spring has sprung..and that means PACK TRIALS!

spring is here if you haven't noticed..with everything being yellow, how can you not notice. Crazy things happen in spring when it comes to flowers and it's just awesome. Also with spring,comes the Pack Trials. Every year, growers from all over the world get together in California to peruse each others greenhouses and chat about what's new in the horticulture world. The trials are in California but are broken up into 3 categories due to its large following : northern, central and southern. Participating in the Northern Trials are: Goldsmith/Syngenta Flowers, Headstart Nursery, Pacific Plug & Liner, Speedling, Inc.,Golden State Bulb Growers, American Takii. In the Central Trials are:Dümmen USA, Inc.Greenheart Farms,Floranova, Imagination Canyon Greenhouse, Ball Horticultural Company, GroLink Plant Company, Inc. , Island View Nursery, Fides North America. Lastly but not least, the Southern Trials include:Proven Winners, Plug Connection, Ecke Ranch.

Here's Grower Talks suggested agenda for this one of a kind event:


Friday, April 9
Fly from Chicago O’Hare to San Jose (closer and generally cheaper than San Francisco).

Lodging - Gilroy (two nights)
Dinner - Central Texan barbecue in Castroville. Our only chance to eat here, so we aren’t going to miss it!

Saturday, April 10
8:30 am Golden State Bulb Company
10:30 am Pacific Plug & Liner (Agrexco group of companies)
2 pm Goldsmith/Syngenta

Sunday, April 11
9 am Danziger/Oro Farms
10:30 am Speedling
2 pm Takii

Drive South to the central trials area.

Lodging - Pismo Beach

Monday, April 12
8 am Dümmen USA
10:30 am Greenheart
1 pm Floranova
4 pm Island View

Lodging - Ventura (two nights)

Tuesday, April 13
8:30 am Imagination Canyon
11 am Fides
1 pm Ball

Dinner - we’ll play it by ear.

Wednesday, April 14
8 am GroLink
2 pm Plug Connection

Lodging - Encinitas (two nights)

Thursday, April 15
8 am Proven Winners
2 pm Ecke Ranch

Friday, April 16
Fly home from San Diego or Orange County.

All this in six days - 18 stops, and at least 45 displaying companies/divisions ... “What could possibly go wrong?” - from Grower Talks Magazine

So bascially what happens at these Pack Trials is growers debute their new products, new varieties, new plants and brokers or buyers from other companies take note of that new product so they can offer it to their customers. I'd like to compare it to say a debute party. Everyone invited gets to see what's new before anyone else in the world. They also can buy what they want of it and start to offer the new product before anyone else does. So this is a really exciting week for the horticulturists of the world! Get your sunglasses and hats and head out to CA to see it unfold.