Ball Seed Company

It's time to book your 2026 early spring blooming perennials to vernalize this coming winter! Introduced last year, Saxifraga Marto by Darwin Perennials has masses of long-lasting flowers from March through June and has a higher cold tolerance, meaning more forgiveness in early frosts!

We have several new Ball Seed Exclusives this year! Josh Kirschenbaum is joining us as we unveil our 2026 additions!🤩 First up, Macaron by MOREL DIFFUSION - CYCLAMEN MOREL 🍬

Finishing Top-Quality Vegetative Petunia Crops: https://lnkd.in/dXVi46eC Dr. Will Healy joined Tech On Demand host Bill Calkins once again to wrap up the 3-part finished petunia miniseries and this time covered vegetative petunias—joining “common” seed-raised petunias and the Wave family of petunias in a dynamic trio of content. From transplanting best practices and nutrition strategies to irrigation management and container selection, there are plenty of tips and tricks for your entire team. Will spent extra time on nutrition in this video, because fertilizer choice and application is so critical for vegetative petunias, as well as viral pathogens to watch out for and ideally prevent. #greenhouse #horticulture #petunia #vegetative #ballseed #technicalservices #techondemand #greenhousetechteam

‼Major Announcement! For the first time in 120 years, Ball Seed will completely update the way we gather seed orders. Our new vending machine-inspired system brings the seeds directly to the person filling your order. No more searching shelves; every packet arrives exactly when and where it’s needed, making the whole process faster and more precise. This system will allow us to ship faster and more accurately, allow us to handle high shipping peaks, and provide ideal storage conditions to extend shelf life and maximize seed quality. ⚠To make this exciting move of North America’s largest seed inventory into the updated system, a short-term shipping interruption will occur as our team works to get the new process underway. 𝗔𝗻𝘆 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝟯:𝟭𝟱 𝗽𝗺 (𝗖𝗗𝗧) 𝗼𝗻 𝗪𝗲𝗱𝗻𝗲𝘀𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝟭𝟵, 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗱 𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗹 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝟮𝟰, 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺 𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗲. Please check your sow schedule to see if you anticipate needing a seed delivery late in Week 12 on March 20th or 21st. We encourage you to order in advance or anticipate the later arrival of your order!

Next up in the Ball Seed Technical Services miniseries of petunia finishing videos—WAVE! Finishing WAVE Petunias: https://lnkd.in/gWW4PVuX Dr. Will Healy joined host Bill Calkins to share protocols for finishing Wave petunias as part of the Tech On Demand series covering crop culture for key annuals and perennials. He continued the finished crop miniseries on petunias by sharing nuances for finishing Waves, especially looking at the differences in culture between Wave and common seed-raised petunias. Some of these intricacies include crop times, nutrition, photoperiod research specific to Wave and more. As Bill and Will said many times in the video, PanAmerican Seed (the breeding company behind Wave) has done so much research into Wave and has developed tools to practically ensure success with this amazing family of series and varieties. You can find them all here: https://lnkd.in/gU_FfaSD #greenhouse #horticulture #petunia #WAVE #video #ballseed #balltechnicalservices #techondemand #greenhousetechteam

#TechTuesday CHLOROTIC VINCA MYSTERY SOLVED https://lnkd.in/dUNPqnX5   Do you have vinca that look chlorotic and are struggling to grow? There are several common causes for the crop yellowing Ball Seed technical services specialist Chris Ferguson shows in this short #video. This particular crop was near a greenhouse door and drafts got them too cold, but other causes for such symptoms could be black root rot or high media pH. Chris says to keep them warm, maintain a soil pH around 5.8 and stay on top of your fungicide plan. #greenhouse #horticulture #nutrition #pH #disease #ballseed #technicalservices #techondemand #greenhousetechteam

