GHG Apr 18 - page 9

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THECOMMERCIAL GREENHOUSEGROWER • APRIL 2018
SHOW REVIEW •
19/20June2018
StoneleighPark,
Coventry,UK
GROWINGFOR
THEFUTURE
ENQUIREABOUTASTAND
ORREGISTERTOATTEND
nationalplantshow.co.uk
nurserysupplyshow.co.uk
NationalPlant
ShowHeadline
Partner
NurserySupply
ShowHeadline
Partner
system integral in each canmeet plants’ water needs for
up to twelveweeks.
Many of theGardenPress Event exhibitors, like growing
media specialistsMelcourt Industries, have a foot inboth
the consumer and theprofessional markets. One of them
isACSDistanceEducation. Thewide range of online short
courses offered covers topics of appeal to keen amateur
gardeners, but also subjects such as protectedplant
production, soil management and cut flower production.
Winners
Bio-fuel from coffeewon top award in the newproduct
competition at this year’sGardenPress Event. Its
producersBio-Beanuse as their rawmaterial thewaste
spent coffee from some of the 50million-plus cups drunk
eachday in theUK.Many of them areprepared and
soldby the evermore numerous coffee shops. Each cup
results in about 15grams of wet spent coffee grounds.
Bio-Bean, launched in 2013, is organizingbulk collection
of thiswaste from the shops, trucking it to its processing
facility, and turningout clean-to-handle fuel with a high
calorific value.Most is in the formof briquettes - artificial
logs - suitable for domestic use, and these are available
frommany retail outlets includinggarden centres and
somebranches ofMorrison’s. Some of thewaste is also
nowpelletted, and this product is useable as fuel for
commercial bio-mass boilers.
TheWillowWandwas runner-up in the newproducts
competition. Using awovenbundle of nine carefully
gradedwillow stems as a cutting, aminiaturepollarded
treewith a head in full leaf canbeproduced in as little as
sixweeks. This canbe sold for the consumer to use as a
centrepiece in apatio container, or as adot plant in abed
or border, providing instant height. Thebundled stems,
available in three lengths, become thepermanent (and
attractive) ‘trunk’ of theplant.
WillowWand inventor SimonRead said that FarPlants
has asked for a sample, and that he is looking for partner
growers. He toldme that he hopes growerswith ebb-&-
flow irrigatedbenchingwill find aprofitable seasonal crop
inWillowWand, as rooting inwater is quick and easy.
It is all Go! at the 13thPress Event.
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,...32
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