Industry members are experiencing varying levels of concern about what Reuters news service reports is Georgia's "worst drought in decades," as well as droughts in Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky and North and South Carolina.
"I can't tell that it is having a direct effect," says Paul Walker of Ed Sapp Floral Company & Greenhouses in Waycross, Ga. "We have a big well ... [our water] is not from a city source."
Similarly, Rockwell Farms in Rockwell, N.C., has a 3-acre pond and water storage tanks, says transportation manager Michael Hartley, so product is not dependent on rainfall or subject to water restrictions.
Mike Balsink, president of Cut Flower Wholesale in Atlanta, says that supplies "may be down a little bit," but that "this late in the game, growers are done anyways."
Betsey Hall of Hall's Flower Shop and Garden Center in Stone Mountain, Ga., however, reports that the "total outdoor water ban" on residences is hurting sales. "We are in the height of pansy season and it is the time of year to plant trees and shrubs ... but people aren't doing that," she says. Instead, Hall is encouraging customers to plant in containers, rather than in the ground, and use "grey water" — or water recycled from household appliances — to water their plants.
While precipitation has picked up in the previously drought-ridden Florida, overall rain is still down for the year, says Ben Bolusky, executive vice president of the Florida Nursery, Growers & Landscape Association. Consequently, South Florida's primary water source, Lake Okeechobee, is at a historic low. "This portends trouble for the winter, in terms of re-imposition of stricter irrigation restrictions," that Florida faced this summer, Bolusky says. "The prospect of tighter restrictions in South Florida is worrisome." Eric Nissen, AAF, of Sunshine State Carnations in Hobe Sound, Fla., agrees: "Lake Okeechobee is down about five feet ... that is our main concern." Read more about the Florida drought.
Have you been battling droughts in your state recently? E-Brief editors want to know your story. E-mail vmachir@safnow.org with your news.
--Vanessa Machir
vmachir@safnow.org
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