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We will be taking softwood stem cuttings from the podocarpus and rooting these before planting them in media.

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Mealybugs tend to congregate in large numbers, forming white, cottony masses on plants. They feed on stems and leaves of fruit trees and ornamentals. Naturally occurring predators and parasites control many mealybug species. On ornamentals, insecticidal soap, narrow-range oil, or a forceful stream of water can be applied to reduce exposed populations with minimal harm to natural enemies that may migrate in later.

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Sooty mold is a dark soot like covering on the leaves and stems of a plant. Sooty mold is actually a fungus that grows on plants with heavy aphid,  scale or whitefly damage. Controlling sooty mold is simple. First you need to address the root cause of the sooty mold: aphids, scale, and whiteflies.

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Viburnum can be propagated by taking a 4-6-inch hard or softwood cutting and planting it in media.

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These crawlers are pale, smaller than a pinhead, and are the only mobile stage of the scale life cycle. Light infestations of scale can be scraped off by hand. A 2% horticultural oil can be sprayed in the early spring before new growth begins to kill overwintering adults and eggs. Horticultural oil may be sprayed when temperatures are between 40 and 85 °F with no rainfall predicted for 24 hours.

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Affected plant tissues develop a powdery white to light gray growth of fungal mycelia. The fungus is mostly found on the upper leaf surface but also may be found on the lower leaf surface. Powdery mildew can be controlled with fungicides containing myclobutanil, propiconazole, thiophanate-methyl, or horticultural oil.

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Bacterial blast, also known as citrus blast, causes black spots on the leaf stem and can cause the leaves to curl, wither and drop, sometimes killing twigs. To avoid this, we will be spraying with copper fungicides according to manufacturer’s directions before the beginning of wet, cool weather.

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Whiteflies are tiny, sap-sucking insects that develop rapidly in warmer temperatures and in some areas will breed all year. Tiny oblong eggs laid on the undersides of leaves hatch into insects. You can make your own spray, called white oil, by mixing 1 cup of cooking oil, 1 1/2 cups of water, and 2 teaspoons of dishwashing detergent and adding it to water in concentrations of 40 parts water to one part oil mixture. The use of a hand-held, battery-operated vacuum cleaner on leaves can also be helpful. Vacuum in the early morning or during cool periods when whiteflies are more sluggish, then place the vacuum bag in a sealed plastic bag and freeze it overnight to kill the insects.

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The crops with the drip irrigation systems will be fertilized through fertigation injections. The podocarpus and the satsuma tangerine will be fertilized three times annually in January, May, and September.
Sweet viburnums will receive a fish emulsion application annually in the spring.

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Our satsuma tangerines and podocarpus will be using two separate micro irrigation systems. Emitters will dispense water directly to the plant's roots. This will also allow us to use fertilizer injections and schedule them according to each crops needs.

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The sweet viburnum crops will be set up in our greenhouse with ebb and flow trays. These supply plants with great amounts of nutrients. The water and nutrients 'flood' the growing medium, nourishing the plant's roots. Then, the water and nutrients drain back to the reservoir.

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Our media will be a loam soil composed of 40% sand, 40% silt, and 20% clay. Sand provides great drainage and aeration, while clay particles provide nutrients, and silt aids in the mixing process and retains moisture.

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Mission statement: Crystal Cow Nursery functions to provide well-seasoned growers and amateurs alike with quality plants that transform the average Floridian’s yard into a picturesque resort landscape.

Crops: Sweet Viburnum, Podocarpus, Satsuma Tangerine

Container grown

Wholesale

Crystal River, FL

Buildings: 2 greenhouse, shadehouse, parking lots, front entrance building, juice stand, storage

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Our nursery layout encourages our guests to park, and take a lovely walk around the perimeter of our location ending in a relaxing area in the center where they can enjoy refreshments and live entertainment after their walk. The first thing guests see after leaving the parking lot will be our Demo area where we show neat resort style landscape designs using our 3 crops. We want to educate and inspire our guests to create their own resort style landscapes. They continue their walk past our sweet viburnum greenhouse filled with ebb and flow systems, and past our Podocarpus/Satsuma Tangerine greenhouse that utilizes micro-sprinklers. Finally the walkway turns inward towards the center and leads through our shop/market. Once guests exit the market they will be led to the center of our property, where there is a stage for live entertainment/education as well as tables and chairs. The path leads straight back to the parking lot from the recreational area. Our office resides in the back right of the property and our storage house and shade house is located in the back left of our property.

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Spider mites can wreak havoc if not taken care of quickly. Like aphids, we must engage in frequent scouting and can use insecticidal soap to handle these guys or use beneficial insects to wage war on them!

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The aphid is a pest that shows no mercy! However, with frequent scouting and the use of neem oil, we can manage these tiny pests.

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Our sweet viburnum is at a high risk of root rot, caused by a fungal-like organism called Pythium. However, if we remain diligent in our cleaning and disinfecting procedures/ schedule we can prevent this problem from occurring in our nursery.

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Our propagation is through cuttings. A simple method that requires you to take 6 inch cuttings from a mature plant, remove most of leaves leaving some at the top, and placing the cutting into media.

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We are growing out trees in grow bags which provide automatic root pruning when we lift them to sell. Sweet viburnum is given selective pruning as it grows to create a wall effect without being obvious that it is being pruned that way. Our podocarpus goes through special pruning because of all the fun designs you can create with it. The schedule of our pruning varies.