A Biological Approach to Fall IPM ft. Koppert’s Phil Gerry

Check out the Tech On Demand podcast, featuring our very own Koppert technical consultant Phil Gerrry: A Biological Approach to Fall … - TECH ON DEMAND brought to you by GrowerTalks - Apple Podcasts

Transcript:

(0:14) Bill Calkins: Greetings, greenhouse people, and welcome to another installment of Tech On Demand, where our goal is always to bring you tips, tricks, and information to select and produce your best crops ever. I'm your host, Bill Calkins, and I'm happy to be joined by someone with a great deal of experience in greenhouse crop production, integrated pest management, and also an ability to discuss solutions that work in real-world greenhouse scenarios, hybrid approaches to IPM that minimize risk to plants and people. Today, I called on Phil Gerry, a specialist with Koppert here in North America, to discuss bio-based IPM for fall crops, namely mums and poinsettias.

Phil was born and raised in New Hampshire and, after college, was introduced to the horticulture industry as a perennial production worker in Eugene, Oregon, eventually becoming head grower, responsible for a range of crops from annuals to perennials and houseplants, veggies, shrubs, mums, poinsettias, and more. He moved back to New Hampshire and took on the role of lead grower of perennials at Pleasant View Gardens, where he expanded his IPM knowledge, receiving University of Florida Extension certificates in disease and weed management. In 2021, Phil started as Koppert's Northeast Technical Sales Consultant and now serves six states.

He says his focus is contributing toward the betterment of overall health for people, plants, and our planet. Phil, welcome to the podcast.

Phil Gerry: Thanks, Bill. I appreciate being here. Thanks for having me.

Bill Calkins: For sure, for sure. This is going to be good. I think before we get started, I just want to icebreak, frame the conversation a little bit by talking about spring, and we're a little bit into the summer.

What you've seen out there with any of the growers in your territory or regions that you work with, you know, you guys are such a leader in crop protection. I know that you work with growers of all shapes and sizes and different greenhouse types. So if you want to talk maybe a little bit about pest and disease challenges that growers dealt with, I guess in spring production primarily, if there's anything you're seeing in the summer, or any strategies that you really saw as overly effective this year, things that growers are adopting that you're happy that they're adopting.

I guess what's the vibe over spring and into the summer in terms of what you guys look at?

Phil Gerry: So 2025 has been off to a good start. I think spring goes all the way back even into kind of the winter months during propagation. So starting, you know, sometime in December and January is really when the spring crops start to get rolled out and unrooted cuttings come up and propagation begins.

So starting from there all the way up to where you are now, which is early June, I'd say everything is going pretty well. There are some challenges with certain types of pests and built resistance to traditional chemistries that have shown efficacy in the past that isn't necessarily giving the results that the growers want to achieve, which encourages more biological controls. Something that can be introduced that doesn't have resistance to the certain pests.

So for the most part, everything is going well. I'd say there are a couple of common pests that I've seen, especially as spring rolls around and out through getting into the earlier summer part, which are aphids and new species of thrips, thrips parvispinus, that has popped up and been more consistent as well too. But between those two, those ones have been the consistence popping up in May and now gradually getting into June as well too.

But a new strategy, or not new, but an adopted strategy that seems to be gaining momentum in the industry is bioinsecticides starting early in conjunction with nematodes as well too. So it's being adopted as more of a propagation start-off for it and then continuing into spring and summer crops as well too. It can be applied as a foliar or drench or sprench.

Depending on what you're targeting is going to navigate and dictate which way you apply it.

Bill Calkins: Is that something that when you start to apply in propagation, you need to continue using throughout finished production?

Phil Gerry: Yeah, and it's encouraged to do it that way. We're talking about beneficial fungus. Our product is Isarid.

That is a big component of propagation in early spring production as well too. The frequency can be as often as weekly, and that's encouraged from our end as well too. Because when URCs, unrooted cuttings, come up and crops are being planted, there's always a rotation of a new crop entering the greenhouse and into a new stage of growth.

So whether that's being up-potted into the next stage of the finished container, as long as all of those are being applied correctly in conjunction with nematodes, it's going to take care of a lot of your soil and foliar pests that you're targeting.

Bill Calkins: Okay, that makes a lot of sense. And that gives, I think, a good overview of what growers are seeing. Most of the common insects and diseases show up year to year.

