Job focus
Woodburn Nursery
and Azalea, Inc.
 
 
 





“We really appreciate the fill and drain system of TrueLeaf floors with the large holes and drain pipes because they are not as easily clogged by the many leaves from the Azaleas.”
Tom notes that he would like to try the TrueLeaf flow through floor fill and drain option on his next expansion to more easily flush those leaves out of the pipes.

Three of the 4 Woodburn greenhouse facilities
Azalea Propagation
— Tom Fessler,
Woodburn Nursery and Azalea Inc. 
 
 
 


When Tom Fessler of Woodburn Nursery contacted TrueLeaf Technologies in the spring of 2001 to design the systems to retrofit an existing greenhouse, he knew he wanted a system with no compromises from a company that could deliver.
Tom wasn’t talking to strangers. Although he had spoken to Ratus Fischer about flood floors before, and to Al Zylstra about heating, he had chosen other designs. Now he had a better appreciation for the features and benefits of the (then) GreenLink floor system and TrueLeaf heating systems.

Woodburn Nursery and Azalea is one of the largest indoor florist azalea growers in the United States with over 65 acres of greenhouse space dedicated to Azalea production.
Additionally, the company produces a wide variety of other woody ornamental and nursery stock plants which they ship throughout the US. Owned by the Fessler family, Woodburn has built a reputation over the past 32 years for consistent quality and dependable service. The Fessler’s know that it pays to pay close attention to the details when it comes to growing there crops taking care of their customers.
Just one look at the quality and cleanliness of their facilities and equipment quickly reveals that they apply that same attention to detail in these areas so they can focus on what they do best—growing beautiful plants.

  


Tom wanted to convert half the 100,000 square foot range from gravel floors to heated flood floors.
The other half of the range was already set up with flow irrigation troughs and Tom wanted to upgrade the heat under the troughs and improve the water management system. An existing Argus user, Tom wanted everything integrated with his Argus system and if possible provided or at least coordinated by one supplier.
The flood floor system design was a standard 3 tank system with a feed pit. It was designed to easily accommodate future expansion of the flood floors and also the ability to take over for the existing flow trough system tanks.
We designed the tanks to be integrated into the flood floors with the pumping system in one small corner of the range and the last spur pipe running over top of the tank. The floor was heated with our
standard HDX tubing with steel headers and provides “good uniform heat”.

The overhead Starfin and underbench Duofin were both departures from the 51mm pipe that Woodburn had used before.
This piping provides improved heat responsiveness and excellent heating uniformity both over and under the bench. A key benefit is the ability to vary the overhead and bottom heating percentages.

TrueLeaf supplied the integration with the Argus system and supplied the expansion components required to wrap up the components supply and then supplied detailed drawings and guidance by telephone and on-site to help the local contractors and Woodburn personnel complete the installation.