Re: IDM

**H*@aol.com**

If there's a connection I think it's called monoculture.

Andrew Messinger
The Hampton Gardener is a  registered trade mark and is published every 
week in The Southampton Press, The  Press The Easthampton Press and online at 
27east.com 

In a message dated 2/10/2013 5:16:24 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
rsbirdy@comcast.net writes:

Is it  just me...or has anyone else noticed that Impatiens have been  
selling
extremely "cheap" at many garden centers the last few years? At  least this
is true in Michigan.

Where have the garden centers  obtained these at low enough prices to 
provide
them at a very low price to  the public or as a loss leader?

Now we have this horrendous problem. Is  there some connection?

I don't believe in coincidence...

Sandie  Parrott
Writer/Blogger/Photographer

____________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________
John,  I wrote about IDM last summer. English Gardens, one of the largest
IGCs in  the country (7 stores) sold infected plants and when the complaints
came in  they gave the customers their money back. By summer the  disease  
was
rampant in Southeastern Michigan. The four largest IGCs in the Metro  
Detroit
Area have agreed not to sell impatiens walleriana this season.
A  random sampling of small garden centers indicates many plan to cut back
on  production,  but will sell them without a guarantee. Impatiens were  the
number one annual crop in Michigan and Michigan is third in the nation  in
flower production.
Michigan State University is doing research in  hopes of finding a magic
bullet homeowners can use, but so far none has  been found. I will be
speaking at half a dozen garden centers this spring  and several other
venues. Most garden centers are promo ting coleus and  begonias as a
replacement. The big problem is price. A flat of impatiens  sold for $9 to
$12 in SE Michigan. 

Columnist for Detroit  News
szerlag@earthlink.net

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