TPIE was excellent again this year. Lot’s of ’scapers from all over the country showed up for a few days to renew old friendships as well as check out foliage availibility. It hurts to see the growers, our "partners", struggle to get back on line. One booth displayed foliage damaged by the "Canes" along with a hand lettered sign that just said, "Surviving". I hear from friends on the East Coast and in the Midwest that the big specimens scarce, scarce. The scarcity of some varieties and sizes will test our creativity in this coming year for sure for sure. To my friends who were there and had lots of time to talk to growers, what is the take on the situation? When will big trees and stuff be avbailable? What is the time frame fo 10", 14" and 17" and which varieties are most scarce? What about broms? Plus,how are ’scapers taking into account the understandable price increases for foliage?? In other words, when will stuff be there, what is still available (other than 6" pothos for which I say "thank goodness"), and what are ’scapers doing about their replacement charges to clients? Is there any way to factor in the new price increases in a contract already agreed to? Or is this just a small part of the overall fee, not yet a major concern, and will you have to bite the bullet for existing contracts? Plus, have most of you checked your contracts already written and still to be written for future clients to make sure that the replacement clause reads that replacements will be made with same variety OR one of similar size and value? And, you California and West Coast ’scapers, have you yet felt any impact from East Coast and Midwest ’scapers claim jumping your foliage resources California and Hawaii? Looking for a State of the Industry Information Pool looking out the next year given that there are no Major weather impacts in 2006. Growers feel free to jump in as well as ’scapers. I Thank you Barb

I am amazed that three days has gone by and no one has responded to the many questions that Barb has put forth. There is more interest in fungus gnats than perhaps what may be the most serious event that has presented itself to the industry since Andrew. You may not have to worry about your fungus gnats soon, because you may not even have the plants available that will harbor them.

Some West Coast brokers and growers have returned from TPIE saying that the situation is much worse than they had ever imagined, and that has been reported in the press and industry magazines.

We have had an influx of incoming calls from interiorscapers all over the country of ten times our normal inquiries asking for availabilities of all types of foliage. Many we have been able to help. We have also had many East Coast and Mid-West interiorscapers and also architects personally fly out here to tag specimens that we have available in all types of varieties for their future jobs. Some of these were 15-18 foot trees. To date we have been able to supply many of the larger specimens that are not now, nor in the foreseeable future will be available in Florida. However you have to realize that the same specimen that was previously available in Florida will cost substantially more in California, and then there is shipping cost on top of that. Additionally, soon it may be even more difficult as inventory in California is diminished. For the interiorscaper that does not plan very far ahead now, you may not have what you need in the months ahead.

Additionally, many California growers are very protective of their local steady customers and will not even offer to sell to those of you who are out of state. It makes no business sense to eliminate most of your stock to a one time purchaser leaving your present customer base short of plants in the future. It has been the local present customer base that has supported most of the smaller and mid size growers, so it is these customers that the growers will protect.

I do not believe that most of the industry truly realize the shortage that presently exists, and also realized that your costs for much of your foliage is going to increase substantially. If you do not plan for these increases now,you will be in a tough spot in six months from now.

Rick W

Folks, if you want a glimpse into the future of plant sourcing, check out the stories about the APHIS’s decision to permit in-pot shipping of orchid plants from Taiwan into the US.

The genie is now out of the bottle...third-world countries in the Caribbean and Central America will be next on line, asking for similar consideration for importing plants in-pot from their shores to ours. They already have a lot of the propagation material for many of the staple interior plants, so growing them on in containers for shipment to the US may not be much of a stretch.

Is this a feasible prospect economically? Maybe not, if the trend envisioned by Bolivia’s new "populist" president takes hold down south...he wants to legalize and fully support coca leaf production in his country. Florida growers may not have to worry about competition from south of the border if this idea spreads, since coca is a vastly superior cash crop to tropical foliage.

If, however, countries like Mexico, which has virtually zero domestic agricultural output for export trade (besides marijuana, that is), decide to hop on the NAFTA and APHIS bandwagon and grow tropical foliage plants for export, then there may well be a sea change in the way we obtain the plant material we need to do our business.

Clem

Clem,

I think the lifting of Q37 (the law which prevents rooted plants from being imported into the USA from other countries) will depend on appetite and price tolerance of the big-box retailers.

