Are you a ‘F1′ Grower?
December 19th, 2005 · by Bill Hole
I like to watch Formula 1 racing. I find it fascinating. The effort that goes into making the cars go as fast as they can while dealing with all the external factors (like tires, weather and track) just to keep the car on the circuit is truly admirable. I often use the analogy of a race car when talking about top performing plants.
I believe almost anyone can grow a plant. Get some soil, stick a seed or cutting in it, add water and voilá you are a grower. However, in a race car, 4 wheels and an engine does not a race car make. Each time the driver wants more speed from his car, the more work and skill that has to be used in setting up the car. This is the same with the plant business: it takes a lot of skill, knowledge and care to make sure a plant performs well. So whenever I see other growers’ plants, I give them the ‘F1′ test. Has this grower gone flat out to produce the highest performance plant? While I was in Calgary I saw some poinsettias that didn’t pass my F1 test. The bracts were small indicating the grower had not used the correct fertilizer; they were shedding lower leaves because the plants were grown too close together (to save money) and they were setting coloured bracts at multiple levels on the plant meaning it was grown in too hot of a greenhouse.
Even though most of the public are not a professonal growers I know they still appreciate exceptional plant performance. It is a lot like that F1 race car: it’s easy to spot high performance when you see it.