A talk with Bob Peters, technical consultant with J.R. Peters Inc. Peters will celebrate his 90th birthday in October.

Q. What has been the biggest change in fertilizers for ornamental plants since you founded Peters Co. 60 years ago?

A. When I started Robert B. Peters Co. in 1947 there was very little being done in the soluble-fertilizer field. It was mostly dry feed, with the big fertilizer at that time being Vigoro's 4-12-4.

I had just come out of horticultural school, where my great love was growing roses in gravel culture using liquid feed on a constant basis. It was my idea to apply this system as much as possible to greenhouse flowering crops. At the time mostly cut flowers were being grown and very few potted plants.

I wanted to try to use the constant liquid-feed system with all greenhouse flowers, especially carnations, snapdragons and mums. It gradually caught on, and we started supplying soluble fertilizer especially designed for these crops, applied on a constant feed with every watering basis.

This was the most important change because it eliminated most of the danger of overfeeding and growers were able to produce better, more consistently high-quality crops. This system worked because it primarily kept the nutrient levels under control, which couldn't be done with dry feeding.

Other important notables that shaped our industry were the availability of uncoated raw materials and chelates, the introduction of the soilless mixes and peat-lite formulas and lower phosphorus-feeding programs.

Q. What are the major problems growers are having with fertilizers?

A. Growers still don't pay sufficient attention to or totally forget about the importance of proper mixing of amendments in growing mixes or other basic practices such as proper weighing of fertilizers, mixing dos and don't and proportioner adjustments. Matching fertilizers to irrigation water and crop types have greatly improved how we design fertilizer programs. As more growers understand the importance of a yearly water test it has enabled us to match the most appropriate fertilizer for each grower.

Q. Has the rapid introduction of vegetatively propagated plants added to growers' fertilizer concerns?

A. The propagators do not always have the answers as to the best nutritional program for each crop. Often they will suggest general guidelines but cannot account for the differences at each growing location or the many different crops produced at each location. Growers will have to decide if they are going to compromise the nutritional preferences of several species in order to accommodate the many crops or varieties being grown in the greenhouse.

Q. How will government regulations on the control of fertilizer and pesticide runoff impact growers?

A. There is no doubt, in my mind, that growers will eventually have to achieve greater control over the disposal of excess nutrient-loaded water. It is a similar situation to why I began this business 60 years ago when I was producing roses in a hydroponic solution. I learned to manage nutrient balance by constantly recycling the nutrient solution and having to check its status on a regular basis and readjust to keep all major, secondary and trace elements available in the proper amounts to the plants. I would expect to see more recirculation systems and lower overall feed rates continue to gain acceptance as more areas of our country become concerned about nutrient runoff.

For more: J.R. Peters Inc., (866) 522-5752; www.jrpeters.com.

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© 2007 Branch-Smith Publishing