The big boxes have clout in DC. If they need cheap foliage from the third world, they’ll find ways to get it.

On the flip side, the big boxes might decide that tropical foliage doesn’t represent a big enough product category to warrant lobbying. Why waste time and money on lobbyist when big boxes can simply muscle the same old growers into contracts with low prices?

Shane

This actually derived from the special relationship between the ROC and the US administration and is perhaps a "special case" in that respect...Taiwan is looking to replace commodities agriculture (i.e., sugar cane) with high-end cash crops such as orchids, and the government there, via its state-run sugar cane corporation, decided to construct an "orchid industrial park" on land previously devoted to cane production. The government furnished the infrastructure investment, but farmers supposedly have to build their own greenhouses (albeit with the aid of low-cost loans from the government).

The APHIS deal requires the growers to install various systems, particularly insect screening, on their greenhouses in order to qualify for the exemption that permits them to ship potted orchid plants here. Unfortunately, there is no way to enforce this, since the Taiwan authorities will be doing the ongoing inspections, not US APHIS (although there may be some dog-and-pony shows for our benefit, where APHIS inspectors are invited to inspect certain facilities). At various points in the production process, the plants will move from one facility to another (from lab to compot nursery to finishing greenhouse to shipping facility), which leaves the door open to insect/disease transmission, screened greenhouses or no.

The big boxes will always have options, since they don’t seem to care about margins on plants and will simply extort "rebates" from their suppliers in order to cover themselves against losses (i.e., "unforseen market shrinkage" or "unanticipated negative seasonal factors" that adversely affect sales). If the US foliage industry tanks altogether, they will have to look elsewhere, but Canada already subsidizes its growers and would see that as an opportunity to grab more market share here in the US. And there’s always that prospect of more exemptions for Caribbean Basin countries and other Asian producers, like Thailand, to get product in the door here.

Clem

Hello all,

This is why we have got to have midwest growers. Hurricanes are going to continue to wreck havoc on the coastal southern states. I know the winters are better but this is getting rediculous. Spring/summer temps are the same as the southern temps. Winter is the only drawback. There are other heat sources besides gas. Land is cheaper and probably more abundant what with all the farmlands. We cannot rely on other countries to supply our plants. I would imagine the shipping costs alone would make it almost impossible for the smaller interiorscapers like myself to stay in business. I had to pay $16.99 for a 6" Parlor Palm the other day. Normally they charge $9.99. How many times are the Florida growers willing to rebuild? Did any of you ever think about moving North? I understand it would take a few short years to get plant material ready for sale, but what are we in for if they don’t. Some of my customers don’t mind paying extra but there are quite a few who would consider silk if prices keep going up the way they are.
I’m done ranting for now.
Donna Parnell

Considering that FNGLA president Jim Carroll had such success securing funds for the nursery industry when it would not usually be eligible, I think that the powers that be are committed to keeping foliage in the U.S. One thing to consider is that if the ban were lifted, the carribean nurseries, at least, are set up for cuttings production. Therefore, they would have to take the same length of time to produce finished plants as recovering growers would. That would not be of great assistance in the immediate shortage at hand. A greater study relating to the benefit of diversifying foliage production sources without wiping out US entrepeneurs would be instrumental given that these storms are predicted to keep occuring in the near future. FNGLA is a great resource for those of you scapers that are members. I think that marketing and the type of creativity Barb mentioned, coupled with publicity tools such as PSA’s will get the industry through this time period. For example, to an extent the public accepted that tomatoes were scarce after the hurricanes and they stopped buying them. A PSA issued by the Dept. of Agriculture reminded the public that tomatoes were available again. I know that this wouldn’t work for interiorscapers per se, but its the principle behind the education effort. And to that end, if you have never expanded into replica foliage, now may be the time to do so. If you don’t move in on the opportunity, companies that build replica probably will. Tell your clients plants give off methane and it was all a lie anyway- just kidding!!!! Seriously, educate and then re-educate when the material becomes available again.

Organize a staff meeting if you haven’t already that prepares techs to educate the client so that you are prepared for the ins and outs of your contract details. Tighten your operations and management so that more than ever every tech. gives the best possible care to the plants. Anyway, I’m sure that goes without saying.

