2016 Annual Greenhouse, Sod and Nursery Survey

Integrated Business Statistics Program (IBSP)

Reporting Guide

This guide is designed to assist you as you complete the 2016 Annual Greenhouse, Sod and Nursey Survey. If you need more information, please call the Statistics Canada Help Line at the number below.

Help Line:

1-877-949-9492

TTY 1-855-382-7745

Your answers are confidential.

Statistics Canada is prohibited by law from releasing any information it collects which could identify any person, business, or organization, unless consent has been given by the respondent or as permitted by the Statistics Act.

Statistics Canada will use information from this survey for statistical purposes.

Table of Contents

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Reporting instructions

  • Please print in ink.
  • Report dollar amounts in Canadian dollars.
  • Exclude sales tax.
  • Percentages should be rounded to whole numbers.
  • When precise figures are not available, please provide your best estimates.
  • Consult the reporting guide at www.statcan.gc.ca/guides-e for further information.

Type of production

Q1. Greenhouse products: Seedlings, potted plants, bedding plants, cuttings and other propagating material, vegetables and fruit grown for sale in a permanent, artificially heated enclosed structure made of plastic, plexiglass, poly-film or glass.

Any plants that you start cultivating in a greenhouse but are finished before sales in a nursery should be considered a nursery product.

Q1. Nursery products: A diverse range of non-edible, living plant material grown 'in field' or in containers outdoors and sold with their root system intact.

Include annual and perennial plants ranging from woody plants to bedding plants (transplants) and outdoor flowers. Plants range from seedlings to full-grown trees.

Exclude field-grown cut flowers from this category.

Q1. Field-grown cut flowers: should be reported in its own category only, not in the 'nursery products' category. Cut flowers produced in, and sold from, a greenhouse should be reported in the 'greenhouse products' category.

Q1. Christmas trees:

Include only the Christmas trees that were cut during the year.

Exclude Christmas trees that were grown in a container with their root systems intact.

Q1. Sod: Grass or turf, which has its roots intact. Sod is grown 'in field' and sold as a single product.

Q5. Greenhouse products

For this survey, we are only interested in flowers, plants, vegetables, fruit and seedlings grown in, and sold from, the greenhouse. Production of vegetables and fruits covered by cold frames or covering tunnels should not be included in the greenhouse section of the survey.

Q5. Cut flowers: Include only cut flowers produced in, and sold from, a greenhouse. Exclude field-grown cut flowers and dried cut flowers.

Q5. Fruit and Vegetables: Include products grown to completion in a greenhouse and sold from the greenhouse. Exclude greenhouse vegetables and/or fruit that are transplanted for field crops. Bedding plants (transplants) grown in a greenhouse that will be planted in your own fields so that they can be sold as fully grown harvested vegetables at a later date should be excluded; they are reported in Statistics Canada’s annual Fruit and Vegetable Survey.

Q5. Potted Plants – indoor or outdoor: Any plants grown and sold in a pot from the greenhouse. Exclude Christmas trees sold in pots. Pots take many forms and sizes, such as baskets (wicker), peat pots, moss pots and plastic pots or ceramic pots.

Q5. Cuttings, tree seedlings and other propagating material: Plants (or sections of a plant) capable of developing into a greater number of plants or spreading out and affecting a greater area. Examples include Chrysanthemums, Poinsettias, Begonias, Petunias and shrubs.

Q5. Bedding plants, transplants or plugs – ornamental or vegetable: Young plants that are bought and then transplanted into a garden, field, container or basket by the purchaser. These include ornamental bedding plants and vegetable bedding plants. For this survey, the term "ornamental" refers to flowers or plants cultivated for their beauty rather than use.

Q6. Greenhouse products - Fruits and vegetables

Greenhouse vegetables and fruit are edible and ready to eat at the time of sale. They were grown into sellable products in a greenhouse, not in a field; and sold from the greenhouse by the producer. Field vegetable and fruit farmers should report their production in the Fruit and Vegetable Survey.

Exclude tobacco, ginseng, asparagus, mushrooms, ornamental and vegetable bedding plants (young plants that are bought and transplanted into a garden, field, container or basket by the purchaser; also known as transplants).

A number of greenhouses are expanding to the United States. For this survey, report Canadian production only.

