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2020 Tagawa Greenhouse intern Sherman Hartman named the 2021 Paul Thomas Floriculture Production Intern of the Year

Tue, 05 Jul 2022 13:30:52 -0600

By: Tagawa Greenhouse Staff

June 5, 2021

We are pleased to announce that our 2020 Intern Sherman Hartman has been awarded the 2nd annual Paul Thomas Floriculture Production Intern of the Year Award!

READ ABOUT SHERMAN'S AWARD

Sherman has since been promoted to Grower at Tagawa Greenhouse and you can read about his intern experience below:

When I found out that I had received the opportunity to come to Colorado to study floriculture in Tagawa’s internship program, I was beyond excited. I wasn’t sure what I would get to see and take part in before entering the program. Having heard of this program and Tagawa’s reputation, I knew I would see some new areas within the greenhouse industry that I had not seen before, and also see some new species being grown in this production setting. It is safe to say that my expectations of this program were surpassed, despite COVID-19 and all. Even as an intern I felt I was a part of this special team here at Tagawa that truly does put people and relationships right up there with the plant quality.

I enjoyed the first rotation in operations for several reasons. It was exciting to be working with young, seemingly fragile cuttings and propagules at the Foothills location. I felt a bit like I was welcoming all of the boxes of cuttings into the facility and tucking them into the cooler before being stuck soon after. Later in that rotation I helped with a lot of sticking and jimmy-tagging. Following this order of receiving/unboxing cuttings, prepping for sticking, sticking cuttings, and finally pulling the finished trays to ship really gave me a sort of bird’s eye view to each order and tray, and how plant material arrives and finished orders leave the greenhouse with every step in between (besides the actual growing/production tasks). In this rotation, I learned the importance of organization whether it be good inventory practices to know where orders are being grown, or a good sticking line setup for efficiency.

Also, during this rotation I got to see first-hand just how versatile and flexible a greenhouse operation should be. From seeing management helping to fix sticking machines and tray filling equipment, to having employees switch over to hand sticking auto-stick cuttings in a pinch, this sort of versatility seems ingrained in this business dealing with live plants. That versatility was interesting to see in person; and was somewhat reinforced by the two-man teams constantly either building racks and moving around both empty racks and full racks of freshly stuck trays. It was those kinds of positions I had been overlooking in the industry, so it was great to take part in even if only briefly.

Following the operations rotation, I spend some time in production. I assisted in range D at the North facility, essentially as an irrigator but also helping out with and learning about other grower and general tasks too. I felt fairly confident in my irrigation abilities going into this rotation, but it turned out I got a chance to really focus that skill and others during my time there. It became utterly clear how important water quality is, and I assisted in testing our different water sources while the head grower was away for a couple weeks. I learned how to take into account dry down time, weather, fertilization needs, and general time management when planning out irrigations. Prior to this internship, I had tried to grow crops on the dry side with several small groups for assignments back in the campus greenhouse. After being shown the specifics and getting help fine tuning my irrigator’s judgment and watering hand, I found myself growing dryer more successfully and realizing that I never really had to a legitimate extent before. I got to see first-hand how certain cultural practices like moisture management and temperature from a plant’s early stages, can make all the difference in the final product of a nice full, toned plant.

One learning curve I was chasing for a short period of time was irrigating while taking into account the increasingly intense Colorado sun and heat during the spring months. Though I had a fair amount of moisture management experience in more humid climates, had never grown any plants in such an arid climate before being in production in range D. I believe it was mid-March when the temperatures and sun intensity began to rise beyond my anticipation leading to alarmingly fast dry down rates. I did not kill or really damage any plants during this time. Ashley instructed me to simply give more water to each container at each irrigation, and to walk my houses more frequently to ensure nothing gets too dry before I become aware of it. Even with that advice, it took me some time to adjust to these changing conditions. Nevertheless, this was an excellent learning opportunity for how one should take a holistic approach to plant care, including weather directly influencing irrigation practices. I deeply enjoyed this rotation because of the responsibility that lies upon the irrigator, and how one’s knowledge and good judgement can keep a crop on track to finish beautifully.

