Proceedings Library

At Arnelia we are dealing with a plant that is not that easy to root and that needs special attention to give us the desired results. Growing the vegetative material that is used for cutting production under more controlled circumstances can contribute to improved results. The level of extra effort that you put into your stock plants depends on what outcome is expected. Cutting production from mother-stock does not have to be limited to plants that are difficult to propagate but can also be a tool to get even better rooting percentages, to help schedule cutting production according to your timing requirements, both for an onward production point of view as well as a space point of view (staggered/spread production).

The Seedling Growers Association of South Africa (SGASA) was started in 1981. This year marks the 30th year for the association. The association is ruled by a code of ethics which can be viewed on our web (). Most of the members’ fees are used for research.

Membership is from most commercial forestry and vegetable seedling nurseries and includes active membership of the larger forestry and seed companies. The committee is run by elected members with a permanent Operations Director Viv Quin. This year our elected Chairperson is Shaun Biggs of Sutherland Seedlings. Each Chairman is allowed to stand for 2 years. Our research coordinator is Damien Naidoo of Sappi Research at Tweedie, KwaZulu-Nata. The Finances are monitored by Ken Leisegang. The financial standing of the association is excellent.

The association produces a magazine "The Leaflet" and runs a website (). Both of these are edited by Mike Kruger.

1. As a means to gain market access.
2. As a tool to promoting a professional industry.
3. As a management tool.
4. To level the playing field in the industry.

Source of Pressure for Certification.

You don?t need to know much about the growing medium you use in your nursery. All you need is a technically competent supplier. Leave it all to them, provide a bit of water, and your plants will do the rest.

I can see that you don’t really believe me; I don?t believe this myself, but I insist that it is important that your media supplier is technically competent. They must have an ability to produce media of consistent quality. And they must have the abil?ity to sort out technical problems should they arise.

A technically competent supplier will be able to suggest a suitable medium for your particular plants in your particular environment. But you need to be able to assess their recommendations and you need to be able to discuss with them possible modifications, based on your past experience. In other words, choosing a growing medium for your plants must be based on a dialog with your supplier, the end result of which is a medium that will consistently perform well.

I like, no I really love, one liners?such as:

• "If it ain’t broke?don’t fix it" (Unknown Author)
• "That’s no deal" ((Nurseryman John Machen)
• "If you don’t add value?then it’s waste" (Henry Ford)
• "You haven’t made a dime?till you sell number 12 of a dozen" (JC Penney)
• "We don’t want to bake any birthday cakes" (Charlie Parkerson)

I use a multitude of one liners every day while conversing with my co-workers and family.

Scouting nurseries and landscapes on a regular basis is the best way to catch problems early. Infestations, infections, and physiological problems can be controlled more effectively and with less environmental impact when caught early. Look for off-color foliage, areas of reduced growth, wilting, leaf damage, and weeping. If there is a problem with the foliage, be sure to check both sides of the leaves. If the problem is in the roots, be able to determine what a good and a bad root looks like on the plant in question.

We can be proud of many landscape tree outcomes, but there are some alarming tree failures in our parks and streets that are costing us millions. Up to six parties are responsible for landscape tree outcomes: the designer, propagator, grower, planter, waterer, and maintenance crew. Too often the grower alone is held to account for any problems.

We are fortunate to have so many excellent participants, but there are weak links in the chain of responsibility. These weak links are exacerbated by price competition in the absence of adequate quality standards.

I noticed the first dead eucalypt in a nearby park early in 2010, about 7 years after it had been planted. I happened to walk past as the contractor was removing it, so asked to have it to take home. "No problem mate! There are plenty more like that. " So I threw it over my shoulder and took it home to dissect. The cross section view of the root ball showed a girdling root that has strangled the tap root.

There are two parts to this talk. The first is about cutting media and the second is about media for seedling production. Within each, I concentrate on physical properties and a few aspects of nutrition. I take it for granted that your media are free from plant pathogens and that your hygiene practices are excellent.

CUTTING MEDIA

Physical Properties. Root production by cuttings requires that the cuttings remain turgid. Any wilting decreases rooting percentage. Turgidity is maintained in part with water from the medium itself and in part from humidity in the air.

