Back Pocket Grower – A Customizable Training Website for Mobile Devices

Widespread use of mobile devices means that technology is no longer a critical barrier to information access by horticulture professionals in the field. The objective was to develop a website ("Back Pocket Grower™", backpocketgrower.com), which is formatted for use on smart phones and tablets and delivers floriculture training information in the greenhouse work environment. Content includes both public and protected information, with "accounts" that allow customized access to training resources for a particular company, organization, or event such as a workshop. The website has three main components. A crop planning component presents a database of scheduled management activities such as planting, pinching, and agrichemical applications by crop type and crop stage, based on published or confidential in-house plans. A tools component includes calculator apps related to fertilizers, water quality, growing substrate testing, and crop costing.  The training component includes videos and text providing background education and detailed standard operating procedures. Many of the training topics are targeted towards temporary and production staff, with English/Spanish access.  The main advantage of using a mobile website rather than standalone apps is greater compatibility across devices and easier maintenance. As the horticulture extension community develops an increasing number of online training options, the biggest challenges probably now relate to marketing, funding, collaboration, and adoption of training resources rather than technical issues.