VOL 36 No. 6
Healthy Holiday Poinsettias Require Good Greenhouse Biosecurity
Jay E. Wttmer, president and general manager of Wlt
mers’ Greenhouses, Inc., Lancaster, shows the Celebrate II
variety of polnsettias in full bloom and ready for the holl
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"... for behold, I bring
you good tidings of great
joy.” Lukr ii, 7-10
SEASONS GREETINGS
To You
From Everyone At
LANCASTER FARMING
PERIODICALS DIVISION
PENNSYLVANIA STA!E UNIVERSITY
W?O9 PA'ITEE LIBRARY
STATE COLLEGE PA I*oo2-1002
Four Sections
Three Equestrians Take State, National Wins
VERNON ACHENBACH JR.
Lancaster Farming Staff
BLAIN (Perry Co.) It’s the
classic Cinderella story the
unknown enters a competition and
overcomes overwhelming odds to
defeat the anticipated winners.
In this case it’s the story of three
young women in Perry Countv
who not only formed the first Pv
County 4-H horse judging tei
and not only competed in stai
trials, but went on to win the Pen
Milk Study
Reaction Muted
KARL BERGER
Special Correspondent
WASHINGTON, D.C. The
latest segment in the ongoing milk
safety saga is proving far less
damaging to the dairy industry’s
public image than previous
installments.
Lisa Keller, information direc
(Turn to Pag* A 26)
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 22, 1990
days. Witmer was recently honored with the 1990 Pennsyl
vania Flower Grower of the Year Award from the Pennsylva
nia Flower Growers Association. Photo by Andy Andrtws.
nsylvania crown and place among
the best in the nation.
If America has an unabashed
fondness for underdogs, they
should love these three women
who hail from an economically
depressed, mostly rural, mid-state
Ford New Holland, Fiat Merge
-f i HOLLAND (Lancaster Co.) Two
major agricultural equipment manufacturers on
Thursday announced a merger that should make the
resulting company a world giant, pending govern
mental approval of the venture.
“The Fiat Group and Ford Motor Company have
signed definitive agreements to form a new com
pany which will merge Fiat’s subsidiary Fiat-
Geotech and Ford New Holland, Ford’s tractor and
farm and industrial equipment subsidiary,” accord
ing to a Thursday news release from Ford’s head
quarters in Dearborn, Mich.
According to Mark Branstetter, Ford New Hol
land public affairs in New Holland, “We do not see
any immediate impact on local employment, and no
’JRNON ACHENBACH JR.
Lancaster Farming Staff
50c Per Copy
county.
Like all of those Sylvester Stal
lone “Rocky”-type characters who
with extra effort overcome numer
ous disadvantages to succeed,
19-ycar-old Amy Zahn, 17-year
old Angela Keller, and 16-year-old
change in our commitment to product quality and
dealer and customer service.”
(Turn to Page A 32)
ALL-MD best three females, Savage-
Lelgh Farm. Other winners on Pages C4-C5.
$15.00 Per Year
ANDY ANDREWS
Lancaster Farming Staff
LANCASTER (Lancaster
Co.) Greenhouse managers
could be losing money and lots
of it by failing to properly man
age the delicate and vital environ
ment in which they grow their
crops.
By not carefully cleaning green
house equipment, controlling
weeds inside and outside the
greenhouse, keeping equipment
clean, managing what they plant,
and practicing good biosecurity
stewardship, greenhouse owners
and managers could face huge los
ses from diseases and insects that
could be easily managed.
“I was at one greenhouse this
year that should have inspected the
plants before they came in,” said
Bruce Hellerick, Lancaster County
horticulture extension agent.
‘‘They threw away well over 100
hanging baskets that’s $lO a
basket retail. Most of their crop
was infected with thrips. They had
to spend the extra time with chemi
cal sprays to control the problem.”
Hellerick, who spoke recently to
about 500 professional growers at
the D&L Growers meeting in
Lititz, Pa., explained the impor
tance of biosecurity to maintaining
greenhouse profitability.
Learn biosecurity
According to Hellerick, the first
line of defense is biosecurity. It is
important to the large and small
growers in the area Lancaster
has approximately 3 million
square feet devoted to greenhouse
production. Many of them are
smaller farms which are using
greenhouses as an alternate farm
ing venture. Everyone who works
in greenhouses should learn it.
“People let weeds grow up in
the greenhouses or outside the
greenhouses,” said Hellerick. “Of
(Turn to Pago A3O)
Cynnamon Detra are heroines.
According to team coach Linda
Vaughn Bolen, of Blain, the trium
phant victories of the young
women speak not only of seeking
and achieving far-reaching goals,
(Turn to Page A 35)