Green Tips for March

The March edition of GreenTips is now available on-line at:
Please make a note of several programs coming up soon for Green Industry Professionals.
These include opportunities to earn pesticide credits, gain knowledge about pest identification, acquire information about pruning as well as to gain skills needed to prepare for the CPP exam. The latter 2 of these are now offered in both English and Spanish.

For more information contact your local Cooperative Extension Center and ask for the Commercial Horticulture Agent.

Shade Tree Pruning Workshop

Pruning Young Trees for Quality During Nursery Production
Wednesday March 19, 2008 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center

Pruning correctly early in production can increase the value of shade and flowering trees. Learn how at our hands-on pruning workshop at the Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center. This workshop is tailored for nursery workers responsible for pruning field and container grown trees. We will demonstrate the techniques, provide reference material for use later, and then you will prune
trees planted especially for this pruning workshop. All trees were donated as branched whips last year by Carlton Plants, Inc. They were planted with you in mind - so get out here and learn to prune!!! The workshop is being provided in both Spanish and English. We will meet at the parking lot in front of the Lathe House on the research station farm.


For more information contact your local Cooperative Extension Center and ask for the Commercial Horticulture Agent.

Tax Deduction Question

A question that many growers have asked is: Is it possible to take a tax deduction on my losses after last year's freeze damage to plants?
This is the answer that we must share:

Most generally no. The nursery, if they grow the plants from cutting or seed deduct the costs over the period these plants are being brought to "marketable size". So the nursery has gotten the tax benefit.

The freeze is treated as a casualty loss (unusual, sudden, unexpected event). Tax rules limit casualty losses to the LESSER OF, basis (costs of product) or the decrease in fair market value. Since, based on the first paragraph, the producer has zero basis (he/she has deducted all expenses) there is no casualty loss and no tax deduction for plant losses due to a freeze.

Has there been an economic loss, yes, no doubt. But there is not a tax loss we can use.

For more information contact your local Cooperative Extension Center and ask for the Commercial Horticulture Agent.

Drought Monitoring

Here is a link to the Drought Monitor website,which is a risk management
tool to convey current and predictive information about drought conditions
throughout the U.S. This link is for North Carolina. In the table, there
are a number of drought levels given for each time frame over the last year.
The numbers in the table are the percent of area in the state (shown on map)
that are experiencing that drought type. It looks like the current area in
exceptional drought (46.2%) and extreme drought (78.6%) has changed ± 5%
since last fall. Of course 100% of the state is still in severe drought
conditions: Drought Monitoring

The good news from this map is that many of the counties in Western NC have moved from Exceptional drought conditions to Extreme drought conditions, but the bad news is that the areas east of us, where our larger urban markets are located, have actually gotten dryer; moving from Extreme drought conditions to Exceptional drought conditions. The uncertainty of the weather is very real and it behooves us all to develop solid, research based, risk management strategies!

Waver: Do not open and read this website if you are prone to panic attacks!

For more information contact your local Cooperative Extension Center and ask for the Commercial Horticulture Agent.

Extension Online News

Visit Extension Online News
to view a video between Cooperative Extension Director, Dr. Jon Ort and State Climatologist, Ryan Boyles as they discuss the impact of last year's drought. Mr. Boyles also speaks on projected issues related to the drought and water availability for the summer of 2008.

From his comments I think it would be safe to say that we in the green industry need to be looking at all of the best management practices we can implement to conserve water and sell water conservation ideas to our clients along with the plants and services we provide.

For more information contact your local Cooperative Extension Center and ask for the Commercial Horticulture Agent.

Green Tips for February

The Green Tips Newsletter for February 2008 is now online at GreenTips
Please view the link to the events calendar as there are some new and exciting programs scheduled for the months ahead. As always your input is welcome.
For more information contact your local Cooperative Extension Center and ask for the Commercial Horticulture Agent.

Green Tips for January

Your January version of Green Tips is now on line at GreenTips
Please note all of the different programs that are coming up and register early!
For more information contact your local Cooperative Extension Center and ask for the Commercial Horticulture Agent.

Commercial Horticulture Newsletter- Available now!

The November-Decemeber Edition of Commercial Horticulture News is now availaible.

For more information contact your local Cooperative Extension Center and ask for the Commercial Horticulture Agent.

Regional Greenhouse Growers Workshop

Cooperative Extension will be holding a regional Greenhouse Growers Workshop on January 31, 2008 from 8:30 am – 5:00pm at the Mountain Horticulture Crops Research & Extension Center. Pre-registration is required! Registration is $25 and due by January 23rd. Pesticide credits have been applied for. Lunch and breaks will be sponsored and on site. Topics will include Grants for Energy Conservation, Managing Fertility and Watering. Pour-through Sampling, Substrates, Managing Slow Release Fertilizers, New Plants and more!!!

For more information please contact:

Cliff Ruth – Henderson/Transylvania Counties, 828-697-4891
Tim Mathews – Haywood County, 828-456-3575
Amanda Stone – Buncombe County, 828-255-5522

For more information contact your local Cooperative Extension Center and ask for the Commercial Horticulture Agent.

Drought Assistance from SBA

Steve Troxler alerts nurseries about Small Business loans for drought losses.
RALEIGH Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler reminds nurseries that they may be eligible for low-interest drought assistance loans offered through the U.S. Small Business Administration. The loans are available for all qualifying small businesses affected by the drought.

Loans are now available for eligible nurseries because of three recent federal disaster declarations, Troxler said. Most North Carolina counties are included in the program, and I encourage nurserymen to contact the Small Business Administration if they are interested in this program.

Eligible small businesses may qualify for loans up to $1.5 million. Loans are available at 4 percent interest rates. Loan amounts and terms are determined by the SBA. Agricultural producers are not eligible for loans under this disaster declaration.

To find out more about the program, contact the SBA Customer Service Center at 1-800-659-2955 Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Loan applications can be downloaded from the SBA Web site at www.sba.gov. The deadline for applying for this loan program is May 12.

CONTACT: Kathy Cooke, government relations specialist
U.S. Small Business Administration
(404) 347-9771