Ask a Grower Forum

I have finally added the Professional Grower Forum to the Ask a Grower Website. If you don’t what a forum is, it’s an internet discussion board where users can interact with one another by posting topics and commenting on other user’s topics and subsequent replies. Until now, this site has consisted of only a blog about day-to-day activities in wholesale greenhouse. My original idea and the force driving this site, is my desire to give growers a place to discuss (anonymously if they prefer) the production challenges that confront us on a daily basis. My hope is that we can answer each other’s questions and collectively solve many of our production and growing problems by offering solutions from growers who have experienced a similar challenging situation in their greenhouse.The forum is easy to interact with and since you sign in with a username, you can remain anonymous. I would actually prefer the users to remain anonymous for several reasons, primarily to keep greenhouse owners from having so-called “sensitive information” revealed by their employees (posters). Below I have listed a few things that I think will help everyone succeed on the site:

• Stay Anonymous. This will work best for everyone. I won’t mind if a researcher, professor or other non-grower were to attach their name to their posts. Salesmen and Technical Support People can help growers with specific problems relating to their products but they shouldn’t write negative posts to make their competition look bad.
• Be Respectful. As the moderator and administrator of the forum, I can delete any post I that I feel crosses the line professionalism and I can ban users who consistently cause problems. Their is no need for obscene language, rude or attacking posts or unconstructive conversation. It is fine for posters to disagree and carry on arguments on, for example, “the proper moisture for germinating verbena seed”. I want good discussion, even heated debates, but let’s all be professionals.
• Stick to the topics. When someone starts a new topic, it is meant to focus on that particular topic. It is pointless for users to reply with off-topic posts or try to change the discussion to something else. If there is not a proper topic under which to post your question or problem, then by all means, start a new topic!

That’s all the rules I have for now but I’m certain I will add to this list down the road.

When you go to the Ask a Grower Forum, you must first register to interact. This is an easy procedure:

1. Click the “Register” button in the top right corner.
2. Read and agree to the Registration Terms.
3. Fill in necessary fields and Confirmation Code (this is to prevent automated registrations ie spam)
4. Start posting!

I have just started using this forum software so users will need to bear with me as I figure out how to operate it efficiently. If you have any questions, send me an email, and I’ll help in any way I can. And please interact.