If you produced multiple crop of the same greenhouse vegetable or fruit in the same greenhouse space, report the area only once. For example, if 1,000 square feet were used for the first tomato crop planting and then the same space was later used for the second tomato crop planting, you would report 1,000 square feet (not 2,000 square feet).

If you produced two or more different types of vegetables or fruit in the same greenhouse space, you would count that area for each type of crop produced.

For example, if you used 2,000 square feet to grown tomatoes for your first crop planting, and then switched to growing cucumbers in that same space half-way through the summer, you would report a total area of 4,000 square feet (2,000 square feet for growing tomatoes, plus 2,000 square feet for growing cucumbers).

Q8. Sales distribution of greenhouse vegetables and fruit (total gross sales)

The sales of greenhouse vegetables and fruit that the operation produced and sold.

Please report the value of nursery stocks sales in percentage (%).  The sum of different markets should be equal to 100%.

Wholesaler:

The organisation primarily engaged as the intermediary in the distribution of merchandise. Meaning that a wholesaler is a reseller of manufactured goods in whole (without transformation, and rendering services incidental to the sale of merchandise).

A wholesaler provides the warehousing and trade abilities the manufacturer does not want to provide. It also prefers to sell batches, truckloads, pallets, etc. of goods. Often offers discounts as quantity increases. As a result, many wholesalers are therefore organized to sell merchandise in large quantities to retailers, and business and institutional clients.

In addition, wholesalers may frequently perform one of the following related function; breaking bulk, providing delivery services to customers, or operating warehouse facilities for storage of goods they sell, or marketing and support services such as packaging and labelling, inventory management, shipping, handling of warranty claims, in-store or co-op promotions and training.

Value of sales to other channels could include sales to co-ops in this category.

Q9. Greenhouse products - Indoor and outdoor potted plants

Include all ornamental potted plants (annuals, biennials and perennials) and all potted vegetable, fruit and herb plants that were produced and sold from your greenhouse in Canada.

Plants grown in containers outdoors should be reported in the 'nursery products' category.

Exclude anything produced outside Canada.

Exclude Christmas trees sold in pots; bedding plants or plugs sold in cell packs, flats or trays; and other nursery stock (non-edible, living plant material grown outdoors ‘in field' or in containers outdoors and sold with their root system intact).

Any plant grown in a pot from the greenhouse with the intention of selling to the final consumer can be classified as a finished potted plant (including hanging potted plants, such as baskets (wicker), peat pots, moss pots and plastic pots or ceramic pots). Any plant sold in a pot before it has fully matured or is intended to be grown to maturity at another facility can be classified as a prefinished potted plant.

Q11. Greenhouse products - Cuttings and tree seedlings

Cuttings are sections of a plant stem capable of developing into a whole plant. Examples of species that may be sold as cuttings include murrayas, grevilleas, fuchsias, and gardenias.

Exclude ornamental and vegetable bedding plants, also known as transplants, which are young plants that are bought and then transplanted into a garden, field, container or basket by the purchaser.

Tree seedlings

A tree seedling is a young tree grown from a seed in a nursery for transplanting typically at one or two years of age.

Include tree seedlings produced only inside a greenhouse. Do not report tree seedlings produced in cold frames or covering tunnels.

Q15. Greenhouse products - Bedding plants/transplants - Vegetable and/or ornamental

Bedding plants, also known as transplants, are young plants that are bought and then transplanted into a garden, field, container or basket by the purchaser. Ornamental bedding plants are cultivated for their flowers and beauty, rather than their use. Vegetable bedding plants are not yet edible at the time of sale from your greenhouse.

Bedding plants may be sold in various containers, including plugs, cell packs, flats or trays. Report the number of individual plants. If this number is unknown, please estimate it by multiplying the number of trays by the average number of plants per tray.

Exclude vegetable and herb plants not sold directly from the greenhouse (for example, plants being transplanted from the greenhouse to the field by the producer).

Q16. Greenhouse products - Cut flowers

Include only cut flowers that were produced in, and sold from, a greenhouse in Canada.

Exclude cut flowers that were initially cultivated in a greenhouse but then grown into sellable products in a field; these should be reported in the 'field-grown cut flowers' section, which is its own category in this survey. Some operators may start seeds in their greenhouse but transplant the flowers in the field in May or June and cut and dry them in August.

Exclude cut flower purchases for immediate resale from other producers.

Q18. Greenhouse products - Flowers and plants

Sales distribution of greenhouse flowers and plants (total gross sales)

The sales of greenhouse flowers and plants that the operation produced and purchased for immediate resales.