It really does not matter what you use to make cutting media, so long as the physical properties are what your cuttings need in your environment.

I started collecting Brachychiton in the early to mid 1990s. I had seen flowering Brachychiton bidwillii Hook. while at university and had grown several from seed while working at nurseries in Cairns, Queensland. A mate, Anton Van der Schans, is a plant collector and landscape architect who collected several species off Cape York on various trips including B. garrawayae (Bailey) Guymer, B. velutinosus Kostermans, and B. grandiflorus Guymer. These flowered and grafted readily. Grafted B. velutinosus were planted into landscapes and flowered and performed well. The spectacular and regular flowering of the tropical species inspired me to start a breeding program. I knew B. bidwillii was a precocious, prolific, regular flowerer with a compact habit which would make it ideal as a parent to reduce the size of the tropical tree species.

In Australia since the mid 1990s there has been a rapidly developing French black truffle growing industry. Truffles are the fruiting body of a mycorrhizal fungus that lives in a symbiotic relationship with the roots of oak trees (Quercus).

About the Propagator. Nathan Carter is the director of Trufficulture Pty Ltd. Trufficulture is a family business operating in Gembrook, Victoria. The primary business for the company is propagating oak seedlings and inoculating these with the French black truffle. Infection usually takes 12 to 18 months and after this the trees are ready for planting out.

All of these pressures mean that growers should consider how to conserve water by only applying irrigation as needed by the crop. This article provides some rules of thumb to know if you may be over-applying water in propagation. Efficient watering during propagation involves both management and technology such as climate-controlled mist timing, but we will concentrate here just on monitoring steps that cost very little.

Mist nozzles generally produce large droplets in excess of 200 µm from low pressure (20–100 psi / 2–7 bar) nozzles and provide irrigation and water to plants.

WHAT IS FOG?

Fog is defined as a water droplet around 10 micron (µm) in diameter (1/10th diameter of a human hair). High pressure water at 1,000 psi / 70 Bar is used to create the fog. Nozzle output is around 5 gph (U.S.A.) / 5 lph, this quantity of water is not intended to irrigate the crops below.

Decision-making (or "good decision making" at least) is all about weighing up pros and cons based on the information you have at hand. If your information is poor, then the impact of your decision has a higher likelihood of being less than optimum (or even completely opposite to what you intended — e.g., the plant dies). If your information is good and useful, then your rational decision is likely to result in the effect you intended.

Production of liners (rooted cuttings( of floricultural crops in the United States of America (U.S.A. ( is characterized by global movement of plant material, rapid adaptation to market trends, and consolidation into a few large and highly competitive players. Although some factors shaping U.S. production differ from New Zealand nurseries, there are concepts that can be applied to improve efficiency and crop quality.

Over the past 15 years outside my educational and then working lives, I have developed a passion for roses. This has lead me on many interesting journeys and experiences in New Zealand and around the world to observe and learn more about the world’s favourite flower. At the same time, there has been an alarming decline in the popularity of roses. Not only has this occurred in New Zealand, but right around the world. Fewer nurseries are growing roses commercially as a response to fewer people growing them. Consequently, the range of cultivars sold is decreasing and specialist rose societies are rapidly losing members. Where will it all stop?

One of the aspects of growing roses I am passionate about is for everyone with an interest and appreciation in roses to grow quality plants that are free of rose viruses and virus-like diseases. It is a difficult and sometimes controversial subject for many involved with roses but maybe there is a simple answer to get everyone behind the concept of virus-free roses: more flowers? (Editor’s note: in this paper a "virus-free rose" refers to the cultivar being free from the viruses mentioned in this paper and not all viruses.)

The genus Ilex has more than 800 species, including both deciduous and evergreen (Galle, 1997); Huxley (2002) notes in the New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening that there are more than 400 species. My discussion is confined to the English holly and its allies, I. aquifolium and I. × altaclerensis. English holly (I. aquifolium) has many uses. The most obvious is as a colourful ornamental where the female forms have attractive, brilliant berries through winter. These are used by florists in their winter decorations and may last for many weeks. The English have a heritage for using these at Christmas time. The fruit in the garden is relished by wildlife, while most gardeners would like them left for their own enjoyment. Holly, when established, will tolerate even dry shade, thus making it an ideal choice for hedging and specimen planting.

