Progress 01/03/17 to 09/30/18
Outputs
Target Audience: Controlled-environment growing operations. Operations include greenhouse, nursery, and otherwise protected agriculture where growers produce ornamental, herbs and vegetables, and other specialty crops. Allied horticulture industries. Allied industries are commercial horticulture companies that do not directly produce crops. These include substrate manufacturers, fertilizer companies, water treatment companies, pest control companies, brokers and distributors, greenhouse supply companies, and plant breeders. New Hampshire horticulture organizations. These include both New Hampshire Plant Growers and New Hampshire Landscape Associations. University students. Includes both undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in agriculture-related and engineering curriculum. No courses were taught during this past reporting cycle. Members of the horticultural science community. Members include scientists, students, and research and development staff from other universities, private research institutions, and private industry companies. Public. This includes general homeowner, hobbyist, and prospective commercial greenhouse audiences in New Hampshire. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?One graduate student has worked on this project and received one-on-one mentorship from the project director (Ryan Dickson). The student received mentoring on conducting applied research, designing experiments, collecting and analyzing data, and writing up research results. Students were also required to interact with industry stakeholders when helping with projects as part of their professional development. One undergraduate student helped write a research report and present to industry stakeholders that helped support the project. This project enabled the director (Ryan Dickson) to complete several professional development workshops and courses on grant writing and greenhouse economics. University of New Hampshire workshops included the USDA "Push" workshop, the USDA Small Business Innovation and Research workshop, and an Introduction to NSF proposals workshop to enhance grant-writing skills and knowledge. The director completed Greenhouse Cost Accounting and Profitability, an online course offered by the University of Florida designed to train growers and educators on financial benchmarking and decision-making. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Target audiences for our research results and updated strategies on managing resources (nutrients, water, energy, and growing media) for greenhouse crop production included commercial greenhouse growers, allied industries in horticulture, university academics and students, and the public. We reached these audiences using different communication platforms, including online newsletters and reports, publications in popular trade magazines, publication in peer-reviewed scientific journals, presentations at scientific meetings, grower workshops and training, and university open house events. Online newsletters and reports were written for e-GRO (electronic grower resources online), which is an online source for applied research and extension that reaches growers and academics nation-wide. In addition, articles were published in the national trade magazines GrowerTalks, Greenhouse Management, and Produce Grower, as well as for New Hampshire Cooperative Extension and the New Hampshire Communicator. Grower workshops and training targeted commercial greenhouse and nursery growers in New England as well as nation-wide. New England events included the New Hampshire Joint Winter Meeting, New England Nursery Conference, New Hampshire Plant Growers Annual Meeting, the Tri-State Integrated Pest Management (IPM) workshops (Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine), the Northeast Greenhouse Conference, and separate greenhouse best management workshops hosted by the Universities of Maine, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
There are often economic and environmental benefits to using new alternative materials in the growing media to produce high-value greenhouse crops. Understanding the potential of these materials to influence the rooting media properties and plant growth is critical to developing improved media formulations as well as updated fertilization, irrigation, and pH management strategies. Objective 1. EFFECTS OF WOOD CHIPS AND FIBER ON THE MEDIA PH BUFFERING CAPACITY: Last year, a range of horticultural growing media formulated using different proportions of sphagnum peat, coconut coir, bark, perlite, and wood fiber were evaluated for their pH buffering in a laboratory titration procedure. pH buffering was measured by dosing samples of each media with hydrochloric acid and recording the amount of decrease in pH. Media with greater proportions of alternative material, such as wood fiber, and less sphagnum peat had lower less pH buffering. This was verified in agreenhouse experiment where impatiens were grown in each media and irrigated with acidic and basic reaction fertilizers that lowered and raised pH, respectively. These results indicate that commercial growers using media with high proportions of alternative wood fiber materials (>30% by volume) may need to adjust the acidity or basicity of their fertilizer program to stabilize pH and prevent nutritional disorders. Objective 2. POTENTIAL OF WOOD CHIPS AND FIBER MEDIA TO IMMOBILIZE NITROGEN AND EFFECTS ON PLANT PERFORMANCE: In a project last year, flowering petunia were grown in containers in the greenhouse in media containing