In my retail ready rotation, I got to spend time at a Costco, several Home Depots, and at the Tagawa Garden Center. These venues are different in how they sell their plants, the kinds of plants sold and containers, and generally the sort of customers that shop at these different places. At the Costco, I noticed most everything was in large containers and in pre-arranged designs, though there were other crops like various herbs, tomatoes, peppers, and succulents, and some 12-packs. These customers seemed least interested in the involvement with the plants and would rather prefer a large container in full bloom ready to enjoy. The Home Depot selection was much wider, with many different species in various packs, small pots, hanging baskets, and also large containers. These customers seemed excited about buying packs of annuals to plant themselves either in containers of their own or in their flowerbeds. Many people would buy a wide variety of plants for their home as well as other gardening equipment from the Home Depot.

While working at the Tagawa garden center, there were a variety of different customers. Some customers didn’t know a petunia from a canna, and others had specific questions regarding different species’ preferences, plant care, and remedies for insects or diseases. This facility carried the widest variety of crops among all three retail locations with different sections for annuals, roses, vegetables, houseplants, perennials, and a nursery section. The garden center had so many different species that it seemed rare that a customer’s request could not be fulfilled. No matter who the customer was, it was fun to gauge peoples plant knowledge to be able to assist them accordingly. At the Costco and Home Depots, there generally seemed to be two groups of customers, those who buy a container because of how it looks right now, and those who buy it for how they anticipate the arrangement to perform throughout its life. I enjoyed helping customers at all of these locations, though the Garden center likely taught me the most, as they essentially have experts in each of the different areas mentioned above.

During the Coronavirus outbreak, the world seemed to be a completely new arena with potential infection lurking around every turn. Though it was surely frightening, especially in the beginning when nobody knew very much for certain, the central point of my focus of the Covid-19 outbreak here is not the fear it invoked, but rather Tagawa’s handling of it. Early on during late February and March, I thought that Tagawa might close down even if only temporary. This did not happen for several reasons. Firstly, this company falls under the umbrella of Agriculture. Also, serious precautions were taken at all Tagawa facilities in attempt to reduce the spread including mandatory masks and social distancing, and rigorous sanitation across all facilities. Though a few individuals within the company did test positive, sufficient precautions were taken so that the company was able to stay open and operate near full capacity throughout.

By mid-March, masks were deemed mandatory at all Tagawa facilities and interfacility travel was drastically reduced. At the same time, the maintenance employees found new tasks of walking around and spraying commonly touched surfaces with disinfectant. Bottles of disinfectant were never out of sight, and the head of maintenance even sent me home with a couple to keep the house as clean as possible. When Colorado instituted a stay at home order, all employees were given a document proving that they were essential employees at an essential business, in case anyone was stopped by police. Some rules even changed so that those who might have contracted the virus could receive more paid sick days to deter anyone who might have it from spreading it further within the company. Though the fear continues to linger about contracting the virus, Tagawa seemed to do everything in their power to keep all employees safe. Despite the fact that it was in Tagawa’s best interest to take every precaution possible, I am deeply grateful to have been with a company who cares about their employees’ safety during such a volatile time.

After having completed the internship program, I feel much more floriculture oriented in my career outlook. My time spent in the greenhouse and in all areas of this company have helped me to be much more prepared for any position I may enter, especially those within green industries. From here I will take all I have learned and most likely enter a greenhouse production position within the year following my college graduation. This may likely begin with an irrigator position or as part of a team performing general greenhouse labor. Another area of horticulture I am considering is nursery crop production. No matter where I end up, this program will have surely aided my professional and intellectual development to help me get there and with my performance in any such position.

Overall, I enjoyed my time in the Tagawa Greenhouse internship program very much so. I learned more in these last 6 months than I thought I ever could. I found great pleasure learning about aspects of the greenhouse industry that I was previously unaware of. The program is set up in a way that allows interns to get a feel for the seasonal nature of the industry, as well as the ability to gain work experience in many different aspects of this business’s inter-workings. To say I am grateful for this opportunity, and my time here would be an understatement and I would sincerely recommend this internship program to all horticulture students interested in floriculture.

— Sherman Hartman

Building success at Tagawa Greenhouses

Tue, 12 Oct 2021 16:08:51 -0600

By: Tagawa Greenhouse Staff

July 1, 2020

In an effort to stay ahead of the curve, Tagawa Greenhouses is trying a new approach to how it runs its operation, starting with the production staff.

CEO Randy Tagawa says that throughout the greenhouse industry, customer expectations have increased, and the company wants to be accurate and provide customers with a quality product.