The azalea mollis group of deciduous Rhododendron hybrids have generally been derived from several species, and were introduced into cultivation as follows:

• Rhododendron molle subsp. japonicum from Japan in 1861
• Rhododendron luteum from Eastern Europe and Asia Minor in 1793
• Rhododendron molle from China in 1824
• Rhododendron occidentale from North America in 1851
• Rhododendron flammeum (syn. R. speciosum) from North America in 1789

From Belgium and Holland the Ghent and Rustica forms were hybridised with single and hose-in-hose forms. English nurserymen produced the Exbury and Knap Hill hybrids. All these forms have been hybridised and re-crossed in Western Europe and England with many beautiful hybrids being produced.

We produce mainly M. grandiflora ‘D.D. Blanchard’ and ‘Little Gem’, with smaller quantities of ‘Ferruginea’, ‘Mainstreet’, ‘Russet’, ‘Saint Mary’, and ‘Samuel Sommer’. The success rate ranges from 55% for ‘Russet’ to 86% for ‘Little Gem’.

Firstly I’ll discuss stock plant care and maintenance. Before planting we do soil tests and add required fertilisers while ground preparation is being done. Black polythene mulch beds are formed and the young stockplants are planted out from 1-L pots for ease of handling. They are planted 1 m apart and 2 m between rows. This is fairly high density but it works well with our pruning methods.

Growers and exporters tell us that to compete in domestic and export markets, we must deliver high-value product into niche markets. To achieve this, within my experience, I interpret this to mean each of us needs to focus on five key components, i.e., delivering plant products that are:

1. Novel and innovative: To me this highlights the ongoing need for breeding of new crops and selections.
2. Of a suitable quality: This refers to the product meeting the market specifications for height, colour, size, form, post-harvest performance, etc.
3. "Clean": For example, free of known viruses and free of pests and disease.
4. On time for particular market windows such as Christmas, Mother’s Day, etc.
5. Targeting a solid market: This requires good market knowledge and contacts.

This is a long list of topics to deal with. In this presentation I have chosen to focus upon just one of these, "quality,"

Interspecific hybridisation provides a valuable tool that creates exciting new opportunities for breeding of new plants. In crosses between closely related species there usually will be little or no difficulty in producing hybrids. In this paper we focus on interspecific hybridisation in parental combinations where outcomes may not be as expected for conventional crosses. Interspecific hybridisation differs from conventional crosses in that we are developing novel plant genotypes by overcoming the barriers that separate species. We also discuss the use of chromosome doubling to produce polyploids as a method to restore fertility in sterile hybrids, and a number of techniques used to verify the outcomes of hybridization and chromosome doubling will be described. Not all attempts to hybridise between species will be successful, but if barriers to success can be identified, in many instances there are solutions that will enable the production of a fertile hybrid or the transfer of a desired trait into a backcross hybrid. This paper provides a brief introduction to this topic; a more comprehensive review was recently published by Morgan et al. (2011).

On 10 Oct. 2010, I departed Auckland Airport for Japan as part of the IPPS Reciprocal exchange. In preparation for this exchange I had spent time speaking with IPPS members in New Zealand who had been to Japan for the IPPS in the past, and I also brushed up on my Japanese language and cultural skills. As part of my exchange I was required to give a presentation at their conference, so I spent some time taking photos of Christchurch and of the nursery operations at Oderings Nurseries.

In the U.K., government policy to encourage investment in renewable energy sources, such as wind or solar, has resulted in the introduction of the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), which offers payments for businesses for using renewable energy for heating. This, under certain circumstances, offers the exciting possibility of a business?s heating requirements switching from being a cost to a new source of revenue.

In June 2011, as part of the planning and decision-making process for proposed new office accommodation, an energy audit was undertaken for the British Wild Flower Plants nursery business, which reviewed the quantity and costs associated with energy consumption at the site and assessed the initial feasibility for and costs associated with investment in small scale renewable energy technologies.

