Rooted in Quality
From root development to finishing processes, Hibernia Nursery’s Ted Gardner leads a team committed to producing high-value landscape crops.
With an eye on innovation and efficiency, Hibernia Nursery has grown steadily during the past two decades to become a leading ornamental, shrub, and tree nursery serving the wholesaler and landscape contractor markets.
Located in Webster, Florida, in the central part of the state, Hibernia concentrates on the production of three and seven gallon shrubs, as well as 15-gallon trees. Plants are shipped throughout the nursery’s home state and across Georgia, Tennessee, the Carolinas, Texas and into southern Virginia.
What started in 2001 as a 10-acre nursery has flourished into 120 acres, with another 20-acre expansion underway.
“Things have really clicked,” explains Ted Gardner, Hibernia’s general manager, who has been with the nursery since 2005. “Especially during the last four years as the demand for plant material has grown.”
Gardner has been a part of the nursery’s purposeful expansion nearly every step of the way. He joined Hibernia Nursery founder David Counihan after the two worked together at a neighboring tree farm where Gardner honed his production skills.
Gardner wasn’t originally planning to go into plant production. He earned a soil science degree from Southern Illinois University in 1980, but there weren’t a lot of job opportunities in Illinois at the time, he recalls. “I got the opportunity to come to Florida and got a job with the Orange County parks department,” he says. “From there I went to Marian Gardens Tree Farm in 1983, where I met David [Counihan].” Gardner worked at the tree farm for 21 years and helped the operation grow from 20 acres to 700 acres.
“I may not have gone to school for plant production, but it suits me. It has suited me for 40 years,” he says. “I knew I didn’t want to be cooped up inside for work. I don’t think I would have survived long in an office setting.”
Plant Health Priorities
As general manager of Hibernia Nursery, Gardner leads the production and shipping teams. Assessing and managing plant health is a significant part of his role. He has a crew responsible for scouting, a task that never stops, but the crew has scheduled scouting duties.
Quality assurance begins even before seeds are sown or liners are stuck. The nursery employs a proprietary forecasting system based on extensive historical data and trend watching, which allows it to provide year-round inventory.
Pictured: Ted Gardner, General Manager of Hibernia Nursery, located in Webster, FL.
“We have scouting windows set up so we can get our spray applications in,” Gardner explains. “We scout during set times each week, then work to identify pest or disease issues and decide if there is a need to target it or if the threshold is low enough.”
Hibernia propagates some 90% of what it grows, and the current expansion will allow the nursery to increase its liner production by at least 25%.
Gardner explains that once plants are propagated and ready to be shifted up, only the most uniform plants are spaced to finish.
Pest & Disease Protocols
Pictured: Hibernia Nursery, located in Webster, FL.
Gardner said the nursery hasn’t recently dealt with any pest or disease that’s out of the ordinary. Some typical root diseases they deal with include fusarium, pythium, and rhizoctonia. With help from Peggy Clanton, BASF sales specialist, they’ve successfully used Empress® Intrinsic® and Pageant® Intrinsic brand fungicides. Gardner’s crew uses those fungicides as a drench or a spray – depending on the situation and plant size – both preventively in propagation and as a curative approach when needed.
The nursery owns a cannon sprayer mounted on a tower and a boom sprayer. Depending on the type of issue encountered on the crop, the team decides which sprayer to use or if they can spray by hand. When needed, saleable material is sprayed on the weekends since it gets pulled during the week. “That way spray applications and REIs aren’t affecting anyone who needs to pull material to ship,” he explains.
In terms of pests, Gardner says their biggest foe is mites, but Sultan® miticide applications help control the population. They also battle scale but keep on top of it by not letting it get past the crawler stage. Thrips are usually only a problem with flushes of new growth, he adds.
Gardner emphasizes continually checking the roots to avoid major plant health issues.
“The health of any plant starts with the root system. If you don’t have healthy roots, there’s no way to keep the top of the plant looking good,” Gardner says. “So we’re always checking roots. We go through each crop, do a zig-zag sampling of plants and give the root system a grade. That way, we know if we’re on target or if we need to correct a problem.” Other diseases they watch for include anthracnose and downy mildew.
“We can send samples to the laboratory at the University of Florida in Gainesville, which is not far from us. They get us answers quickly.
The Hibernia Nursery team has also used Orkestra® Intrinsic brand fungicide for several leaf spot diseases and Avelyo® fungicide for rust on grasses and viburnum.
To help save labor, Hibernia Nursery transitioned to applying liquid preemergent herbicides, including Tower® herbicide from BASF. A 30-foot boom with an Airtec sprayer is attached to a tractor, and one crew member can treat half an acre in seven minutes, equivalent to 30,000 three-gallon pots when pot-to-pot or 10,000 plants when spaced.
Gardner says he appreciates his team’s dedication and the nursery’s partnership with BASF, which is part of the nursery’s focus on overall plant health and quality assurance.
“Peggy from BASF supports us and always has information on trials for us, even if it’s not about her own product. She goes out of her way to share her knowledge and experience, and she never acts like you’re imposing on her when you call to ask a question.”
Always read and follow label directions. Avelyo, Empress, Intrinsic, Orkestra, Pageant, Sultan and Tower are registered trademarks of BASF. All products may not be registered for sale or use in all states.
Check with your state or local extension service. ©2024 BASF Corporation. All rights reserved.
