Dave Wilson Nursery
Grower Profile:
Bob Jungwirth
Senior Grower
Crop: Rooted cuttings of commercial orchard trees
Location: Hickman, CA, USA
Greenhouse: Polycarbonate propagation and production greenhouse
Climate Needs: Reducing daytime temperature, providing shade, retaining heat at night, insect pest exclusion
Svensson Solution: Harmony 4647 FR, Econet 2777
Light diffusion, dual temperature regulation, and pest exclusion
Dave Wilson Nursery is an exceptional fruiting tree stock grower for commercial orchards and retail nurseries located in California’s Central Valley, east of Modesto in the Sierra Nevada foothills, near the town of Hickman. The nursery production includes greenhouses that utilize Svensson Harmony 4647 FR and Econet 2777 to provide a year-round gentle climate and pest-free environment for their trees.
Bob Jungwirth, senior grower with Dave Wilson Nursery, relies on Harmony 4647 FR to help moderate the harsh climate of the Central Valley, which experiences sunny days and cold nights. He supervises greenhouses that produce 4.4 million hardwood cuttings from fall through early spring. The greenhouse is invaluable for holding plant material together through the summer, as well as extending the growing season for young trees into the fall. For each of these uses, Harmony 4647 FR helps provide an ideal climate for growth.
”The screen is great at keeping the warm air inside of the greenhouse overnight, until the sun comes back up,” Jungwirth says. ”During the winter months, we need to maintain a temperature of 60 F in the greenhouse at night, and this closed Harmony screen allows us to achieve this.”
Throughout the summer and fall seasons, the diffuse light provided by the Harmony 4647 FR is beneficial to plants and employees as it helps maintain a temperature of 85 F or less. As Jungwirth notes, ”The screens are both useful for holding down the temperature while we hold plants in the houses, as well as for staff moving plants, cutting back, or potting in the greenhouse.” In turn, fall is for budding in the greenhouse, and the Harmony 4647 FR provides soft, diffused light for this purpose.
”For the first few weeks, the screens are kept closed to minimize the stress to the newly budded plants,” Jungwirth adds. ”Pest-free conditions are also maintained through the use of Econet 2777, which is used in an enclosure over the cooling pad intakes, and cages over the exhaust fans. We have few insects issues, thanks to the Econet.”