“On the young plant side, there’s definitely an expectation to have quality products delivered on time, and with the complexity of the number of varieties and product lines that we have, it’s definitely been challenging to provide and meet our customer’s expectations,” Tagawa says. “From a company standpoint, we’ve been trying to reinvent Tagawa’s. Just like any company and any product, you have to reinvent yourself to be relevant going into the future.

Making Changes To Keep Tagawa Current

Tagawa Greenhouses is a family owned company that has been in business for 47 years. The company produces young plants and liners sold exclusively to Ball Horticulture, as well as finished products for the mass market.

The company has locations in Brighton and Golden, Colo., and New Mexico, and each facility has around 16 to 20 acres of production greenhouses. Tagawa also has a partner company in California called Ball Tagawa Growers that produces all young plants that are sold to Ball.

To help meet customer expectation levels, the company has made an effort to build a great production staff. In the process of adding to the staff, many young individuals in their 20s and 30s were hired to fill those production spots.

Tagawa has found that younger individuals come to the table not only with an education, but with a lot of energy and a positive attitude. With more employees coming to the company with fewer years of experience, Tagawa says he is personally spending more time in production trying to educate growers.

“For the past six months, I’ve been directly working with all of our new production staff to help train them in making good production decisions,” he says. “I am very impressed with all of them and how fast they pick up on things.

Building A Strong Team

Hiring young people is one philosophy that is working for Tagawa Greenhouses. The production staff has improved in meeting its goals, and Tagawa says there is a lot more communication among staff members, and that the group is energetic, social and skilled at working as a team.

“I’ve seen a huge improvement over the past season and we will be very successful in meeting our customers’ expectations into the future,” Tagawa says.

There have been three new positions added to the production staff, for a total of 20 key production staff members. Eight of them are under 30 years old, which includes two of the three production managers.

All of these young people were some of the best graduates in the industry,” Tagawa says.

Along with those employees, there are many others under 30 who are playing key roles in the company, as well as many individuals over age 65 who offer the needed experience to make the company successful.

Blending experienced staff with talent from the younger generation has yielded positive results.

“This combination has started to come together and see success. I would say that this team is becoming the best in the industry,” Tagawa says.

“We hire just the best individuals. We’re not just concentrating our efforts on young people — it just happened on the production side that there was an opportunity to hire a lot of young people, so maybe we fell into it. It wasn’t a conscious effort; however, we do see the advantages in production.

One of the biggest challenges of hiring young employees is providing them with enough experience — not just in production techniques — but also in communications and working with people. Tagawa says that when hiring individuals who are just out of college, you must be willing to give them more responsibilities, despite their lack of experience.

On the other hand, Tagawa’s younger staff members are eager to learn and have a desire to do a good job.

“We have a couple of people under 30 in production manager roles, and we see them as up-and-coming individuals who can go really far within our industry,” he says.

Preparing New Growers For The Job

Company co-founder and now adviser Ken Tagawa always believed in training and having a great internship program for graduates who wanted experience, says Tagawa.

“I think that there are a lot of young people coming out of school who really don’t know what they want to do,” says Tagawa. “And as we look at it, we’re willing to do a lot of the training in order for them to be successful. It’s hard to try to find good people in any place. It doesn’t matter what age. Finding the talent to do production is difficult in itself, but as individuals are coming out of college, that’s an opportunity we’re tapping into.”

Whether a new employee is right out of school or not, Tagawa recommends putting them through a mini-internship program. New employees at Tagawa Greenhouses spend a few weeks learning about each of the company’s departments before they actually start working.

“It’s definitely advantageous to let people see your entire business, versus just putting them into their position and that’s all they do,” says Tagawa. “They should know something about your organization as far as marketing, merchandising, etc.”

That has been the company’s approach for its internship program, which has been in place for about eight years. Interns spend a semester working at Tagawa, during which they are exposed to all aspects of the organization.

“We go from one end of the business to the next. They spend some time in each to get a good understanding of what we’re doing,” Tagawa says.

Interns spend about a month and a half in production learning about decision making, watering, growing, spraying and all of the functions relative to growing. Then, they spend one to two weeks in each of the other departments in order to get a well-rounded view of what the company does. Interns are exposed to everything from maintenance to merchandising to finance to marketing.

One of the benefits of having the internship program is that it serves as a source for future employees. Some interns come from out of the country, or already have plans to work for their family’s businesses, but some are looking for jobs.

“That gives us an opportunity to look at them, and for them to look at us,” says Tagawa. “We might offer them a position if it works out for both parties.”