Hopefully most growers have a handle on them or at least how to control them. It's amazing. I watched a presentation on resistance and just how quickly, with the way that most of these insects and how quickly they reproduce, that within a matter of a couple months you can have just massive populations and then that resistance just skyrockets.

Phil Gerry: Absolutely. Especially something with aphids where you can have live birth. There's resistance.

It can go from no population to a substantial amount very quickly. Especially now that we're into the longer days, hotter weather, things like that can encourage them to reproduce quickly. And when you're doing chemical drenches that have traditionally worked in the past or chemical foliar applications that have worked in the past and the growers aren't achieving the results that they want, that's usually when it's, okay, what are the other options?

What else can we do? And that's more often than not, they reach out to me or my colleagues to get some backup and get some help curing these problems that have become persistent for them.

Bill Calkins: That's perfect, and that's a great segue, and exactly why I wanted to talk to you on this podcast about some of these options. Earlier in the spring, I guess even it was late winter, I talked to Heidi Doering from Koppert about spring crops, whether it was right when they were received or when they were transplanted up through the production season. And we talked biological IPM for spring crops, and now I roped you in to talk biological IPM for fall crops because I think that some of the approaches are probably similar.

Some of the ways that you work with growers about fall production planning using biological and hybrid IPM is probably similar. But I do want to talk about how you primarily work side by side with the growers that you work with and that your team works with developing fall IPM plans. And I'm interested how that discussion starts, when it starts, what it looks like when you walk into a greenhouse with either an existing customer or someone that you're working with for the first time to talk fall IPM.

Phil Gerry: Yeah, that was a great question and certainly a hard act to follow coming up after Heidi there.

Bill Calkins: She's good.

Phil Gerry: No, she's fantastic and does a great job. But there is a lot of overlap to be had there from what her discussion highlighted and the way that I navigate for fall crops as well too. And certainly driving the bus there is compatibility of pesticides that you had used prior.

So if it's a new customer or a new person to IPM that reached out to me and was looking to, hey, let's try this other approach of IPM and what that entails, first I would want to understand what they would define as success. So success can be made up of multiple different pieces of this puzzle to guide and allow them to achieve success.

(10:12) And that could be something as reducing pesticides, reducing harmful chemicals for employees or any production workers. It could be reducing pests in general, just having less pests than the year prior. But navigating all that really comes down to compatibility.

And what I always say with a new client or existing client is the I in IPM is integrated. So you have to integrate the bugs or the bios into what you do. So it doesn't necessarily mean you're all beneficial insects or you're all chemistry.

It's integrated. So you bring them in and what you're comfortable with. If you still want to spray and use bios, that can be harmonious.

But you just have to figure out a way to navigate, whether it's drenches or sprays, the compatible part of those being in relation to what the bios that you're releasing. And that's where they can rely on us, lean on us for that guidance as well too. And that's kind of what kicks it off and starts it off.

And sometimes when I get new customers, they are familiar with IPM. So it's less hand-holding right away, more, okay, here's our recommended approach. Here's the rates, here's the frequencies, things like that.

But if it's a brand-new customer that's trying something for the first time, maybe, that's where it's very important for them to ask good questions, be as transparent about what they had sprayed in their approach prior to that, because some pesticides can have long residual, which can negatively affect beneficial insects and your inputs right away. So just understanding and being on the same page of, hey, this is the first step to applying, is making sure that it's clean and that they're going to be effective.

Bill Calkins: There's a couple of things that come to mind when I hear you say those things. And first off, that's, I think, the new-school way that growers are thinking, is this hybrid or integrated approach. The second thing that comes to mind is whenever I talk to traditional chemical companies, they tend to think the same way, because they're developing new chemistries that are able to be used in that integrated way, and they're more and more aware, I think, of the fact that growers are working in that direction for all the reasons that we've talked about, the resistance, the long-term approach of a biologicals program, the fact that it is safer for employees and safer for, often, the crops.

So that's cool, and I do like that it is, what does success look like? Is it the reduction of chemicals around people? Is it establishing a threshold of pests?

Is it eradication? What is success? I think that's a really cool breakdown, and I do also appreciate that you guys do the research and understand the new products coming to market on the chemistry side and how your products can fit into an integrated approach.

