>> "J Schwanke's Life in Bloom" is brought to you by the following... >> That flower feeling.

♪♪ At home.

♪♪ At work.

♪♪ Or anytime.

♪♪ CalFlowers is a proud sponsor of "J Schwanke's Life in Bloom," where flowers and wellness go hand in hand.

>> We have fresh in all our stores, from soups and steaks and all things flour to all things flowering.

Custom fresh arrangements designed by our in-store florists at Albertsons Companies.

>> With additional support from the following... PassionRoses... Suntory Flowers.

>> Ingenuity in the growing and farming of flowers is in the spotlight.

We learn how the constant challenges of flower farming create new opportunities on an ongoing basis when you have the right mindset.

And of course, I'll arrange some bouquets with the beautiful results of all this ingenuity.

♪♪ ♪♪ I'm J Schwanke.

Welcome to "Life in Bloom."

♪♪ "There are all kinds of interesting questions that come from a knowledge of science, which only adds to the excitement and mystery and awe of a flower."

Do you run away from challenges, or do you discover solutions?

The notion that every challenge is merely an opportunity is a well-worn adage in this day and age.

Two flower farmers, Jason Kendall and Troy Conner, have really taken the concept to heart and applied it in ingenious ways in all aspects of flower farming, from water to sunlight, to pest management, to composting, to harvest, to packing, and even arranging flowers.

Jason and Troy have not yet met a challenge they haven't made friends with.

You get the idea.

Now let me show you what it all means.

♪♪ ♪♪ So, Troy, we're out in the wax fields.

>> Yes, we're harvesting wax flower right now.

It starts with baby plants like this.

So we'll take cuttings -- >> This is cute.

He's tiny.

>> Yes, he's a little guy.

So, he's about six months old.

Starts with a cutting off of a mother plant, and then once they're hardened off and ready, then we'll bring them out and plant them in the fields.

And then in about between 18 months and two years, we can start taking our first cuttings off.

>> Okay.

>> And then eventually, they'll get to full mature fields when the flowers and the plants look like this.

>> How old are these?

>> So these plants here are probably about 5 to 6 years old.

But we have plants that are 20 and even 30 years old.

>> Wow.

>> Yeah.

So it depends on the variety -- how long they'll last and how long they'll be productive.

But it's a long-term plant.

>> Yeah.

>> So, we have over 900 -- almost a thousand fields that we have to keep track of.

>> Wow.

>> And that's one of the most complex parts of the whole operation -- keeping track of which flowers are opening and when they're going to be ready for harvest... >> Sure.

>> ...and when to bring them in.

To keep track of all that, we've developed our own app.

So, on a tablet, the crew leader, Ray, will take note of what field we're in, of course, and then what -- what product that is, what we're harvesting, the day that it was harvested, each of the harvesters, and then how many bunches they -- they brought in, they harvested during that time frame.

And that goes all into the database, and so that we can keep track of everything.

So Ray, our crew leader here, has been with us for over 14 years, and he knows this farm inside and out, and he's the one that does the projections.

He looks at every single field, and he will put projections together to tell us when those -- those flowers are going to be ready for harvest.

And he can even tell you, within a very small margin of error, how many bunches will come out of that field.

>> You know, the longevity of your people and the quality of the people here, too -- that's just yet another partnership that you have.

>> Oh, yeah.

No, it's -- it's all about the people.

They make the difference.

>> Yeah.

>> Without them, this can't happen.

>> People, flowers, passion -- it all comes together.

>> It does.

Yeah.

♪♪ So, this is the receiving area.

So, as the flowers have been harvested in the field, the harvesting trucks and our crew -- and our harvesting crew leaders bring these flowers into the receiving area for inspection, for final quality control, and then, once they pass inspection, then they'll release the gates at the end of the conveyor.

And then each of these individual conveyor rolls will start to feed into the system.

And then we'll have further processing there, where the flowers get a UV treatment.

>> Wow.

>> And then, also, they'll get -- they'll receive their bucket label, which will show, you know, which field they came from, the date it was harvested, and the "must ship by" day.

So all that work happening in the field -- you know, there's over 900 fields.

All that stuff is now -- it's coming down into the cooler.

>> You're moving a lot of flowers... >> Yeah.

>> ...a long ways, very efficiently.

>> Yeah.

And that -- And that's what it's about is, is how quickly can we get those flowers from the fields and then eventually into the cooler?

>> Right.

>> We want to shorten that as much as we possibly can, but we still have to hit each step.

We still have to do the quality control.

We have to do the counts... >> Right.

>> ...the inventory, all of those pieces have to happen.

So this is the system that we've come up with that we can do that the most efficient way.

>> Botrytis is a fungus that affects many cut flowers and foliages.

