Episode 48: The Power of Photoperiod for Better Flower Production with Dr. Alicain Carlson
We as growers can get quite fixated on soil and water and fertility. But there's another factor that is so absolutely critical to plants and flower production and that is light, or more precisely photoperiod. We all know that light is the foundation of photosynthesis. What we can sometimes forget is how critical the number of hours of light and dark are to triggering a plant to switch from vegetative growth to flowering. We drill into that in this episode with Dr. Alicain Carlson from Syngenta Flowers. Great companion listening for this episode is Episode 46: 10 Late Season Flower Crops for November Sales with Dave Dowling. Additional resources mentioned in this episode: Syngenta Flowers Cultural Guides Book: Specialty Cut Flowers MyLightMeter - an app for your phone to measure light WANT TO LEARN MORE? Join the Regenerative Flower Farmers Network (RFFN) for just $20/year if you'd like to continue the conversation on topics covered in this episode. You'll also gain access to lots of helpful articles, discussion boards, and online courses. On-demand Online Courses for Farmers Available on RFFN: Foliage for the Win Successful Flower CSAs and Subscriptions CREW: Hiring and Managing Simple Steps to Better Marketing Woodies: Playing the Long Game WINTER SPECIAL: 3 Online Courses for $300! Click Here to Learn More. HAVE IDEAS AND FEEDBACK ABOUT THE PODCAST? Share your opinions in this brief survey. As always, if you appreciate this podcast and all the education it provides, please take a moment out of your day to rate and write a review for it on Apple Podcasts or wherever you are listening to it.
29 Dec 2025
Episode 47: The Power of Cover Crop Mixes with Keith Berns of Green Cover Seed
For anyone focused on building soil health and long-term productivity, cover crops are the most powerful tool available. Research shows that cover crop mixes—rather than single-species plantings—offer greater benefits to the soil ecosystem. When thoughtfully designed, a diverse cover crop mix acts like a self-balancing team, with each species performing a specific ecological role. In this episode, Keith Berns, one of the founders of Green Cover Seed (https://greencover.com/) in Nebraska, walks us through the value and decision-making process for adding cover crop mixes to your growing space. If you're new to cover crops, you may want to start with Episode 33, Cover Cropping Basics for Small Scale Regenerative (Flower) Farms. And another great episode to check out is The Ins and Outs of Intercropping with Denise Ritcher. Additional resources mentioned in this episode: Green Cover Podcast Cover Crops 101 book (Free Download) Webinar with Dr. Christine Jones WANT TO LEARN MORE? Join the Regenerative Flower Farmers Network (RFFN) for just $20/year if you'd like to continue the conversation on topics covered in this episode. You'll also gain access to lots of helpful articles, discussion boards, and online courses. On-demand Online Courses for Farmers Available on RFFN: Foliage for the Win Successful Flower CSAs and Subscriptions CREW: Hiring and Managing Simple Steps to Better Marketing Woodies: Playing the Long Game Tap into the above courses and resources any time you need. These are available on-demand through the Regenerative Flower Farmers Network. HAVE IDEAS AND FEEDBACK ABOUT THE PODCAST? Share your opinions in this brief survey. As always, if you appreciate this podcast and all the education it provides, please take a moment out of your day to rate and write a review for it on Apple Podcasts or wherever you are listening to it.
4 Dec 2025
Episode 46: Overwintering Dahlias in the Ground, Zones 5 and Warmer
Host Jennie Love (https://lovenfreshflowers.com/about-jennie-love/) walks listeners through a clear and concise discussion on how and why to overwinter dahlias in the ground. Save time, money and sanity with no-dig dahlias. Cold is not the enemey to successfully perennializing your dahlias. Moisture is. Tune in to learn more! Mentioned in the episode: Black Dog Flower Farm Dahlia Blog Post Part 1 Black Dog Flower Farm Dahlia Blog Post Part 2 Cornelia Macnamara Flowers in Chicago (https://corneliamcnamara.com/) Metal cages used to support dahlias WANT TO LEARN MORE? Join the Regenerative Flower Farmers Network (RFFN) for just $20/year if you'd like to continue the conversation on topics covered in this episode. You'll also gain access to lots of helpful articles, discussion boards, and online courses. On-demand Online Courses for Farmers Available on RFFN: Foliage for the Win Successful Flower CSAs and Subscriptions CREW: Hiring and Managing Simple Steps to Better Marketing Woodies: Playing the Long Game Tap into the above courses and resources any time you need. These are available on-demand through the Regenerative Flower Farmers Network. Past relate episode for further listening include: The Dahlia Episode with LeeAnn Huber of Coseytown Flowers Dahlia Pest Management with LeeAnn Huber of Coseytown Flowers Nutrient Balancing in Living Soil with Bryant Mason, the Soil Doctor HAVE IDEAS AND FEEDBACK ABOUT THE PODCAST? Share your opinions in this brief survey. As always, if you appreciate this podcast and all the education it provides, please take a moment out of your day to rate and write a review for it on Apple Podcasts or wherever you are listening to it.
Inside a recent episode
Episode 48: The Power of Photoperiod for Better Flower Production with Dr. Alicain Carlson
Published 21 Jan 2026 · Transcript excerpt
[…] And if they don't get that, they just stay vegetative the whole time. Okay. And do you have an example off the top of your head of something like that? Do you know one real quick? Um, it's okay if you don't. A lot of them end up being facultative. Okay. Leads into, so like a facultative short day plant. If you keep them under long days, they will eventually flower. They'll keep growing vegetatively, vegetatively, vegetatively. And then eventually they'll just be like, fine, I'm going to flower even though I'm not getting these short days. And I'll, I'll put out some flowers because I need to reproduce. […]
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