Phil Gerry: Yeah, and I think that there's a big drive from the industry to get and receive clean cuttings as well too, so I think that to be a big part of a continuous player of growing and supplying of chemistry, it needs to follow the path that's being paved, and the way that it's being paved is more compatibility and safer, quote-unquote, chemicals, and so that could be a big drive pushing not only from the retail side of stuff but the production side all the way back to the breeding facilities as well.

Bill Calkins: It's so true, and you hear that a lot. Certainly at Ball, we recommend that our customers talk to the suppliers, whether they're supplying liners or plugs, what did you use on these young plants that I'm bringing into my greenhouse, and how is that compatible with whatever program I'm continuing? And more and more customers are interested in the chemistries used and how they're going to work with the biological approach that they have.

Absolutely. We're talking fall production. There are definitely some givens in fall production.

I mean, mums, poinsettias, there's products that are produced in the fall every year in large quantities, pansies, even like cabbage and kale. We've got a handful of crops that are produced in huge volumes in the fall, much more so than in spring when it's such a wide array of products. These can all be challenging.

I think that you can't go through a season without having a bunch of mum pest and disease questions coming into technical teams, same with poinsettias. Why don't we start with garden mums? Let's just deep dive on garden mums.

What are some of the key pests and programs that you put together for mum growers? And that could be indoor and outdoor production, I imagine.

Phil Gerry: Yeah, and there is both indoor and outdoor. Sometimes growers will receive unrooted cuttings and then root them inside and then final-space them outdoors as well too. So there's several different approaches.

Or if you're trying to black-cloth some out and force color early, that could be grown inside. And each one can kind of pose its own problems as well. But common pests that you'll see in mums are thrips, fungus gnats early on as well too, spider mites, aphids.

You'll see some whiteflies, caterpillars late in the season as well too. But focusing on mostly early thrips, fungus gnats, aphids, those are the main focuses that we have. Not to say the other ones aren't a focus, but early on, especially during propagation if there are URCs and they're rooting them or if they're getting liners, it's starting when everything is grown pot-tight is the best way to approach it.

Pot-tight meaning that each container is touching, whether that being during propagation or just planting, and then move to a final space. And when you're in propagation, that's where you get the best bang for your buck because the area that you're treating when everything's pot-tight, when that is pulled apart, it goes two or three or four X the amount of space that you're doing. And so your inputs are a lot larger for that area when you're doing bios as well too.

But focusing on mostly early-stage growth production is nematodes, specifically for fungus gnats and thrips as well. But now that we're into the hotter season, yes, we're talking fall crops, but they usually arrive in June and July. So it's hard to believe that we're now into June, but we're talking about crops that are going to be sold in the fall and then the poinsettias are going to be sold all the way up until Christmas.

But rooting a plant in the summertime as compared to in the wintertime is definitely challenging. So temperature, ambient temperature, root-zone temperature all comes into play. And when you start to have light lengths and temperatures driving your crops and how you grow them, that's also driving the bios that you're going to be inputting as well.

Some biologicals do better in warmer temperatures compared to colder temperatures. Some root-zone temperatures are suitable for certain species of nematodes and not others. So a big factor that we do, a big release, is Swirskii early on, directly over the top of the crop.

Persimilis for spider mite control. Our product is called Spidex. But both of those being one of the main driving factors for suppressing fungus gnats, thrips, spider mites early on.

And then secondary to that would be aphid control, which would be parasitoids that are released that can fly around and go and hunt their prey. All of this can be done both indoors and outdoors. A little bit different strategy when you're doing one or the other.

But for the most part, it's going to be the same predators being released.

Bill Calkins: Give me an example of a different strategy for indoor versus outdoor.

Phil Gerry: Typically, if a crop is staying indoors, a main focus of that is going to be spider mites. They seem to be more prevalent. I think it's a little bit warmer temperature.

There's not Mother Nature coming into play to clean up some of the areas as well too. So if you're growing a crop specifically and it's staying indoors from rooting all the way till finish, you should be scouting for spider mites diligently. Not that you won't be doing it outside, but it should be on the top of your radar as compared to an outside crop, which aren't necessarily quite as affected.

Bill Calkins: That makes sense. I was wondering about that, because it is a completely different environment.

Phil Gerry: Correct. Diseases come into play as well too. I know up here in the Northeast, white rust is something that you have to have in rotation. If you don't have that in rotation, that's a big no-no. There are different pathogens and different fungal things that need to be addressed and looked at. If you're growing inside, sometimes the relative humidity can play a role.