A range of no, low, and medium cost recommendations were made. These included analysis of energy meter readings against climate and occupation, adjusting time controls on irrigation and abstraction pumps, and use of night storage heaters to ensure that overnight (cheap) rate electricity was used whenever possible. Low cost recommendations included repair of the rain sensor feedback control on the irrigation system. The greatest energy savings would be realised by fitting insulation to the office area, or ensuring that the proposed new office meets, or exceeds current building standards for insulation.

Historically, Eden Project has had a number of larger species, mainly trees that have either fallen or have been removed from our rain forest biome because they were unstable. There is a whole list of factors that have contributed to this instability but poor root systems rank high on this list. The growing container shape could still clearly be seen in the root systems of a number of the fallen or removed plants; often they had not put out good extension growth into the soil and tangled roots and poor root architecture were common.

Achieving good active root systems, particularly on our tree species, therefore became an important aim of the Eden Project nursery. Many of the rain forest trees for the biome are grown from seed at the nursery, so we decided to examine and compare propagation systems traditionally used at our nursery with some newer innovations.

Over the past 25 years or so there has been a great increase in the use of seeds of native wildflower species in the United Kingdom, as in other European countries and North America. Wildflowers have been increasingly sown in urban regeneration and civil engineering projects for their attractive appearance and low maintenance requirements. Wildflowers also attract wildlife so are used in habitat restoration, community biodiversity projects and individual gardens and estates. The use of wildflower species in agri-environment schemes is also popular.

The increased use of wildflowers has been followed by an increase in commercial production and trade of approximately 200 species of plants, most of which are new to commercial trading. In many cases seeds are not sold directly to the end users but may be sold to commercial growers to be raised as plants before being sold on.

Production of Rhizopon rooting hormones began in 1939 following research by the ACF Chemiefarma Company, originally the Amsterdam Quinine Factory, into propagation of quinine plants. The first Rhizopon rooting hormone products were introduced to nursery stock growers in the Boskoop area in 1940. Following a reorganization of ACF, Rhizopon was established as an independent company in 1987.

For the U.K. professional market Rhizopon offers several rooting hormone products based on the active ingredient, indole-3-butyric acid.

The formulated products are available as ready-for-use powders and water-soluble tablets in various packing sizes.

The principal aim of the project is to critically review and collate key nursery stock research findings into a single publication which meets the needs of today’s propagator. The guide, which is due for publication in 2012, draws on a considerable "back catalogue" of information and covers such key areas as stock-plant management, rooting media, post-rooting nutrition, rooting hormones, and propagation environments. Also covered are soft cuttings, hardwood cuttings, bench grafting, and propagation by chip budding.

A lot of useful information on propagation is tucked away in research papers and although widely dispersed still remains unused.

In one of my favorite books, A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens begins with an observation of the contemporary history of the day:
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,
it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness,
it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity,
it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness,
it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair,
we had everything before us, we had nothing before us,
we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct
the other way — in short, the period was so far like the present
period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its
being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree
of comparison only. "

Cornflower Farms propagates a wide array of California native plants ranging from desert to wetland and coastal to alpine species. Propagation is done from cuttings, seed, and division. Here, we?ll address seed propagation of several high-elevation California natives including: Artemisia tridentata, Ceanothus cordulatus, C. integerrimus, C. prostratus, C. velutinus, Eriogonum umbellatum, Linum lewisii, Lupinus grayi, Penstemon newberryi, Potentilla glandulosa, Prunus andersonii, P. emarginata, P. virginiana, Purshia tridentata, Ribes nevadense, Rosa woodsii, Sambucus nigra subsp. caerulea, and S. racemosa.

Backyard fruit trees have always been popular in the residential landscape. Grocery store fruit can be lackluster, to say the least. The health-conscious consumer has become more demanding than ever. Residential fruit tree, vegetable, and herb gardening has become more popular than ever, and it’s not just a trend, but a lifestyle change.