So, I've been so excited about this, because you told me about it.

You're using UV light to kill Botrytis on wax flower.

>> Correct.

>> Wax flower, being very sensitive to Botrytis, for decades, we've been post-harvest spraying and treating the flowers.

So we were chemically treating that.

And it's always bothered me.

And so, during the pandemic, I was doing a lot of research on ultraviolet light and how they're using it as a disinfectant.

And so I started to experiment with our own -- we built our own tunnel, and then started to test that.

And we found that we -- if we use the right duration, intensity, and speed, we can get better treatment of the Botrytis with ultraviolet light than we can with chemicals.

So -- Yeah.

>> What an incredible discovery!

>> Yeah, yeah.

And so now all our wax flower -- and not just our wax flower -- every single item that we harvest, it passes through that and gets treated.

So even though, let's say, a Eucalyptus Baby Blue is not sensitive to Botrytis, it still can be an inoculate -- it can carry that Botrytis with it.

So we're treating all of the product that goes into the cooler.

So, in the cooler, making sure that we keep track of the inventory is absolutely critical, as well.

So, we have to have FIFO inventory -- first in, first out.

>> Okay.

>> And so the way we do that is every bucket gets a label.

And on that label, we have information on which field it came from, what day it was harvested, and then what day it has to leave this cooler.

>> How many harvesters?

>> So we typically -- it depends on the time of the season, but we can have as many as 40 harvesters, 3 different teams -- 3 to 4 different teams, sometimes at the peak season.

But we always have at least two harvesting teams running the whole time all year.

>> So, how many bunches of flowers are going through here on a day or a month or a year or...?

>> Overall, we produce about 25 million stems per year.

>> Gosh.

>> Yeah.

>> That's a lot of flowers.

>> Yes.

That's a lot of flowers.

>> That's a lot of beautiful flowers going out into our country.

That's amazing.

That's amazing.

>> Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

♪♪ >> So, no green waste leaves the farm.

Nothing goes to the landfill or off-site.

>> Okay.

>> So all that green waste is recycled.

We even partner with local contractors to bring their green waste onsite so they don't have to truck it over to landfills, either.

>> Wow.

>> So we have a partnership with our local landscape contractors.

So all that green waste comes here, and we will produce around 2,000 tons of premium compost every year.

And that all goes back into the ground here.

So it's -- You hear a lot about sustainable farming.

>> Mm-hmm.

>> And that's great.

And we strive for that.

But regenerative farming is actually better because, if you think about sustaining, what if you inherited a poor soil or farm?

>> Sure.

Sure.

>> You can sustain that?

No, you want to improve that.

>> Right.

>> So it's all about building the soil.

When we do our perennial crops, like in these fields here, we'll put down 14 tons of compost per acre.

We incorporate that in -- >> Per acre?

>> Yes, per acre.

>> 14 tons per acre.

Wow.

>> So when this soil -- when we started this, the soil was actually poor.

It was decomposed granite.

It was more dirt than soil.

>> Okay.

>> Didn't have a lot of organic matter in it and a lot of life.

And now, over the years of doing this, we've actually built that soil.

And it's much more healthy now than it was before.

>> Your sustainability doesn't stop with the compost.

You're -- You're conserving water.

You have solar now for creating your own energy.

It's -- It's a full-circle process for you.

>> Yes.

Yeah.

We look at all the pieces, and wherever we can, we're -- we're attacking those.

So water is absolutely critical.

We're in Southern California.

>> Right.

>> Water is always scarce.

We have over 30 wells throughout the farm, and that's our primary source of water, but no water that we use, like in our harvest buckets or any of that processing -- none of that leaves the farm, also.

That all gets recycled -- put it back in, we filter that, treat it, and then it goes back into the irrigation system and goes back into the plants.

And so we have reservoirs that we... >> Yeah.

>> ...that we, yeah, will hold that, treat that, and... >> Two reservoirs on... >> Yeah.

Well, actually, we have a total of eight reservoirs.

>> Oh, wow.

>> Yeah.

We have two very large what we call reserve reservoirs for holding giant capacities of water.

>> The power equation to move the water and move the compost and -- and get everything done.

Things on conveyor belts... >> Yeah.

>> So... >> So, yeah, we do use a lot of electricity, mainly for two purposes -- moving water, so pulling it out of the ground.

The deep wells are over 1,000 feet deep, many of them.

And then moving that water throughout the farm.

And then we also -- our refrigeration for our flowers.

>> Oh, okay, yeah.

>> So both of those are big consumers.

So, several years ago, we started -- and we're going on about eight years now -- we've had our solar installed.

So we installed over 2,000 solar panels.

So we're producing 3/4 of a megawatt, so 750,000 kilowatts of power.

