Biological Controls

Raising health, strong plants is our top priority at Heeman’s we recognize that sometimes the best way to this is nature’s way. Thats why we’ve scrapped the traditional spraying program in favour of a softer approach, fighting bugs with bugs. Our pest control is done with the help of thousands of beneficial insects that form the front line in our biological control program. Biological control allows for a softer, yet effective approach to pest control that employs predatory mites to hunt down other mites, like two-spotted spider mites, or parasitic wasps to attack aphids. Whatever the insect we’ve got a hunter to handle it.

These bugs aren’t like traditional average lady bug or praying mantis. Each of our allies has an appetite for a specific type of prey, selective feeders that narrow in on common greenhouse pests. Next time you come visit the greenhouse look out for our little friends, if you see an insect hanging around, chances are it’s just another faithful Heeman employee hard at work.

Water Retention & Recycling

A greenhouse operation as big as ours can have major water demands. That’s why for years we’ve been keeping our water usage minimized by using flooding benches and water reservoirs.

Rain water is funnelled into our holding pond and used for irrigating the straw popular berry fields or frost protecting in the spring. Rather than draw down our local water levels, we prefer to capitalize on what Mother Nature gives us and everyone knows that nothing beats rain water for helping plants grow.

In the greenhouse we have had a unique watering system in place since the 1981, a very forward thinking concept that is now becoming. Water premixed with fertilizer is stored in reservoirs under the greenhouse benches and then flooded onto the tables above and then recycled back into the reservoirs. Not only does this account for 0% fertilizer run off or water loss it is also a more effective way of watering that helps reduce leaf moisture that can lead to fungus build up.

Plastic Pot Recycling

When we first started our plastic pot recycling service, there was no home for greenhouse plastics and we were happy to accept the used containers, our own and many from big box stores and other garden centres. Our staff would sort through and gather thousands of containers for reuse or recycling. Each year we diverted tens of thousands of pounds of plastics, often two truck loads annually, from the landfill into the recycling stream.

Today, we are proud to report that local municipalities now accept nursery pots as part of blue box services. Not wanting to take away from their services, we will no longer be offering our plastic pot recycling service as of 2017. We see this as a great step forward for our environment and are happy that our customers can now recycling their own plastics to keep the green industry ‘green’!