The greenhouses are also affordable to build, costing only $1 a foot for flat-roof houses and $3 foot for peaked-roof houses. Such convenience, said Mathers, decreases labor and equipment costs. There's the 75 days made up for right there." Mathers said with retractable roof greenhouses, seedlings can be grown into whips under full cover through fall, winter and early spring and, when conditions become more favorable, retract the roofs and/or walls and turn the nursery stock into a commercial production site without ever having to move the trees. "Using retractable roof greenhouses, we can start with growth in March rather than waiting until June. "All we are looking to make up is 75 days," said Mathers. Oregon's growing season is 225 days, while Ohio's is only 156 days. She said the gold mine with using retractable roof greenhouses in Ohio tree liner production is that a grower can extend the growing season. "Ohio growers can capture that $50 million market, and that's just a conservative estimate, and they can do it with retractable roof greenhouses," said Mathers. It is estimated that Oregon liner sales into Ohio and surrounding states total $50 million a year. Ohio growers import approximately $14 million worth of tree liners from the West annually at an average cost of $15 per liner. Ohio is well positioned geographically to increase its market. "Many larger nurseries in Ohio export 70 percent of what they grow in nursery stock. Nurseries obtain whips from the Pacific Northwest, mainly Oregon, then grow them on a larger stock. Currently, the Ohio nursery industry does not grow its own whips because the growing season is too short. The study, which began this month, analyzes the feasibility of growing tree seedlings to "whip" height - four to eight feet tall and a 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch in diameter - to be sold as tree stock to other nurseries in Ohio and other parts of the nation. Mathers and Dan Struve, an Ohio State horticulturist, are the authors of the grant and applied with the Ohio Nursery and Landscape Association to obtain the USDA/ODA funding. Department of Agriculture/Ohio Department of Agriculture (USDA/ODA) Specialty Crop Block grant to develop an Ohio tree liner production system. One that is generating the most attention is a project funded by a $58,000 16-month U.S. You can really do a lot of things with it that can be to a grower's advantage." The justification of retractable roof greenhouses in Ohio is already being met with some skepticism in the nursery industry, but Mathers is looking to change public opinion by demonstrating their usefulness, efficiency and affordability through a series of research studies. If birds are a problem with cherry trees, close the roof. You can just hit a button and close the roof. "For example, hail is a problem for crops. "I think the application of retractable roof greenhouses will expand into other crop industries like vegetables and fruit, as well as interfacing with pest management programs," said Meyers. Stephen Myers, chairman of Ohio State's department of horticulture and crop science, said retractable roof greenhouses would not only benefit the nursery industry, but would also be useful in other agricultural areas. The ability to retract the roof and roll-up the sides allows for better temperature and humidity control and improved wind and light conditions. The design allows a grower to retract up to 90 percent of the roof, guaranteeing that temperatures never rise above ambient. The idea of natural ventilation is the driving innovation behind retractable roof greenhouses. The retractable roof greenhouses are the first of their kind to be used for nursery production in the Midwest. Sometimes you want your material in a greenhouse and other times you don't." Construction of the buildings, one with a flat-roof and the other with a peaked-roof, began last summer with the help of a $10,000 grant from the Ohio Nursery and Landscape Association. "It gives you the flexibility of allowing the building to be a greenhouse or an outdoor environment. "Retractable roof greenhouses make a lot of sense for container and nursery stock production," said Mathers, an Ohio State University nursery and landscape specialist. Hannah Mathers is helping Ohio nursery growers to do the same. But the structures, known as retractable roof greenhouses, have helped nursery operations in the south, southeast and Pacific Northwest become more profitable and efficient, and has increased the industries' sustainability. With roll-up end walls and sidewalls and plastic curtains for a roof, the buildings look anything but a typical greenhouse. COLUMBUS, Ohio - On the Ohio State University agricultural campus sits two new buildings that university horticulturists are banking will change the face of nursery stock production in Ohio.
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