That takes care of about 75% of our total electrical use.

>> Sure.

>> And -- And it's absolutely critical for us to do those -- these steps for both water and power, for sustainability, because sustainability also means that we have to be around and be in business.

And so, in the last five years, the cost of water has gone up 123% and the cost of electricity has gone up 139% -- in only five years.

So if we don't take steps to conserve and reuse, then we're going to be in trouble.

>> Yeah.

We need to understand, as people who are -- who think about the environment, that if we want beautiful flowers, we do not want flowers with disease.

We do not want flowers that are all eaten away.

We want flowers that are taken care of and beautiful.

>> Correct.

>> And so you have to do -- you have to spray them.

>> That's correct.

Yeah.

And we keep that to the absolute minimum.

>> Uh-huh.

>> And this drone is part of that program to minimize the sprays that we do.

But when it becomes imperative that we do spray, we have an onsite PCA and entomologist monitoring the fields at all times.

And when the levels reach the threat -- it's like we have to spray -- that's when we bring the drone in.

And this is a new program for us.

We used to do this all manually.

Yes, a two-man crew.

And they have to walk up and down these steep hills and slopes.

And so it's a -- that's a very difficult job, and they're are also exposed more to the chemicals themselves.

>> Sure.

>> With the drone, we have, you know, where we've removed the employees from the application process.

>> Right.

>> We can also do it much more precise.

So we have very tight controls on the drone, and it can get into centimeter-level accuracy.

We can control the width of the -- of the spray and the droplet size.

And so we can account for wind.

And so our applications are not only much more accurate, but because we can be so much quicker, we can -- when there is a problem, we can get out, we can take care of it, and before it starts to spread, and then we would have to spray more.

>> Right.

>> So it's more efficient, and it's more effective as well.

>> It's definitely a point again where technology is helping you do a better job... >> Yes.

>> ...and helping you stay safer for everybody.

>> Yeah.

It's better for everybody, better for the plants.

It's better for the employees.

It's better for the farm all around.

>> Yeah, that's another great thing.

Thank you for doing that.

>> Yeah.

Absolutely.

♪♪ >> Wax flower is a genus of shrubs endemic to Western Australia.

They belong to the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, and have flowers similar to those of tea trees.

Plants are a woody, evergreen shrub, ranging from 6 inches to 10 feet high.

The leaves are tiny to medium-sized and arranged oppositely on the stems.

They contain oil glands and are aromatic, often giving off a pleasant aroma when crushed.

The flowers are small and have 5 petals, 10 stamens, and are followed by small, hardened fruit.

In cultivation, they do well in drier climates with good drainage and a sunny aspect.

The best known and most widely cultivated member of the genus by far is Geraldton wax, which is widely grown in gardens across southern Australia and for the cut-flower industry in the USA.

♪♪ ♪♪ >> So, here we are now in our bouquet-production area.

So these flowers are coming together into a bouquet that will be going into a local grocery store.

>> Okay.

So, what was the challenge here?

>> So, the challenge is that the amount of complexity in bringing all of these different components that go into a bouquet -- matching the orders, the demand with what the farm is producing, and bringing it all together to make the product at one time.

I call this the Henry Ford model of building bouquets.

>> Okay.

>> So we're bringing all of these pieces together, and it's an assembly line.

So we get consistency and efficiency this way.

>> They're making a hand-tied bouquet, but each one is individually putting in one thing.

>> That's correct.

Each bucket that goes by, there is a slot, and so each stem is being placed in a specific slot that was designed, and -- and it's on a rotation, so that it's placed in a very specific manner and in the depth, so that when it gets to the very end, you end up with a hand-tied, twisted bouquet.

>> So, how does this work?

>> We come up with the design of the bouquet, what we want, and then we have to translate that into a matrix.

And so that plan gets mapped out here.

And then this translates into locations and layers onto these buckets.

So when they're placing the stems, they're on a very specific pattern.

So each one -- So each person along the line is placing a specific stem in a way that, by the time it gets to the end of the line, it has that same design comes back out of it.

>> And so that -- so all this applies to that colored bucket, with the fingers and all that.

>> Yes.

So, each one is -- is labeled and numbered so that they know which -- which flower goes into what slot.

So by the time it gets in -- and also the length and the location.

And so you can see when they lay them in, they do it in a very specific way, so that, at the end, it ends up as a twisted, hand-tied bouquet.

♪♪ ♪♪ >> So, then, it's -- it's going into a vase.

>> Yes.

Yes.

>> And so that vase is coming from a different spot.

>> Yes.

So the vases come from the other side of the facility... >> Okay.

>> ...where it's getting its chilled, treated water.

The boxes are being made on that side.

And then they're all coming together along the back side of the facility.

