Early Industry Pulse Survey Results

I've been back in the office a couple days now from Greenville, S.C., and I checked out early results from Greenhouse Grower's 2009 Industry Pulse Follow-Up survey. We send a survey out to growers Monday asking them questions related to spring, and the response has been pretty positive.

Vegetables and herbs, for example, had tremendous growth this spring. We've all heard anecdotally how this crop category boomed, and our survey clearly supports that notion.

The question: If you grow vegetables and herbs, how did Spring 2009 sales of them compare to Spring 2008 sales?

The results: More than 37 percent of growers reports sales increases of more than 10 percent in the category. Another 20 percent say sales increased between 5 and 10 percent, and 9 percent of respondents report an increase of less than 5 percent.

In fact, only four of 100 respondents through this afternoon report sales decreases in vegetables and herbs. Unbelievably, even I had a shot at growing and selling vegetables this year. The category essentially proved to be a can't miss.

Other early survey results indicate sales growth for bedding plants and similar sales compared to 2007 for container perennials and flowering potted plants.