B2—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 28,1984
Spring lasts all year
at Deiter's Greenhouse
BY SALLY BAIR says, “It;s springtime all the tune
Staff Correspondent around here. ”
MANHEIM With May almost The family operation consists of
here, and springtime weather Paul and his wife Esther, and two
elusive, most homeowners and their children, Jay Paul and
gardeners are itching to work in Delores. They hire part-time help
the soil and get those beautiful 38 needed, but the family shares
flowers and delicious vegetable be primary responsibilities and
plants started. chores.
As the weather improves, most 18 actually Mrs. Deiter who
people visit their local greenhouse begins the preparations for this
to purchase the plants they need. buB y season in January and
When they do, they are seeing the F e b ™ary sowing the seeds
results of many months of labor on which will later be tenderly and
the part of the greenhouse owners, carefully transplanted into flats
who have planned and planted for growing and resale,
throughout the winter to have start tbem doin 6 tbe
plants in peak condition now. sowing, and then we transplant
Deiter’s Greenhouse is a family- them. We are rather particular
owned operation near Manheim when it comes to transplanting,
which began as a hobby and has sbe observes, For this enormous,
developed into a thriving business, exacting job they hire about six
It has grown because of the women.
Deiters’ fondness of growing Paul Deiter points out, We
things. A visit there is like a step enjoy working with the plants,
into spring. In fact, Paul Deiter watching them grow gives us
Mr. and Mrs. Mylin Harnish work to prepare the geraniums
for sale to customers both at the retail store on the farm and
at the stand at Roots Market. These represent just a few of
the thousands of geraniums the Deiters will sell this spring.
is is a view of bedding plants awaiting customers - and spring. As soon as the
weather allows, mdre and more people will be ready to get those spring vegetables into
the ground for some delicious summer eating.
Deiter’s Greenhouse, Manheim, operates this market stand at Roots Auction where
the Deiter family can be found every Tuesday selling their beautiful plants.
satisfaction. It is amazing all the
varieties and colors that are
available.” He adds, “We work
together as a family. Each one has
their assigned work to do. When
everybody helps, everything goes
smoothly.”
To keep the greenhouse
operating efficiently, Paul says,
“Management is the biggest part
of it. If everyone does his job
cheerfully, it gets done well.”
There’s no question that there is
plenty of work in the greenhouses.
Mrs. Deiter notes, “If you want
nice plants, it takes sticking with
it.”
/
Nice plants are what the Deiters
offer, and in profusion. Their
specialy is geraniums and at this
time of the year, the greenhouses
abound in blooming geraniums,
awaiting resale to customers.
Deiter says they specialize in them
because “We just enjoy them. It’s
a flower that most women like to
plant.”
Both Paul and Esther grew up on
farms, and it was about 30 years
ago that they began growing celery
intensively.
“We started growing celery
plants,” Paul recalls. “We used to
grow about six to eight acres of
celery, but now we’re down to
about 1% acres.”
It is the home-grown celery
which keeps their market stand at
Roots in business through the slow
winter months. They also start
celery for local farmers.
For their initial celery efforts
they built a 30x15 foot greenhouse
onto their barn, and thought it was
large. Now they have greenhouses
which measure 60 x 144 feet.
Mrs. Deiter recalls, “We always
like flowers and plants, and we
gradually got to selling more.” At
tfieir two daughters took a few
plants-along to -market and then
the demand increased each year.
About 10 years ago they decided to
This neighbor works at the greenhouse preparing planters
for retail customers. These planters offer beauty to those who
have just a small amount of space in which to grow outdoor
plants.
go into flowers in a more extensive
way and now they grow thousands
of plants each year, both bedding
and house plants.
Roots Market is their main outlet
away from the farm, and they have
boht an indoor and an outdoor
stand in the summer. They also
take some plants to their daughter
who lives on the eastern shore of
Maryland and who operates a
roadside stand there, called
Graybill’s Farm Market.
How did they leam the in
tricacies of growing all these
plants commercially? Paul says,
“It comes by experience. You
don’t learn overnight and you don’t
learn in books. You leam by
doing.” Mrs. Deiter adds, “You
leam by talking to others.”
Daughter Delores agrees, “We
had to learn as we went along. We
are stil l learning.”
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“You have to be a plant doctor”,
Delores says. “Customers ask all
kinds of questions, more than you
can think of. But here are basic
principles you go by.” She says the
first question she always asks of
people purchasing house plants is
what kind of light they will be
growing in. And, she adds, “It is
far easier to kill a plant by over
watering it than by underwatering
it.”
Disease and mildew are constant
threats to the greenhouse operator,
but Paul says, “It is something
that can be worked with.
Knowledge helps to prevent it. You
learn to recognize disease as you
work around the plants.”
Paul is convinced that there is no
limit to the numer of plants you
can sell if they are of high quality
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