The stagnant water, if the ground isn't level, sitting with wet feet for too long. There are other factors growing-wise and pathogen- and disease-wise that need to be on your radar.

Bill Calkins: You are in mum country, so I would imagine you share a lot with mum growers.

Phil Gerry: We sure do.

Bill Calkins: Cool. That, I think, puts a nice bow on garden mums. We'll probably refer to them again in a little bit.

Let's move to everybody's favorite holiday crop, poinsettias. The necessary evil, but customers love them, so we grow them every year.

Phil Gerry: It's a customer's favorite. I can't say maybe it's a grower's favorite.

Bill Calkins: They're labor-intensive. It's a crop that you can't afford losses on. The margins are not high, for the most part, depending where you're selling them.

Margins are not high on poinsettias. In terms of environmental management, the timing of the crop, hitting those specs for retail, pests and disease, there's a lot that goes into it. From a biological IPM perspective, what's the approach for poinsettias?

I'm sure it's not a one-size-fits-all. If you could generalize a poinsettia biological IPM approach, how would you do that?

Phil Gerry: Poinsettias are a love-hate relationship, for sure. You love to talk about them. You hate to grow them.

I was a grower in the past and grew my fair share. It's actually one of the crops I enjoyed growing the most, because of how demanding it is. Like you said, Bill, it sits on the floor in your area for upwards of six months-ish.

You'll be starting those in June or July. Right around the 4th of July would be a pretty common time to start them. With poinsettias, main factors being their whiteflies on the top of the list.

There's several different species of whiteflies, but greenhouse and Q-type Bemisia are leading the way there. That's starting early on, as soon as growers receive either unrooted cuttings, callused cuttings, or rooted plugs. They need to start to go after and treat whiteflies, whether it be preventatively or curatively.

Thrips and fungus gnats being another one, especially early on when you're rooting this crop in the summertime. Thrips are prevalent outside, and you need to vent the greenhouses inside. There are potentials for blow-ins, and then as we get into the cooler months, even September, October, when those vents open, and then whiteflies are trying to find a warm place to be, they can come in.

(20:05) That's where, as soon as the crop arrives on-site, that's where the growers and myself already have a plan in place of how are we going to treat, how are we going to release, what's our approach.

Bill Calkins: Any go-to products?

Phil Gerry: Intermixed, yeah. There's different types of parasitoids. Encarsia formosa and Eretmocerus are two that we release in conjunction to target different species of whiteflies. Swirskii also does some heavy lifting as well for whiteflies. Not only thrips, they do that as well too, but whiteflies being a main preferred diet for them. You're kind of getting two birds with one stone when you're releasing Swirskii directly over the top of the crop.

Again, similar to mums, you want to get the best bang for your buck. You start your releases when everything's pot-tight, because that area will go 4X as soon as you go to final spacing. As long as you're treating with Swirskii over the top in pot-tight stage, with those parasitoids we talked about, once they go into final spacing, it really just relies on parasitoids to do the heavy lifting, because they can fly around the greenhouses and navigate where they need to go.

Bill Calkins: Any concern or any advice for growers using these biological controls in the heat of the summer? I know that's such an issue for poinsettia production. You could get the cuttings in burning hot, but certainly you're producing them in the hottest months of the year.

Phil Gerry: Yeah, that's where it's always challenging. You're trying to root this tropical plant in an environment in the middle of summer. There's some challenges to be had there, but understanding what you're looking for, how to root these, something that also is involved all the way from propagation early on, that can be applied, and there's no phytotoxicity.

Something really that you can just tank-mix as needed is Isarid. The active ingredient was found on whitefly. We encourage that to be used all the way from propagation all the way up to finish. You can use it all the way through open bracts as well too. It's understanding, yes, there are some challenges because you're rooting a crop in the heat of the summer, but understanding the pathogens that could negatively affect your propagation and the pests that could negatively affect it as well too. Just navigating ways to succeed, and that's where growers can rely on me for the guidance and recommendations and rates and frequencies and all that.

Bill Calkins: I think the biggest thing you said there is have a plan. Calling Phil on November 15th is not having a plan. Have your plan before those URCs get to your greenhouse or your liners get to your greenhouse.

Have a plan in place. Have the products ordered on hand. Have everything ready to go or you're going to fall behind pretty quick, I would imagine.

