greenhouses has been enlarged to reflect the continuing movement in this direction of greenhouse construction.

Chapter 5. Environmental Control Systems: Computer hardware and software for climate control has been updated to reflect the sweeping changes in greenhouse application brought on by rapid advances of this technology in other fields.

Chapter 6. Root Substrate: A greatly simplified classification system is presented for the numerous formulations of root substrate offered by substrate formulation companies.

• A new section has been added to address the quality control requirements of manure composts used as a component in root substrate.

Chapter 7. Root Substrate Pasteurization: Against the continuing decline of availability of methyl bromide as a pasteurization agent for root substrate, new alternatives of methyl iodide, mixtures of Telone and chloropicrin, fumigant application through plasticulture drip tubes, and more efficient innovations in steam use are covered.

Chapter 8. Watering: New to the watering chapter is an in-depth discussion of the situations that demand pasteurization of the irrigation water and nine alternatives currently used to accomplish this.

• These alternatives include chlorine gas, sodium hypochlorite bleach, calcium hypochlorite swimming pool treatment, chlorine dioxide, peracids (hydrogen peroxide), ozone, copper ions, ultraviolet light, and heat treatment 

Chapter 9. Fertilization: A more thorough coverage is presented for upward and downward adjustments in substrate pH during crop production along with clssification of crops by pH preference.

• The new liquid soybean extract fertilizer is extensively discussed in terms of its method of manufacture, features, and application procedures.   

Chapter 10. Carbon Dioxide Fertilization: The Dutch technology of utilizing  the carbon dioxide content of flue gas from heating boilers for crop application and the methodology of delivery to the crop has been added to the carbon dioxide chapter.

Chapter 11. Light and Temperature: The light and temperature chapter has been greatly expanded to reflect the recent surge of new scientific information for controlling greenhouse crop growth and development.

• The concept of daliy light integral (DLI) on growth and flowering is covered along with categorization of crops according to DLI requirement. 
• Responses of plants through their various photoreceptors is explored.
• An extensive list of crops is tabulated with the photoperiodic response group of each.
• Feasibility of production of crops at lower than customarily recommended temperatures is assessed. 

Chapter 12. Regulation of Plant Growth: The Plant Growth Regulation chapter is completely new! Choices for non-chemical regulation are discussed that include water and nutritional stresses, root restriction, thigmotropic treatment, and temperature manipulation.

• The latest chemical growth regulators are discussed which include Augeo, Configure, ConTego, and Topflor. All of the growth regulators are compared according to their mode of action, method of application,and relative activity. 

Chapter 13. Insect and Mite Management in Greenhouses: This chapter is completely rewritten and contains a pictorial and descriptive guide to major greenhouse insect and mite pests along with biological and chemical control methods for their control.

Chapter 15. Maintaining Postproduction Quality: The postproduction chapter is completely new.

• Heavy emphasis is placed on the impact of pre-harvest production conditions on posproduction quality.
• There is increased coverage of the adverse affects of ethylene and its control.
• Stage of development and time of day for harvest are addressed.
• A new section covers handling of unrooted cuttings.

Chapter 16. Marketing: An overview of the marketing channels is presented for each sector of floral production.

• Marketing strategies are developed for addressing a consumer driven rather than production driven mature market.
• The author explores some of the latest marketing concepts including eco-labels, branding, customer loyalty programs, consumer value proposition, generational demographics, and websites plus social networking.
• Guidelines are offered for creating and exploiting your comparative advantage in the market place. 

Chapter 17. Business Management: Outlines the development of a strategic business plan for competing in the global market place.

• Presents strategies for empowering employees to become part of the management team as opposed to operating in the traditional top-down hierachal management structure.
• Leads the reader through development of pro forma, income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement documents.
• Teaches the reader how to calculate key financial ratios for tracking business performance.