Seven Tips to Incorporate a New Product Into a Growing Program

Tip 1 - Determine what you want to achieve

First things first: You need to ask yourself some questions to determine what you want your production system to achieve. Some good queries to evaluate where your production system is at and where you want it to be are:

• What are the challenges I run into  with my current program?
• How well is the current production system working?
• Are the crops I am growing static or falling behind others?
• Do my crops share common growing media and fertility programs?

Tip 2 - Decide what you will change to in your growing system

 A growing system has two basic criteria  to consider: growing media and its fertility. The interaction of these two plays an important role in crop quality improvement and reduced growing time.

To serve an operation’s needs, a good growing media mix should provide an anchor point for plant’s roots, hold water and nutrients efficiently, delivers nutrients to plants and help drain water to prevent overwatering. It’s important growers and producers assess the growing media they’re currently using  to understand the components in its formulation,  the biological additives for optimal fertility and its physical properties.

Tip 3 - Develop metrics

Once you have chosen a product, define the metrics you’ll use to indicate if the implementation is successful.  Some possible areas of measurement include the overall growth increase in height, width, branching, and/or flower development; rooting; crop time; disease/insects.

When you’re testing a change in your production system, always keep a traditionally grown, untreated control group in the same area as the treated test plants.  Both groups should be evaluated on the same metrics for comparison.

We also highly recommend only changing one aspect of your current program at a time when conducting small-batch trials. This allows for proper evaluation of the changed component’s performance.

Tip 4 - Do your research

Results, timing and necessary equipment are crucial considerations when evaluating a growing program. When you add a new product to your growing program, you should already have an idea of what the result will be.

Ask the product manufacturer about its mode of action and anticipated effect on plants. Based on your anticipated results and using your current cropping schedule, set a timeline for an expected completion date. And, although it may seem obvious now, don’t forget to check that you have all the equipment necessary to properly use the product in your operation.

TIP 5 - Test, monitor and record

Take weekly measurements of your selected metrics. We suggest having an impartial greenhouse staff member collect the data, along with some photos. The measurements must be recorded and saved without interference so they can be accurately used for evaluation and comparison.

Tip 6 - Evaluate the change agent

When determining if a product is an ideal candidate to improve your growing system, use data, special equipment and product specification as part of your criteria:

Data:  Does the collected date indicate successful implementation based on the metrics you chose for observation?

Special equipment: What equipment is needed to use the product, and what is the price tag on it (and the cost of labor, if applicable)? Does a growing media manufacturer already incorporate it into their final product? What is the cost of the equipment and (labor needed)? Can it be pre-incorporated into my media by a growing media manufacturer.

Product specification: What is the product’s shelf life, package size, rice and return on investment.

Tip - 7 Repeat and verify the trial

Consider repeating the trial to confirm the initial results before implementing a new procedure or product into your production system.