up to 30% (by volume) wood fiber, wood chips, and coconut coir from multiple suppliers (the remainder of the media was sphagnum peat). We evaluated the effects of alternative media materials on plant performance and the potential to immobilize fertilizer nitrogen, making nitrogen unavailable for root uptake. Across media suppliers, media containing 30% wood fiber resulted in plants with the least amount of growth and flowering and the lowest nitrogen concentrations in the dry tissue. Nitrogen concentrations measured in the media solution were also lowest in wood fiber media. However, wood fiber media did not affect leaf chlorophyll content, and all plants had green foliage and considered marketable. Despite a decrease in growth and nitrogen uptake by plants in the greenhouse, we were unable to measure nitrogen immobilization in wood fiber media using a laboratory procedure. In another project that ended this year, petuniaswere grown in media with up to 50% wood chips and fiber and were supplied fertilizer with low, moderate, high, and very high levels of nitrogen. Again, a reduction in growth and flowering were measured.Across media suppliers, media containing 30% wood fiber resulted in plants with the least amount of growth and flowering and the lowest nitrogen
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Awaiting Publication
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Dickson, R.W. and Fisher, P.R. In press. Quantifying pH effect of fifteen floriculture species in peat substrate. Proc. IS on Growing Media and Soilless Cultivation. Acta Hort.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Dickson, R.W., Fisher, P.R., and Argo, W.R. 2017. Quantifying acidity and basicity of fifteen floriculture species in peat substrate. HortScience 52 (8): 1065-1072.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Dickson, R.W, and Fisher, P.R. 2017. Ammonium-nitrate ration and cation/anion uptake affect the acidity or basicity of floriculture species. Proc. IS on Growing Media and Soilless Cultivation. Acta Hort. 1168, ISHS
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Progress 01/03/17 to 09/30/17
Outputs
Target Audience:Target audiences are below. Efforts aimed to target New England and nation-wide audiences, and in some cases international audiences. Controlled-environment growing operations. Operations include greenhouse, nursery, and otherwise protected agriculture where growers produce ornamental, herbs and vegetables, and other specialty crops. Allied horticulture industries. Allied industries are commercial horticulture companies that do not directly produce crops. These include substrate manufacturers, fertilizer companies, water treatment companies, pest control companies, brokers and distributors, greenhouse supply companies, and plant breeders. New Hampshire horticulture organizations. These include both New Hampshire Plant Growers and New Hampshire Landscape Associations. University students. Includes both undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in agriculture-related and engineering curriculum. No courses were taught during this past reporting cycle. An undergraduate greenhouse management course is scheduled and will be reported on next year. Members of the horticultural science community. Members include scientists, students, and research and development staff from other universities, private research institutions, and private industry companies. Public. This includes general homeowner, hobbyist, and prospective commercial greenhouse audiences in New Hampshire. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Training and professional development opportunities included courses, workshops, and one-on-one mentorships for students and the PI. Five undergraduate and one graduate student have worked on this project and received one-on-one mentorship from the project director (Ryan Dickson). Each student received mentoring in conducting applied research, designing experiments, collecting and analyzing data, and writing up research results. Students were also required to interact with industry stakeholders when helping with projects as part of their professional development. This project enabled the director (Ryan Dickson) to enroll in several professional development workshops and courses on grant writing and greenhouse economics. University of New Hampshire workshops included the USDA "Push" workshop, the USDA Small Business Innovation and Research workshop, and an Introduction to NSF proposals workshop to enhance grant-writing skills and knowledge. The director enrolled in Greenhouse Cost Accounting and Profitability, an online course offered by the University of Florida designed to train growers and educators on financial benchmarking and decision-making. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Target audiences for our research results and updated strategies on managing resources (nutrients, water, energy, and growing media) for greenhouse crop production included commercial greenhouse growers, allied industries in horticulture, university academics and students, and the public. We reached these audiences using different communication platforms, including online newsletters and reports, publications in popular trade magazines, publication in peer-reviewed scientific journals, presentations at scientific meetings, grower workshops and training, and university open house events. Online newsletters and reports were written for e-GRO (electronic grower resources online), which is an online source for applied research and extension that reaches growers and academics nation-wide. In addition, articles were published in the national trade magazines GrowerTalks, Greenhouse Management, and Produce Grower, as well as for New Hampshire Cooperative Extension and the New Hampshire Communicator. Grower workshops and training targeted commercial greenhouse and nursery growers in New England as well as nation-wide. New England events included the New Hampshire Joint Winter Meeting, New England Nursery Conference, New Hampshire Plant Growers annual Meeting, Carrol County Farm Bureau annual meeting, the Tri-State Integrated Pest Management (IPM) workshops (Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine), the Northeast Greenhouse Conference, and separate greenhouse best management workshops hosted by the Universities of Maine, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. Attendance for these workshops ranged from 30 to 600 individuals. We also participated in the University of New Hampshire Macfarlane Greenhouses Spring Open House event, where our program,as well as research results, were show-cased to homeowners and the public. Presentations to scientific audiences were delivered at American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS) and International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS) annual meetings. ASHS is a leading organization for horticulture scientists, academics, and industry in the United States, covering a range of topic areas from field and protected agriculture to plant breeding and molecular biology. ISHS is a similar group with international membership, divided into general topic areas. The attended 2017 ISHS meeting had a topic area of Soilless Growing Substrates and Composts for Protected Cultivation, which is a major focus of our New Hampshire Agriculture Experiment Station project. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We plan to pursue the following areas during the next reporting period to accomplish our goals. Evaluate the effects of wood chips and fiber media on nitrogen uptake by roots and plant performance across a wide range of greenhouse crop species. There is anecdotal evidence that wood fiber media will differ in effects on various plant species, which may be related to the plant growth rate and demand for nutrient. There is additional evidence suggesting that wood fiber media promotes more rapid flowering and fruiting. A range of plant species differing in nutrient demand and growth habit will be evaluated in wood fiber and wood chip media. Evaluate the effects of wood fiber and various peat grades on media properties. Blending wood fiber into a media containing mostly sphagnum peat has potential to increase media aeration, which benefits rooting. However, the amount of aeration and benefit likely depends on the grade of peat (fine, medium, or coarse). Mixing trials will be conducted with multiple wood fiber and peat grades to better understand how the initial physical properties of each material influence the properties of the final media.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
There are often economic and environmental benefits to using new alternative materials in the growing media to produce high-value greenhouse crops. Understanding the potential of these materials to influence the rooting media properties and plant growth is critical to developing improved media formulations as well as updated fertilization, irrigation, and pH management strategies. Objective 1. EFFECTS OF WOOD CHIPS AND FIBER ON THE MEDIA PH BUFFERING CAPACITY: Last year, a range of horticultural growing media formulated using different proportions of sphagnum peat, coconut coir, bark, perlite, and wood fiber were evaluated for their pH buffering in a laboratory titration procedure. pH buffering was measured by dosing samples of each media with hydrochloric acid and recording the amount of decrease in pH. Media with greater proportions of alternative material, such as wood fiber, and less sphagnum peat had lower less pH buffering. This was verified in a greenhouse experiment where impatiens were grown in each media and irrigated with acidic and basic reaction fertilizers that lowered and raised pH, respectively. These results indicate that commercial growers using media with high proportions of alternative wood fiber materials (>30% by volume) may need to adjust the acidity or basicity of their fertilizer program to stabilize pH and prevent nutritional disorders. Objective 2. POTENTIAL OF WOOD CHIPS AND FIBER MEDIA TO IMMOBILIZE NITROGEN AND EFFECTS ON PLANT PERFORMANCE: In a project last year, flowering petunia were grown in containers in the greenhouse in media containing up to 30% (by volume) wood fiber, wood chips, and coconut coir from multiple suppliers (the remainder of the media was sphagnum peat). We evaluated the effects of alternative media materials on plant performance and the potential to immobilize fertilizer nitrogen, making nitrogen unavailable for root uptake. Across media suppliers, media containing 30% wood fiber resulted in plants with the least amount of growth and flowering and the lowest nitrogen concentrations in the dry tissue. Nitrogen concentrations measured in the media solution were also lowest in wood fiber media. However, wood fiber media did not affect leaf chlorophyll content, and all plants had green foliage and considered marketable. Despite a decrease in growth and nitrogen uptake by plants in the greenhouse, we were unable to measure nitrogen immobilization in wood fiber media using a laboratory procedure.
Publications
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