And then, when the flowers come off of this line here, the bouquet is finished.

It comes in, and then they all meet up in one spot.

The vases go into the box, and we close it up, palletize it, and then it gets shipped out.

>> It's impressive.

It is so impressive, Troy.

>> Yeah.

>> I mean, I remember what this was like when we came here before.

And you had people standing there, making a singular bouquet.

>> Yes.

Yes.

One.

>> And now it's this.

>> Yeah, one person making one bouquet, and now we're -- we're way more efficient at what we're doing.

And -- And the end product is much more consistent, as well.

>> So this is the final product.

>> This is.

This is coming off the line now.

And this is where our quality control -- this is the last touch.

>> Okay.

>> And so we're -- each -- each individual bouquet is examined for structure, placement, and quality for each stem -- any trimming or final touches before it goes into the box.

>> Because you've modified that -- this process and you've made it -- made it a system to get it done, this is important.

>> Yes.

Yes.

>> This is still that personal touch.

This is that -- that last person making sure that that bouquet is going to be okay.

>> Yes.

>> When I -- When I used to work with my people the store, I'd say, "Does your mom want this bouquet that you're finished with?

Is this a -- Would it -- Can I send this to your mom?"

>> We use "grandma."

>> Oh.

Grandma?

Okay.

>> Yeah, that's what resonates.

>> Yeah.

>> It's the same thing, though.

And this will never go away.

>> Right.

>> Because it has to have that -- that final human touch to look at that and say, "Yes, this one's ready for Grandma or Mom."

>> Right.

♪♪ So now that we know more about how these beautiful flowers are grown, I have such a great appreciation for it.

We know about the passion that goes behind it, and these beautiful colors and textures are going to make a beautiful vase arrangement.

The other thing I want to remind you about is remember to take your time and enjoy what you're creating.

Looking at the flowers and experiencing them as you place them into the vase helps us have happier thoughts.

Our body's secreting endorphins that make us feel great.

Let's make a beautiful arrangement from these flowers.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Now it's time for my favorite part of the show -- "Flowers from You," the viewers.

Today I'm sharing flower arrangements from Vivian Eskanos, who watches "Life in Bloom" on KQED in San Francisco.

Vivian writes, "I hope you find my arrangements attractive.

I live in Northern California, and my hobby is floral art.

I watch your show every week and enjoy it very much."

Vivian, these are beautiful arrangements, and I love how you included flowers from your garden.

The vases are wonderful showpieces, as well.

Thank you so much for sending them to me.

I love to see pictures of flowers from you.

We call them "Schwankes" after a viewer's nickname.

Send them to J@uBloom.com.

That's the letter J @ the letter U bloom.com.

And watch for more Schwankes on upcoming shows.

It's been an amazing day to see all of the ingenuity, creativity, and technology that help provide solutions to the constant challenges of flower farming.

I know I will look at flowers just a bit differently, and recall the many ingenious ways that help deliver these blooms for enjoyment everywhere.

For "Life in Bloom, I'm J Schwanke.

[ Clacks ] [ Vehicle beeping in distance ] >> So always be facing us.

>> Okay.

>> Always.

>> Oh, jeez.

Point.

>> You can just point over, you know?

>> Point over?

>> Okay.

Yeah.

>> [ Laughs ] >> Again.

>> All right.

>> All right.

>> I mean... >> Kick it off.

>> A quick turn.

>> Quick turn.

Yeah.

>> Yeah, okay.

>> Yeah.

Don't turn and, like, put my back to you.

Yeah.

>> Okay.

Thank you.

>> I've been in business for -- since 1987.

[ Siren wails in distance ] >> Do you want to wait?

>> Yeah.

Siren.

>> It's coming for you.

>> That's right.

Is it -- It's not you.

You're... [ Laughter ] >> I got it.

>> So I'm not -- >> He's -- Really.

Yeah.

He's not going anywhere.

[ Laughter ] >> "J Schwanke's Life in Bloom" is filmed in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

>> Visit uBloom.com to access all episodes of "Life in Bloom," plus exclusive flower videos, J's newsletter and blog, find recipes, flower tips, techniques, and much more.

Be sure to follow "J Schwanke's Life in Bloom" on social media.

"J Schwanke's Life in Bloom" is brought to you by the following... >> That flower feeling.

♪♪ At home.

♪♪ At work.

♪♪ Or anytime.

♪♪ CalFlowers is a proud sponsor of where flowers and wellness go hand in hand.

>> We have fresh in all our stores, from soups and steaks and all things flour to all things flowering.

Custom fresh arrangements designed by our in-store florists at Albertsons Companies.

>> With additional support from the following... PassionRoses... Suntory Flowers.

♪♪ Closed caption funding provided by fabulousflorals.com.