Finishing “Common” Seed Petunias: https://lnkd.in/gmwzk_6b Retired Ball technical manager Dr. Will Healy joined host Bill Calkins to share protocols for finishing more common types of seed-raised (multiflora and grandiflora) petunias as part of the Tech On Demand series covering crop culture for key annuals and perennials. From media selection and nutrition to water, light and temperature, finishing crops requires careful attention to avoid losses and send high quality product out the door on time. In this discussion, Will focused on turning crops quickly by transplanting induced plugs, keeping night temps above 65F and photoperiods longer than 10 hours. #greenhouse #horticulture #petunia #seed #ballseed #technicalservices #techondemand #greenhosetechteam #video

Here are some tips from the Ball Seed Technical Services team for seeking diagnostic help when you encounter #disease #symptoms: Describing Signs and Symptoms. Being able to properly describe symptoms is essential for making the diagnosis. Following a process, like a dichotomous key can help narrow down the potential issues and point to clear corrective actions. It is best to consider color, pattern, effect on growth, location on the plant and distribution across a crop. In some instances, specific signs may be present such as sporulation. Unusual Color. There are numerous descriptive terms used to describe unusual coloration. For instance, yellowing or chlorosis is often associated with #nutrient #deficiencies, while necrosis may be due to nutrient #toxicities or spray damage. Symptoms of reddening or purpling may be due to phosphorus (P) deficiency or cold temperatures. It is also important to look at the roots—as brown or black roots are often indicators of root disease. Symptom Pattern. While symptoms sometimes occur uniformly, they often develop in a pattern that can be used to help identify the problem. For instance, magnesium (Mg) and iron (Fe) deficiencies often lead to yellowing between the veins (interveinal chlorosis), while #potassium (K) deficiency causes yellowing along the leaf margins (marginal #chlorosis). Concentric rings or mosaic patterns are often due to #viral #infections, while dead (necrotic) or water-soaked spotting or streaking occurs with many bacterial infections. Unusual Growth. Besides color, irregularities in #growth #habit can also help point to several different causes. Stunting is a common result of many issues including low #fertility, poor root health, excessive #insect feeding or poor environmental conditions. Other symptoms such as #distortion are often more specific. Thick, distorted leaves near the growing point are often the result of calcium (Ca) or boron (B) deficiencies, or due to broad #mite damage. Twisting and curling can occur with insect feeding or #herbicide drift. Symptom Distribution. How symptoms are distributed throughout the greenhouse can tell you a lot about the potential problem. If symptoms are occurring on all plants uniformly, it is likely due to an abiotic issue such as a nutrient deficiency, chemical injury or temperature extremes because these effects happen over a broad area. If the distribution is random, or if there are “hot spots” of symptomatic plants, it is more likely due to a biotic issue such as insects, mites, #bacteria, #fungi or #viruses. Symptom Onset. Another important consideration is how quickly symptoms develop. The sudden appearance of symptoms throughout a #greenhouse could be a sign of an abiotic or environmental issue. For instance, the sudden appearance of #necrotic spotting throughout a crop may be due to #phytotoxicity from a pesticide application the previous day. #greenhouse #horticulture #ballseed #technicalservices #techondemand #greenhousetechteam

You do not want to miss this new Cut Flower Podcast! Joan Mazat interviews members of That Flower Feeling's advisory board, including Ball SB’s Marketing Director, Carmen Marquez, to learn more about the mission and help spread the message about incorporating cut flowers into self-care! https://lnkd.in/gWXhu7Ve

See some unusual patterns in your foliage? This could be a virus such as INSV (Impatiens Necrotic Spot Virus), which is vectored by thrips in the greenhouse. The viral symptoms don’t always show up as spots but swirls, black streaks along the stems and yellowing. Ball Seed culture research manager Nathan Jahnke breaks down INSV and control strategies in this quick tech tip. INSV, THRIPS & BREAKING THE GREEN BRIDGE: https://lnkd.in/g6qiTW2m #greenhouse #horticulture #INSV #thrips #ballseed #technicalservices #techondemand #greenhousetechteam