Phil Gerry: If there are growers out there right now and you know poinsettias are coming in week 26, get the plan in place like you said right now. I just started the conversations with a couple of my growers to get programs lined out and get orders ready to go for when they arrive on week 26. We add products to them that week or the week prior just so they can get everything in line and plans in place.

Being reactionary is never the approach in IPM. It's always preventative. Know what you need to do. Know how to achieve it and how to realistically get it out to your crops prior to any issues being shown.

Bill Calkins: No, that's really good advice. We touched on this earlier when you talked about when you work with a grower that's traditionally used chemical controls and wants to move to a much more biological approach. I think this is happening as we speak.

Every year I go to conferences and seminars and the rooms, the biocontrol rooms that used to be sparsely populated 5-10 years ago are packed and standing room only right now. I know that this is a timely question, I think. If a grower is looking or a greenhouse operation is looking to move to a primarily bio-based approach to IPM but have traditionally used chemical controls in the past, what kind of advice or more detailed approach that you take to look at what's been used in the past or other nuances that need to be dug into a little bit before that switch can be made?

Phil Gerry: Referencing back to compatibility being one of the main factors, if somebody had been spraying synthetic pyrethroids for 10-20 years and they want to make this switch, they have to understand that there can be 12-16 weeks' residual on some of those things, where if in the fall crops you want to make the switch, that means you have to make the adjustments to sprays and compatibility of what you're using in the spring. Prior to that it's not only the chemicals that you're spraying but the tanks that you're mixing them up into.

There can be residual carried over from that. It's just understanding what it takes to be successful in the IPM approach, and if a new grower was approaching me and wanting to make that switch, my boss Jeremy Weber always says, he recommends that you date before you get married. We want to prove it to you, so we would maybe not attack laundry lists of different insects.

Let's focus on one. Let's target one. If spider mites are a problem for you, let's focus on that this year and let's get compatibility with your insecticide sprays and then gain some momentum when you start to see the results that you're happy with of suppression of two-spotted spider mites and then make the necessary next steps.

Whether that's increasing square footage or maybe adding another target insect onto that for the next season. It's more gradual, especially when somebody is new to this. I hear so often, Bill, when a new person approaches this they say, I've tried it in the past, it just didn't work.

There's many different factors to that. That's kind of where we do the CSI approach, is we dig deep and see what did they try in the past? How did they do it?

What were maybe the reasonings behind the success they didn't find? That's where we, that's our job, is to navigate their success and understand what their approach is.

Bill Calkins: Good advice. You need to crawl before you walk and eventually be off running.

Phil Gerry: Right. Two-spotted mites are prevalent on indoor crops, outdoor crops, evergreens, a lot of different things that if you want to see some success, start with one. They can pick whatever one they want, whatever target insect, but that's just one way to take that next step in the approach.

Bill Calkins: That makes sense. One thing I wanted to ask you before we wrap up is about application, about different ways to apply biologicals. I know that this can be somewhat confusing, maybe, or kind of a learning curve for growers that get into bios.

You can order the product, you can have them sitting there waiting for you, but what are some best practices for application? Obviously, this is going to be different for something you're tank-mixing versus something you're blowing onto a crop or sachets, but when you work with growers on maybe a couple different methods, what are some best practices you help their teams with?

Phil Gerry: It's going to be the certain crop that they're growing as well too. Some things have slick leaves, some things have fuzzy leaves, some crops just aren't appropriate for bios, so it's understanding, if I put this out, is it going to be effective? Like you mentioned, there's several different styles and methods to it.

It can be directly over the top of the crop. We have a new distribution application gun called the Airobreeze, which is fantastic and very easy to use and can shoot upwards of 12 to 15 feet. It's nice to get that uniformity, and uniformity during distribution is necessary to achieve success.

If you miss certain crops or you're distributing into an area and the back corner doesn't get it just because you can't reach it, that's where the pests are going to be. So making sure that if you're going directly over the top of the crop with some of these predators, they need to be on each plant and that comes down to uniformity of distribution. Now when you go with something like a hanging basket or a tree that's large as well too, that's where sachets can come into play.

They can offer a little bit more longevity as well too. Some of the products can be released for four to six to eight weeks depending on temperatures and environments driving that as well too, but it's more of a easier approach where you hang it on there or put it in your hanging basket and you're good for an extended period of time. So that doesn't mean you don't cut down on the scouting.

