by Kelly Ann Butterbaugh    

         In the cold, grey days of winter, greenhouses across the state are filled with bloom and growth.  In southern Lehigh County forty acres of greenhouses owned by Dan Schantz are alive with activity year round.  Here, during the snowy days of December and January, the temperate greenhouses are filled with the green sprouts of spring and the work of the growing season ahead.

Winter Work

         While outdoor growers are indoors ordering and planning during the winter months, Dan Schantz Greenhouses are in a constant state of activity.  In order to present ornamentals to the consumers at the proper holiday times, the plants must be started in the greenhouse environment  much earlier than expected.  With computer controlled climates, fully opening roofs, and flooding floor watering systems, the greenhouses provide the perfect growing climate regardless of the conditions outdoors.

         For Schantz’ greenhouses Easter generates the busiest selling season with Mother’s Day coming in second.  This requires winter planting in order to sprout the 4-5 million bulbs that Schantz plants in anticipation of the spring holidays.

         Just before the Easter holiday planting, the greenhouses meet the Christmas demand for poinsettias.  Poinsettias grow from 1 ½ inch unrooted cuttings that are planted in the greenhouses between the end of June and the first of August.  This gives new meaning to the phrase “Christmas in July” since the greenhouses are filled with Christmas activity during the peak of summer.

         At this time new varieties of poinsettias are ordered for Schantz’s greenhouses each year, creating a variegated carpet of reds, pinks, and whites.

            “That makes it exciting,” Schantz says of his ever-changing variety.

             The poinsettias begin to ship during the second week of November, just in time to clear room in the greenhouses for the Easter bulbs.  By the first of December, 175,000 Easter lilies are growing where the poinsettias once sat.

            The evacuation of the poinsettias leaves room for Easter mums and spring hanging baskets in addition to the bulbs.  Schantz does not propagate  his own plants; instead he purchases bare root cuttings to start his spring bedding plants, vegetables, and hanging baskets, all 500,000-600,000 of them.

The Move Indoors

         There weren’t always greenhouses on the land in Lower Milford Township.  In the beginning, the Schantz farm worked with poultry and vegetables.  The prime vegetable grown on Schantz’s original acres was the tomato which was sold to the Campbell Soup processor; others were sold in stands at the Allentown and Quakertown farmers’ markets.  Schantz gave up the tomatoes in the early 1970s around the same time the poultry disappeared from the farm.  Greenhouse growing was soon to become his focus.

         The first greenhouse appeared on the farm in 1961, opening a different type of growing and retail opportunity for Schantz.  The reason for the move to greenhouse growing was simple; Schantz wanted to hire year-round help and create a year-round growing season. 

         “We really got into the greenhouse business to have something for employees year round,” Schantz says.

         At the time of the transition to greenhouse growing Schantz’ fresh market vegetables were growing on over 300 acres of farmland scattered throughout Lehigh County.  He then transitioned into retail sales by opening three of his own retail stores in Emmaus, Allentown, and Bethlehem.

         Today the employment of 300 people reflects the peak of operation at Schantz’s greenhouse and retail business.  Year round there are 120 people employed in the greenhouses and the two remaining retail stores.

Indoor vs. Outdoor Growing

         In the business of growers, the environment can be a threat that ruins an entire season.  Yet, to the greenhouse grower there is little that can threaten a crop.  With a controlled climate and protective roofs, the plants inside do not face the threats of hail or drought.  According to Schantz, the main threat to his greenhouse crops is lack of sunlight.  A long stretch of sunless days will slow his plants’ growth.  Outdoors, his fall ornamental crops such as pumpkins, Indian corn, and gourds are at risk, but mostly it’s an abundance of rain that offers the greatest threat. 

         “They don’t like wet feet,” Schantz says of his fall ornamentals.

         These fall ornamentals include his 1 million hardy mums spanning 10 acres of farmland.

         Dan Schantz began his career working on his parents’ poultry farm.  Like most sixteen-year-old boys, he saved his money.  However, unlike other boys who purchase cars on their sixteenth birthdays, Schantz purchased a tractor, one that he used to farm the lands around him.

            “I chose to do that rather than get a car,” he explains.

            The neat rows of greenhouses seen today sit on the original 98 acres purchased by Schantz and his wife when they began farming. 

         When the Schantzs purchased the land in 1957, the acreage was in sore need of work.  The land had not been cared for, and the fields were filled with weeds and overgrowth.  The land was rejuvenated, rewarding the Schantzs with enough produce to take to the markets and the processor.

            “At our peak we were retailing 200 tons of produce a week,” Schantz says of his 1980s business. 

         In 1988 Schantz sold his three retail markets and stopped growing edibles.  Instead, he focused on fall ornamentals, 600 to 700 acres of them.  He expanded the greenhouse operations, and retailing was shifted entirely to plants flowers and garden supplies.  After a hiatus from the retail stores, Schantz built a 32,000 square foot store in Allentown in 2002 and followed with another store in 2005.

Year Round Activity

            Today, ninety-five percent of Schantz’s business comes from wholesale.  His largest customer is Walmart, contracting the greenhouses to deliver to more than 200 stores from Boston to Washington and as far west as Pittsburgh.  Second in the retail industry is Schantz’s sales to Lowe’s, serving twenty-five local stores.

         After fifty years of growing plants, Schantz’ greenhouse office is filled with displays of his farm’s achievements.  A well-known name in the area, Dan Schantz Farm & Greenhouse is the largest producing farm in the county.  In 1987 Dan Schantz earned lifetime achievement recognition with the Master Farmer of Pennsylvania award for the Northeast region. 

            “I’ve been a member [of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau] for at least 40 years,” Schantz says of his career. 

         As an early farmer, he utilized the accounting services of the PFB.  Now, he knows that the bureau is available to call with questions, something that is always valuable in his industry. 

         Schantz has also been a member of the Pennsylvania Vegetable Growers Association for more than forty-five years.  He served as a three term president as well as board member of the association.  He was appointed by the governor of Pennsylvania to serve on the Pennsylvania Marketing Board where he served for 20 years, 9 years as a chairman and 11 years as a secretary, before retiring. 

            While it will be months until the first sprouts of spring emerge from the now frozen ground, Schantz’s greenhouses hold a preview of the season to come.  These flowers of the greenhouses have brightened gardens throughout the area for two generations. 

         Schantz’s business boasts, “We are committed to participating in and improving the quality of life in the community in which we live.”

© Kelly Ann Butterbaugh