What else do I say? Time to get your clients to update their Christmas designs this year and drop the proposal for that old mall to renovate this year? I’m sure that you all will find a way to make it happen in spite of the foliage shortages.

Yours in benevolence, Lynnae.

There is no substitute for sub-equatorial winter sun!

Plants, even foliage plants, typically show some response to day length...in order to "fool" some plants into growing and/or blooming in the Midwestern winter, you’d need to provide significant amounts and duration of artificial "sunlight"...more expense on top of your heating expense.

As I pointed out in an earlier posting on a related topic, entrepreneurs who can creatively entice large electric utilities into partnering with them to establish greenhouse ranges next to the power plants that generate our electricity may be able to compensate for the Northern Hemisphere’s winter shortcomings by gaining access to "free" cooling water discharges to be recycled for heating greenhouses next door. They might also get the land for a nominal lease cost and only have to shell out for the structures and ongoing operating costs, minus heat...and maybe get a favorable electric power rate in the bargain.

If one could pull off such a deal, one could provide supplemental, high-intensity lighting in winter to compensate for the latitudinal challenges, while being able to heat the crops to whatever balmy temperatures they require to flourish and compete with southern growers.

Those are a lot of big "ifs", but I do know of one potted plant grower in the Northeast that has done something along these lines fairly successfully, so it can be done.

Clem

I spent a week in Fla. before TPIE 3 days in Apopka and visited about 30 nurseries up North there is still alot of product up there but its still 10" and smaller. Saw lots of spath that could be bumped to 14" and alot of other material that could bumped to the next size up.Spent a day in Del Rey and Boynton Beach and was surprised at how much they were up and running. Things weren’t back to normal but should be by late april. Down south nurseries were devastated but there is still product available and growers are really only selling to old reliable customers and not taking on new customers kinda like Rick said in his Calif. post.I know it is bad but if you paid you’re bills on time and have solid relationships with the growers you will get by till summer and things will open up.I too was worried from all the reports I was hearing before I visited the nurseries.Its all about supply and demand and right now its a sellers market.Outdoor Landscapers and Brokers are also taking a toll on supplies but that is a capitalistic economy at work.I don"t think the sky is falling and the sun will come up tomorrow and to look at it with some optisim it will put an end to Low Ballers(or at least slow them down) As far as shortages it seems to Dracenas Aggs and tall ficus I know there were some shortages of bromos at the begining of the year but my supplier assured me that the next rotation there will be plenty.I hope I have shed some light on the situation and calmed some of youre fears because there is definitly light at the end of the tunnel.

my 2 cents...(good to see ya’ skip). have asked 4 of the predominate ’importers’ since the show vis-a-vis Q37. To thier knowledge there is nothing currently on anyone’s agenda to attack that issue. regarding the Tiawanese & orchids, holy cow, orchid nurseries are popping up all over!! The shame about the stuff ’down south’, most varieties that are sourced from West Coast/ the islands are in Costa Rica, but it all goes to Europe. I’ve stood in groves of Huge material..valleys full & drooled!! The pipeline for material down here IS going to be tough to source for quite some time! ’Ficus of the Future’ is out out the pipeline for now, As are most of the ’hybrid’ AGS. The last of the big 14" Spaths went out last week, ditto JC’s/Warnecki etc. SUBSTITUTION IS GOING TO BE THE KEY word! As Skip noted, ltd. #’s of smaller stuff in Apopka, but they can’t keep up with the demand. Used up most of the big 8" Spath to bump to 10", ditto 10" & up. AGS are scarce & short..but everything is ’flying off the shelf’ due to demand..do you remember ever accepting 4’-14" Amate, or short 17" Ado’s?? The list can go on, BUT on the bright side, hang tough, some of the guys that even have one house standing are planting, not enough to offset current demand, but it will continue to get better. Brom’s will be tough ’till June...spring blooming(as I’ve mentioned before) is pretty much back on schedule, expect prices to stay up for quite awhile, and watch your bids accordingly! We are not going to get back to normal for awhile, but most are committed to do just that! I just got my roof back & redone yesterday. There are still people west of me STILL WITHOUT POWER OR WATER ETC. 101 DAYS NOW ACCORDING THE THE LOCAL NEWS! Keep the faith & happy ’scapin’ Barry