Heating Up High Altitudes

In the mountains of Utah, Preston Cox has found value in the efficiencies that hydronic bench heating provides his propagation greenhouses.

Preston Cox

PROFILE:  Preston Cox, owner/manager, Perennial Favorites Nursery, Layton, Utah

MARKET MIX: Perennial Favorites is a regional wholesale grower of high elevation, acclimated perennials, annuals, grasses and edibles; including native perennials and shrubs. Dedicated to independent garden centers, the operation offers a large selection of fully vernalized, top quality nursery stock that thrive in the intermountain area including the high elevation communities in Utah, Idaho, Wyoming and Colorado.

GROWING AREA: “We currently operate 50,000 square feet of AgraTech greenhouses with an additional 10,000 square feet under construction for propagation. We also have six acres of outdoor perennial growing area.”

DELTA T SOLUTIONS HEATING PROFILE:

Perennial Favorites Nursery’s current propagation area includes Spectrum boilers and the DELTA-TUBE™ EPDM Small Diameter (SD) rubber tube bench heating system, which heats the greenhouse starting at the soil level, provides uniform growth with less disease and is ideal for starting young plants. The new 10,000-square-foot propagation area will also be heated with a Delta T boiler and DELTA-TUBE™ EPDM SD hydronic heating system.

HISTORY: Perennial Favorites was started in 1993 by Preston and Melissa Cox as a small backyard seasonal perennial operation with one quarter of an acre of perennial growing area.

“In 1994 we built our first greenhouses consisting of 6,500 square feet,” Cox says. “We were growing and supplying a small handful of local garden centers in northern Utah. Today we sell in four states: Utah, Idaho, Wyoming and Colorado.”

EFFICIENCY SPEAKS FOR ITSELF: “Our first experience with Delta T was three years ago as we were converting one of our greenhouses into a propagation house for perennials and annuals,” Cox says. “The Delta T Solutions staff was very professional, helpful and competitive in their pricing. The system they designed and supplied for us has worked perfect for us. We are happy to be using Delta T Solutions boiler heating system for our new propagation greenhouse and it’s about as efficient as it gets.”