Today, if you’re in the market for organic herbs you can easily grow on your kitchen counter for year-round use, your local supermarket or health food store is a good place to start. Chances are, they’ll be sold in biodegradable pots you can effortlessly place into a larger container of your choice without ever disturbing…
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In June of 2019, Canada announced it would ban single-use plastics as early as the year 2021. With this environmental initiative, Canada now joins a growing list of countries who are trying to make an impact by reducing single-use plastics. Such a monumental decision has spurred countless questions surrounding what is implied by a “single-use”…
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Here at The HC Companies, we manufacture hundreds of thousands of planting containers each and every year for greenhouses and nurseries across North America. As stewards of the industry, we’d like to make some recommendations for your customers at retail about protecting planting containers come the winter. What you may not know is we also…
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“I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says, “Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again.” ― Lewis Carroll, author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass While Lewis…
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One of the benefits and popularity of fiber planting containers for both professional and do-it-yourself growers is their ability to biodegrade. Not surprising when taking into account the 2019 Retail and Sustainability Survey by CGS, a global provider of business applications, enterprise learning and outsourcing services. They found that more than two-thirds of those surveyed…
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Though you’d never suspect it, plants do in fact breathe through microscopic pores in their leaves called “stomata” which takes in carbon dioxide and releases oxygen through a process known as photosynthesis. As many of us learned during middle school science, plants undergo a process called photosynthesis in which plants absorb carbon dioxide from the…
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For those who live along the coast of North America, you’re well aware that hurricane season is now upon us. In the Atlantic, it runs from June 1 through November 30; in the Pacific, from May 15 through November 30. Still, the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center states the majority of hurricanes tend to…
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Avid gardeners are well aware of what a “hardiness zone map” is, and most novices are probably at least familiar with the terminology based on the plant tag information found at their local garden center or big box store. Hardiness zone maps were first developed back in 1938 – representing “the average annual extreme minimum…
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The week of June 17-23, 2019 is National Pollinator Week. The week is proudly sponsored by the Pollinator Partnership, whose mission is to promote the health and sustainability of pollinators critical to our food supply and ecosystems across the globe. From the Pollinator Partnership, “Pollinators are essential to our daily life. Imagine a cup without coffee,…
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Fiber planting containers are growing in popularity – spurred on by our societies continued education and understanding of global warming. In a recent Nielsen Company survey, conducted in October of 2018, 81 percent of global consumers said it was extremely important or very important for companies to roll-out initiatives to improve the environment. Moreover, 73…
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