Varieties of plants abound at Smithland greenhouse

SMITHLAND, Iowa — For 40 years, Green Acres Greenhouse in Smithland has been providing hundreds, if not thousands of varieties of plants to customers.

"When you look at petunias, there are probably 25 to 30 varieties. There are probably 45 varieties of tomatoes. Just through all the different plants and different varieties, it adds up," Owner Greg Schink said, as he stood outside the production greenhouses at Green Acres, which is just west of Smithland on Highway 141.

Schink has been gearing up for the busy spring season since the end of January. His property 19,000 square feet of growing space in 10 greenhouses. 

The first step in the growing process is making sure everything in the greenhouse is in working order. 

"The first greenhouse has a germination chamber for germinating seed and, then, you've got heat benches and mist systems for rooting cuttings. We'll root what we can of what comes in," said Schink. Green Acres used to root about 30,000 cuttings, but now roots only about 10,000 cuttings. "You make sure all those systems are working and, then, you start seeding right away perennial seeds and some of the ones that take a long time."

Green Acres Greenhouse is so popular, that, in years past, Schink said it wasn't unusual to find customers on the property as early at 6:30 a.m. and as late as 10 p.m. In fact, just days before Green Acres was set to open for the season in mid April, Schink said a customer from Omaha stopped by. 

"We open up this Saturday (April 13) and, then, we're open all the way until late June," said Schink, who said Green Acres is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 12 to 5 p.m. on Sundays. "Geraniums and petunias are real popular."

Fertilizing plants is key, although Schink said people don't like to do it.

"If you fertilize, it will do a lot better," he said. "In a container a person's watering all the time, you're just leeching all the nutrients out. So, a person who just waters, waters, waters, it's going to look poor in a month's time."

Schink said most plants in a container need fertilizer every third or fourth watering. 

"That ends up being twice a week, if you're watering every day, that you need to fertilize. The biggest thing is convincing people to fertilize, because it's a chore. It's easy to just go with the bucket or the hose. The fertilizer takes more work, but your stuff will last all season long."

Another thing Schink said people need to do with container plants is put them in "the best place they can be." Different plants have different requirements, so be aware of how much space and light your plant needs, as well as water an nutrients. 

This story has been updated to reflect that Green Acres Greenhouse closes at the end of June.