Please report the value of greenhouse flowers and plants sales in percentage (%). The sum of different markets should be equal to 100%.

Wholesaler: the organisation primarily engaged as the intermediary in the distribution of merchandise. Meaning that a wholesaler is a reseller of manufactured goods in whole (without transformation, and rendering services incidental to the sale of merchandise).

A wholesaler provides the warehousing and trade abilities the manufacturer does not want to provide. It also prefers to sell batches, truckloads, pallets, etc. of goods. Often offers discounts as quantity increases. As a result, many wholesalers are therefore organized to sell merchandise in large quantities to retailers, and business and institutional clients.

In addition, wholesalers may frequently perform one of the following related function; breaking bulk, providing delivery services to customers, or operating warehouse facilities for storage of goods they sell, or marketing and support services such as packaging and labelling, inventory management, shipping, handling of warranty claims, in-store or co-op promotions and training.

Q21. Christmas trees

When reporting the area, include the total area used to grow Christmas trees, regardless of whether the trees were cut or not. Include naturally established or planted areas, regardless of stage of growth that are pruned or managed with the use of fertilizer or pesticides.

When reporting the number of cut trees, exclude any Christmas trees that were grown in a container with their root systems intact.

Conversions

1 arpent = 0.9986 acres

1 acre = 1.0014 arpent

1 acre = 0.41 hectares

1 hectare = 2.47 acres

Q24. Nursery products - Nursery stock

A tree seedling is a young tree grown from a seed in a nursery for transplanting typically at one or two years of age.

Include only tree seedlings produced in a nursery.

Exclude tree seedlings produced in and sold from a greenhouse. Note: that tree seedlings may be reported as a nursery products if they were conditioned outside for part of the production cycle, after having been cared for inside the greenhouse first.

Q25. Gross sales of stock grown

Exclude any nursery stock that was purchased for immediate resale; Christmas trees without the root system intact; any greenhouse production; unsold inventory; and value received for landscaping services.

Field-grown includes all bailed and burlapped, bare root field potted stock.

Container-grown includes all containers sizes of less than one gallon; one gallon; two gallons; and greater than two gallons.

Balled and burlapped is a method of transplanting that minimizes root disturbance. The tree is dug with a ball of soil around it and wrapped in burlap (method generally used for evergreens and deciduous plants in leaf).

Bare root describes plants dug up, with the soil shaken off (method generally used for deciduous plants in a dormant condition).

Field-potted describes stock which is grown in the field and placed into a pot when dug up for sale. Please report stock that was potted up from the field for a maximum of one full growing season; if potted up for greater more than one growing season, report under container.

Container-grown is nursery stock grown in a container for a minimum of one growing season before time of sale.

Q26. Gross sales for immediate resale

Nursery stock for immediate resale is any nursery stock you purchased from other growers to re-sell from your own operation within a short period of time with minimal maintenance e.g., watering. Please enter your total sales of the nursery stock you purchased from other operations.

Examples of stock that may be ready for immediate resale:

Plants, flowers, bulbs, trees, shrubs, etc.

Q28. Sales distribution of nursery stocks (total gross sales)

The sales of nursery stocks that the operation produced and purchased for immediate resales. Please report the value of nursery stocks sales in percentage (%). The sum of different markets should be equal to 100%.

Q33., Q34., Q35. Operating expenses

Growing on is a term used by operators when stock is cultivated in the greenhouse or the nursery for the purpose of growing it to greater proportions. The operators will plant a seed or seedling in their greenhouse and care for it, by maintaining it (transplanting, fertilizing, etc.) until it becomes a sellable product.

Exclude any plant materials you may have purchased from other growers for immediate resale from your own operation (please report these purchases in row c).

Q36. Sod operations - Area and sales

Conversions

1 arpent = 0.9986 acres

1 acre = 1.0014 arpent

1 acre = 0.41 hectares

1 hectare = 2.47 acres

Sod is grass or turf, which has its roots intact at the time of sale. Sod is grown in field and sold as a single product.

Report all the area of land used for growing and maintaining sod.

Include any sod grown that was not intended for sale within the survey year (the past calendar year).

Report the area of sod intended to be sold within the survey year (the past calendar year).

The area of sod grown for sale may be less than or equal to the total area of sod reported in the previous question.

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