How Nurseries Can Provide Pollinator-Safe Plants: A Talk with MNL’s Greenhouse Manager

10 AM PT/ 11 AM MT/ 12 PM CT/ 1 PM ET

How do you ensure your pollinator plants are bee-safe? Many pesticides are harmful to pollinators, but are permitted for use in nursery plant production, even on plants attractive to bees and butterflies. Plants can retain some pesticides long after they are applied, creating a hazard for visiting pollinators sometimes even after being planted in gardens and parks.

Come to this webinar to hear the story of how Minnesota Native Landscapes, Inc. (MNL), a large Midwest native plant nursery, collaborated with the Xerces Society to grow native plants without toxic pesticides. Ridge Campbell, Greenhouse Manager at MNL, will relate MNL’s experience growing 30,000 native plants for Xerces, while strictly limiting more than 100 insecticides and fungicides considered harmful to bees and butterflies. In this webinar, you can learn what it takes to make a “contract grow” succeed for both the grower and the buyer.

This webinar is a collaboration between Xerces Society and MNL and is supported by the Carroll Petrie Foundation. This webinar will be recorded and available on our YouTube channel. Closed Captioning will be available during this webinar.

Ridge Campbell is the Greenhouse Manager at Minnesota Native Landscapes, Inc. (MNL), currently engaging in his 8th season in the greenhouse department.  Growing up, he worked with his family’s landscaping business, specializing in water feature and garden installation.  In this line of work, Ridge was inspired by the relationships observed between plants, insects and other organisms.  Before joining MNL, Ridge acquired a bachelor’s degree in Ecology and Environmental studies, as well as certifications in Wildland Fire Management, Wetland Delineation, and Bee Keeping.

Photo credits: Top to bottom: Genevieve Pugesek / Xerces Society; Ridge Campbell