Friday, April 10, 2009

Shine in '09 webinar series

Texas AgriLife Extension Service has been sponsoring a series of three webinars around the topic of "High Performance Management to Survive Turbulent Times". There is one remaining open webinar coming up on May 12 titled: Marketing Green! If you're not familiar, a webinar is like attending a live seminar but everything is done on your computer using an internet connection. You will watch a slideshow and listen to a speaker in real-time. Questions can be asked by typing them.
The two previous webinars in the series focused on 'Action Points to Survive the Downturn' and 'Differentiating by being Sustainable' (this last webinar will be on April 14th but is already filled up). Check their website to hear a recording of the previous sessions and see the answers to questions that were asked.

Would you be interested in having CSU Extension develop a series of webinars targeted to the greenhouse and nursery industry in our state? If so, what would you be interested in learning about? You can take the poll below and/or leave a comment if you have a specific topic idea in mind (like, "thrips management in perennial stock plants"). Select all topics that you are interested in!

What topic ideas would you like to see CSU Extension address through a webinar format?
Sustainable Practices
Marketing Ideas
Insect Management
Disease Management
Labor Issues
Water Issues
pollcode.com free polls

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Point source pollution from greenhouses and nurseries

Here is a link to an interesting article just published in the Journal of Extension titled, The Use of a Non-Point Source Pollution Self-Assessment for Greenhouse and Nursery Operators in California. Raises some good points on greenhouses conducting their own monitoring for excessive fertilization waste and other pollution source points coming from greenhouse and nursery operations.
Want to learn more about pollution prevention? Check out this article from CSU Extension, Pollution Prevention in Colorado Commercial Greenhouses!