Scouting and sticky trap counts, that all really comes into play, but there are other approaches for releasing bios and highlighting kind of circling back to the poinsettias, the parasitoids are on little cards. So the cards are distributed X amount per square feet is our recommendation. So it comes in all different shapes and sizes and different carrier material and some of the product needs to go directly into the soil, some of the product needs to stay up on the foliage, we don't expect an existing or new client to understand all of this.

They don't need to do that. They just need to ask the right questions and be as transparent with us so we can guide their success.

Bill Calkins: Do you go in and work hand-in-hand or hands on with teams on how to apply some of these?

(29:32) Phil Gerry: Yeah, absolutely. I do training sessions as well too. I do talks in the summer or spring.

I go to universities and talk about it as well too, but distribution and how you're getting these things out is so important. When you're dealing with a sachet, if it's on one plant and it's not, that plant's not touching the other, you might get coverage on that plant but not the other. So it's understanding and kind of creating and understanding the why of why we do this. So one question I always asked when I was a grower is why? Why do we do that? I think understanding the why creates buy-in, for sure. And so I try to explain it as best as I can to the growers because I can relate to them, and I have an understanding of the questions that they might ask or maybe be too shy to ask. But I dive deep when I do my talks and when I do my walks as well.

Bill Calkins: Oh, that's great. Growers, reach out to the Koppert team because I'm sure that you and all of your cohort will be more than happy to do some hands-on work with teams, do some training for sure.

Phil Gerry: Correct. Yeah. And some of the new customers, they need to be handheld to guide their success, and I have no problems doing that. Some of the other ones that have been doing it for a long time just hit the ground running. So that's cool. Depending on what you need, that's what we're here for.

Bill Calkins: Perfect. I do want to circle back on one thing related to mums. I took a note here to ask you about caterpillars because I know that that is an issue not just with mums, but it does come up, and I don't often see a lot written or talked about with caterpillars, but I know it's something a lot of growers. If someone called you and said, hey, I got caterpillars on my mum crop, what do I do?

Phil Gerry: Yeah, that's a good question. So here's a story for you too. So you're seeing the amount of pesticides that are being used allowed this grower to grow their crops outdoors and have a bird presence be there. So in the past they had sprayed pesticides and birds would not come in and hunt and do their thing. They were now reducing the amount of pesticides year after year after year where they're getting Mother Nature to play a role in that as well too. So they're getting some encouragement from natural IPM, birds coming in. But when you're dealing with caterpillars, if they're already there, nematodes can be used to some degree. Sometimes chemistry comes into play depending on what the stage of where they are, how prevalent they are. That's going to kind of guide our approach and what they need to do, and if they're shipping next week then, you know, there's something that might need to be done as compared to if we're finding them in late August, early September and they're not shipping for a couple weeks. It kind of opens the door for a little bit more of a relaxed approach.

Bill Calkins: Okay. But the bird story is great. I think that is one of those byproducts of reducing your chemical use, is you are then welcoming in whether it is pollinators or predators, but 100 percent something that's kind of naturally going to be good for the crop. That's a great story.

Phil Gerry: Absolutely. And that's something secondary that growers don't necessarily think of when they're spraying pesticides outside, is, well, Mother Nature has a sense for that as well too. So the birds would stay away. And so we're getting into several years of getting away from chemistry outside that birds are present. Birds are flying in and swooping in and hunting as well too. So you get IPM from different approaches, Mother Nature and Koppert provider.

Bill Calkins: I like it, yeah. I wanted to leave a little bit of time for some final thoughts because this can be a complex topic. I know that working with a company like Koppert takes some of that complexity of the actual tactical approach out, but I think, right, from a mentality perspective, it can be complicated as well, especially for, you know, a grower who's been doing it a certain way for 30 years or more. Yeah, to kind of wrap your head around it. But, you know, you guys really value partnerships. You don't make growers go at this on their own. But what have we missed? Is there anything you want to leave the listeners with before we close?

