Florida Grades & Standards for Nursery Stock
Bradenton (SMR Tree Farm/Polo Club)

 

Thursday, April 30, 2015
Nursery: SMR Tree Farm - Lorraine Road - Bradenton, FL 34211
Classroom: The Polo Club - 8201 Polo Club Lane - Lakewood Ranch, FL 34240  

CEUs: 
ISA: 6.5     BCMA: 4.0 (M)  2.5 (P)  
FNGLA: 4     LIAF: 4
and now approved for LA CEUs: Provider #0004488, Course #0009775
for 6.5 hours (optional credits)

 

The Grades and Standards for Nursery Plants has been completely revised for 2015! A team of your colleagues tackled this enormous project over the course of the past year and a half with the mandate of streamlining the grading process. As a result, it is shorter and less complicated than the 1998 (current) edition – now with only seven steps instead of ten. Be the first to obtain a copy of the document and begin incorporating the new Grades and Standards into your operation.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND: nursery growers; landscape architects; urban foresters, municipal inspectors, landscape designers, arborists, educators, Cooperative Extension agents.

 

AGENDA

8:00          Registration (continental breakfast available)


8:30 - 9:15         INDOOR SESSION
Florida’s History with the Nursery Grades & Standards for Nursery Plants  - Tyson Emery, Mike Marshall, and Dr. Ed Gilman
How the 2015 edition was developed, and a national perspective on grading nursery stock.

9:15 - 10:15    The Grades & Standards: a 7 Step Process - Mike Marshall and Dr. Ed Gilman
Attendees will learn the streamlined grading process from members of the committee that helped coordinate the rewriting of the Standard. It is fairly straight forward and substantially easier to use. The differences between the new and the old Standard will be clearly explained. Handouts will be used to help simplify learning.

10:15 - 10:30  BREAK (refreshments available)

10:30 - 11:30  OUTDOOR SESSION
Sample Grading Exercises - Dr. Ed Gilman and Mike Marshall
Using nursery trees, attendees will learn to grade trees according to the new edition of the Grades and Standards. There are no “tricks” or shortcuts, and grading can be a rapid process. Learn the details.

11:30 - 12:00  INDOOR SESSION
What’s Changed: Old vs. New - Mike Marshall
Review updates to the entire 2015 document and interact with all attendees and speakers to decipher how the grading process has changed for the better.  

12:00 - 12:45  LUNCH (provided)

12:45 - 1:15    Planting Specifications and Details - Dr. Ed Gilman
There are new planting details and specifications available on the web that incorporate the latest research and practices into a very user friendly package. Easily import details (dwg. files) into your designs. Whether you are a landscape architect downloading the dwg. files, a municipal urban forester, or other specifier of trees and planting projects using the pdf versions, you will enjoy these nationally reviewed FREE files – 78 of them! These are relevant across Florida and dwg. files can be edited by you (a first for these types of online resources!). From soils, to planting, to preservation, to irrigation, attendees will learn where to find these invaluable resources and start using them tomorrow. 

1:15 - 3:15         OUTDOOR SESSION
Rotate Among 3 Outdoor Stations
•   The 7 Steps in the New Grades and Standards - Mike Marshall
Attendees grade trees with interaction from the speaker. You will leave with a good understanding of the new streamlined grading process. You will be surprised at its simplicity.
•   Inspecting and Handling Trees Upon Delivery - Russell Adams
Attendees learn from a contractor who has received thousands of trees on job sites. What is acceptable? How can you make the process smooth with no surprises? How can we settle disputes?
•   Tree Roots and the New Standard - Dr. Ed Gilman
We focus on grading roots on nursery trees. What is acceptable and what is not? How can growers efficiently produce finished container and field grown trees with compliant root systems? Attendees learn to quickly grades trees for roots.

3:15 - 4:00      INDOOR SESSION
Grading Palms - Russell Adams
Attendees will learn how Grades and Standards for palms has changed dramatically from the last edition. The new criteria for palm grading will require designers, contractors, state and local governments and growers to reconsider their notion of what constitutes an acceptable palm or desirable palm.

4:00         SEMINAR ENDS, sign for CEUs

OUR SPEAKERS

RUSSELL ADAMS is a graduate from the University of Florida with a Bachelors of Science in Horticulture. He has owned the Gainesville Tree Farm since 1988. He worked as the quality control and pest control manager for Oasis Landscaping in Gainesville from 1999 until 2004. Since 2004 he has worked with Jones Edmunds and Associates (an Engineering, Environmental, and Construction Inspection firm) as a Senior Landscape Inspector. In this role he has overseen the construction and establishment of nearly 100 projects for the FDOT throughout the state.

TYSON EMERY is the Bureau Chief  of Plant and Apiary Inspection, a division of Plant Industry with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

DR. ED GILMAN is professor at the University of Florida in the Environmental Horticulture Department in Gainesville.  He has received the prestigious Authors citation award in 1999 from the International Society of Arboriculture for his books and CD-ROMs on trees and landscape plants and has received numerous other awards for his horticultural writing from the American Society for Horticultural Science.  He received the Gunslogen Award in 2001 from the American Horticultural Society for his innovative work in developing software for the horticultural industry. Dr. Gilman serves the landscape industry and allied professions with his tireless teaching and research efforts nationwide.

MICHAEL MARSHALL is Vice President at Marshall Tree Farm a 500 acre landscape tree farm in North Central Florida.  He studied horticulture at the University of Florida and received a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Horticulture in 1994 and a Master of Science in 1997.  Michael is active in the Florida Nursery Growers and Landscape Association and currently serves as the Past President of FNGLA.  Michael is serving a second term on the Board of Directors for the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA).  Michael is the President of the Roots Plus Growers Association, a grower association that is dedicated to educating consumers about high quality landscape trees.

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