Why PT is passionate about plant protection.
Dr. Patricia Tice (PT), designer of Plant Patron®, has been a master gardener for the past 35 years. For 10 years she served the Polk County Agricultural Extension Council as a publicly elected official. The Council supervises and manages all 4-H programs, expert gardener training, pesticide training, and food/nutrition programming for Iowa’s three largest counties. Dr. Tice grew up in a rural background and her love of gardening came from her dad, who maintained a large vegetable garden at her childhood home. She now maintains seven different garden beds and a full vegetable garden on her own acreage.
History
Dr. Tice’s simple and remarkable device. The inspiration for the Plant Patron® came from a device designed and intended for a very different use. The original device came from an old elementary school. The school was abandoned 45 years ago and the interior of the building was stripped of its contents. The lights in the school gymnasium were covered with steel-like coverings to protect the lights from flying basketballs. When Dr. Tice saw the steel-coverings on the lights all those years ago, she immediately thought the coverings would be of use in her gardens to protect plants. For the last several years, she’s used the basketball coverings in her gardens. They served as the inspiration for the device we now know as the Plant Patron™.
Our brand is the only plant protection device that humanely protects plants while allowing them to grow through and withstand environmental elements for many years.
A Special thank you and gratefulness to the following helpers for the Plant Patron
- The Bruce Rastetter Agricultural Entrepreneurship Initiative (AgEI) at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Iowa State University
- Mr. Kevin Kimle, Director, AgEI, Iowa State University
- Ms. Marcie Fahn, Program Coordinator, AgEI, Iowa State University
- Ms. Dylana Luett, Student Intern, Iowa State University
- Ms. Andrea Waller, Student Intern, Iowa State University
- Mr. Cameron Roehlk, Engineer
- Mr. Bill McBride, Sorem Manufacturing, Nevada, Iowa
- Mr. Lynn Henderson, Publisher, Agri Marketing magazine
- Ms. Laura Plumb, Lessing-Flynn
- Mr. Kirk Hartung, Attorney, McKee, Voorhees & Sease, PLC.