Phil Gerry: All the listeners, all the growers out there, IPM is something that can be done. I know the younger generation is driving a more IPM approach compared to the older generation. Not to say that they both aren't because I have all different stages from people in their 90s that still walk the greenhouses all the way down into growers in their 20s. So it can be done, but it's just understanding the approach and you have to make sure all the boxes are checked to guide your success, because like I said before, some growers have said they've tried in the past, this didn't work, so they abandoned it. But when this resistance is real and you're spraying chemistry and it's just not effective on these target insects, this is a solution that can be approached and implemented where there is no resistance. It can be done. Reach out to us, lean on us, ask us the questions, and we're positioned throughout the United States. Myself, my colleagues are all very knowledgeable and can be on site. I think that's one of the best things about Koppert, is on-site free consultation. If you're a Koppert customer of mine, I will try and visit you as often as I can, and if you have any questions in between, then I can always give phone calls, meetings, text messages, all of that. So I'm readily available. I'm not only for consulting over the phone, but in person, which I think is the most valuable.

Bill Calkins: Absolutely. We're an in-person industry and I love it.

Phil Gerry: Absolutely.

Bill Calkins: And that's again, you've given me a perfect segue into my final question. It occurs to me that really whenever I talk to anyone from your team, but definitely talking to you this time, that your approach is real-world science, understandable. But you've been there, like you said, you've been in a greenhouse, you've grown thousands, millions of plants, and you've probably killed thousands or millions of plants, which is half the trick of learning. I mean, we talk a lot about learning and asking questions like maybe that question is what happened here? I have no idea.

Phil Gerry: Yeah, yeah. And sometimes you're encouraged to try this and try that and see if it works and see if it doesn't. But that's what a good grower does. If you know any grower that's going to tell you they haven't killed plants, they're lying or they haven't been doing it right. So that's how you learn.

Bill Calkins: Well, that's a good point. And to stop you from killing those plants, where can the listeners find more about Koppert products and reaching out to the team?

Phil Gerry: Yeah, so you can reach out to us at koppertus.com. That's gonna have the consultant map, that's on there as well too. So we are positioned throughout the United States with representatives like myself positioned as needed. No state is off the table. So if you're in the United States, we can visit you, but you can also visit naturalenemies.com if you're a home grower listening to this and they just grow veggies at their house or bedding plants at their house. You can order any of our products directly to your house, kind of like an Amazon, build out your cart, get it directly shipped to you, and that's naturalenemies.com. An important tool if you're trying to navigate compatibility of your pesticides, if you want to say, hey, does this active ingredient line up well for Swirskii, then you can visit our Koppert Side Effects Guide. It's an app and it's also on the web as well too. Again, that's Koppert Side Effects Guide and that's just navigating pesticide compatibility. And I try and have a lot of my growers have their list of pesticides and just label them compatible or non-compatible so they know when they pull out that AI, it's ready to go, you're good to go, and no harm is gonna be done. That's where you can find us all. We're all eager to work and willing to work with all of you from the large growers all the way down to small home growers as well too. So happy to help.

Bill Calkins: Excellent, excellent. I really appreciate your time, Phil. This has been great. I know that the listeners are going to read a lot more and see a lot more from the Koppert team in GrowerTalks and my newsletter and on podcasts. But again, thank you so much for your time.

Phil Gerry: Yes, thank you, Bill. I appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of the year.

Bill Calkins: I will. I will. You too, hopefully. Maybe I need to go to naturalenemies.com to get some predators for spider mites on my New Guineas in my backyard.

Phil Gerry: Yeah, that'd be a good approach. The product would be Spidex.

Bill Calkins: Okay, all right. I'm gonna start there, and then you reach out to me if you need anything beyond that. I'll do that. I'll take advantage of that.

Phil Gerry: Absolutely.

Bill Calkins: Well, on behalf of Phil and the entire Koppert team, I'm Bill Calkins with Tech On Demand wishing you all a fantastic fall season free of pests, or at least reduced pests. Take care out there.

RESOURCES & PRODUCTS MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE:

Koppert U.S.: https://bit.ly/4kR5r13

Koppert Consultants & Locations: https://bit.ly/455PYpp

Side Effects Guide: https://bit.ly/4kOoZmP

Isarid: https://bit.ly/4mASHxc

Spidex: https://bit.ly/4dHyf9S

Enermix: https://bit.ly/3SAoy3p

Swirski-Mite: https://bit.ly/3HEZOEI

Airobreez: https://bit.ly/3SAp815

Listen to more episodes of TECH ON DEMAND:TECH ON DEMAND brought to you by GrowerTalks