Proceedings were managed (and enlivened) by Graham Smellie, a very capable MC with a background of twenty years in Maftechnology and, later, Crop & Food.

The Presentations in Brief  - Morning

John Wilkinson, field representative for HortiCentre Whangarei, presented ‘Maintaining a Healthy Root Zone’. In his presentation he covered: Media types; aeration; irrigation; water quality; nutrition; monitoring; chemicals in the root zone and chemicals on foliage.

Wilkinson also presented basic information on the ‘Trutina’ weight-based plant activity evaluation and ‘Delta-T Devices WET Sensor’ for direct media and soil measurements.

John Thompson & Ashley Whala of Bioforce Ltd, gave a presentation on integrated pest management [IPM]. Thompson spoke on maintaining plant health and vigour; Whala spoke on how to manage insect and mite pests using natural enemies available in NZ.

Thompson covered IPM principles, concepts, crop assessments, management plans, cultural options, tools, use of chemicals, making the best use of IPM and keeping up to date with science and best practice.

Whala covered A description of IPM, challenges of IPM and why use IPM, how to start, a chart of pests and their natural enemies available. He then covered predator control for White fly; Sciarid fly; Two spot spider mite; aphids and thrips.

Shakil Saiyed, Valagro crop manager for NZ, Australia and the Pacific, presented the science behind Valagro products. This included harvesting the very pure Ascophyllum nodosum, from the Norwegian sea as a prime source of many Valagro products; manufacturing facilities including chelated micronutrients and biologically active ingredients; mapping genes & genomic approach; the phenomic approach and plants needs.

He then discussed a number of biostimulants -  Radifarm, and its effect on roots; Viva, improving rhizosphere efficiency and balancing plant growth; Actiwave, increasing the roots ability to absorb nutrients & aid stress recovery.

James Harrisis a Director and Operations Managerfor Apex Greenhouses in NZ. He gave an interesting presentation with many slides showing the advantages of new constructions over old, plastic V glass, fit outs, and many of the large to huge projects they have been involved in.

Afternoon Presentations

These sessions were more market oriented beginning with           Mike Desmond, Managing Director ofEastern & Global and current chairman of the NZ Flower Exporters Association. He demonstrated his extensive knowledge of flower exporting and discussed the issues and advantages of flower exporting.

Debbie Pascoeof Data Harvest Ltd explained the functions, workings and potential of the industries data base known as ‘Floribase NZ’.  She created Floribase NZ and knows it better than anyone else.

Frans Van Dorsser brought the group up-to-date with the latest import figures. He also demonstrated the trends in imports of Roses, Chrysanthemums, Orchids and Alstromeria, 2012 to 2016, from India, Colombia,  Malaysia and Thailand.

Rebecca Jonesmanages the National Flower Promotion Group [NFPG] and gave the final presentation. She was enthusiastically applauded for her energy and exciting concepts for promoting NZ grown flowers.

The association has a file of available slide shows from both the 2015 and 2016 conferences and these can be accessed by request via e-mail. Association members free and a small charge for others. Some files are quite large and most are Microsoft PowerPoint, available with Microsoft office.

Available are:

• Maintaining a Healthy root zone – John Wilkinson
• ‘Trutina’ weight based plant activity evaluation – Gremon Systems.
• WET sensor presentation – Delta-T Devices
• Integrated Pest Management – John Thompson
• Integrated Pest Management Strategies – Ashley Whala
• The Science Behind Valagro Products  - Shakil Saiyed
• 2016 figures on imported flowers and import trends 2012 to 2016 - Frans Van Dorsser
• Light quality & manipulation in horticulture – Huub Kerckhoffs
• Biologix, Nutrition farming – Daniel Schuurman
• ‘Import Health Standard’ [IHS] Development and Risk Analysis - MPI