With the reality of residential properties becoming smaller and smaller, the popularity of multi-budded fruit trees have increased dramatically. It’s common sense; grow three or four successive ripening varieties in the space of one orchard size tree. Home orchardists are not looking for the same yield as commercial growers. In fact, it’s just the opposite. They want a little fruit all the time, as opposed to farmers looking to harvest large crops all at once. The multi-budded fruit tree fills this niche.

It has been shown that apical dominance inhibits axillary bud break and lateral shoot branching in some plant species due to the effects of auxin (IAA) which is biosynthesized in the shoot apex and polarly transported within the plant (Sachs and Thimann 1967; Kitazawa et al., 2008; Leyser, 2003). In rose it has been shown that axillary buds lower on a stem have a higher degree of inhibition then apical buds (Le Bris et al., 1998). The process by which an axillary bud shifts from its dormant state to an actively growing stem is called bud break.

Methods for induction of bud break are commonly used in floriculture to achieve desired plant shape (e.g., to induce branching in potted plants) and for timing of harvests (e.g., cut flowers). The methods currently used on cut flower roses to achieve a particular bud break date, and consequent harvest date, include pinching, pruning, or bending.

Residential landscapes are an essential part of the quality of life we enjoy in California. They can provide refuge, solace, and food. But they also add to demands for scarce water resources. According to a 2010 study for the California Homebuilding Foundation, a new three-bedroom home will use approximately 174,000 gal of water, more than half of it for landscaping annually.

Runoff from landscaping also is a source of environmental pollutants such as pesticides and fertilizers that threaten fish and wildlife in rivers and streams. Faculty members in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at UC Davis recognized the need to make horticulture research and education more available for Californians to address these concerns.

The UCNFA leadership includes Loren Oki and Dave Fujino, who serve as Co-Directors. Additional leadership is provided by the Executive Committee: John Kabashima, Mike Parrella, Ken Tate, and the Co-Directors. Cooperative Extension Advisors, Julie Newman serves as the Chair of Educational Programs, Steve Tjosvold is the Newsletter Editor, and Jim Bethke is Chair of Technology. Linda Dodge is the Program Representative and manages the activities of the program.

Walnut is a popular crop with 5 million trees annually planted in California. Paradox walnut [Juglans hindsii ? J. regia ( Northern California black walnut ? English walnut)[ is a popular rootstock due to its high vigor. Nurseries often grow Northern California black walnut and a pollinating English cultivar side-by-side to produce paradox walnut. One disadvantage of this un-controlled open pollination is that its success varies from year to year and in some years the success rate is as low as 25%. This leads to a shortage of paradox walnut trees for walnut growers. Another disadvantage is genetic variability from one paradox walnut seedling to another that leads to tree-to-tree differences (disease resistance, vigor, etc.) in the orchard.

The term "tissue culture" has come to encompass many different techniques associated with the clonal reproduction of plants. Terms such as somatic embryogenesis, meristem culture, embryo rescue, protoplast fusion and micropropagation are all specialized techniques that are often referred to as "tissue culture" when discussing the propagation of plants. Any one of the above techniques would ultimately give rise to a new plant, but micropropagation has probably come to be the most widely adopted, since its relative ease in training novices in the technique.

At Duarte Nursery, in Hughson, Calif., micropropagation is used primarily to clonally reproduce rootstocks used in the production of stone fruit, nut, and citrus trees for commercial plantings. The technique allows us to produce elite, "clean" plant material, but not without substantial costs and investments.

INCEPTION

Washington State University conducted agricultural research at the Heritage farm from 1949 until 2008, at which time Clark County resumed ownership of the property with the intent of keeping it as a working farm. County staff reviewed the assortment of older greenhouses on the farm and determined that they should be replaced with modern structures incorporating the latest in greenhouse technology.

All-America Selections Display Gardens provide the public an opportunity to view the new AAS winners in an attractive well-maintained setting and provide educational AAS programs during "open house" or "field day" events.

Japanese agricultural sector has a serious problem in the workforce area. The population engaged in agricultural sector has decreased in the last 50 years because of rapid aging, i.e., people over 65 years old occupy 61% of the current agricultural workforce. This situation results in a decrease in self-sufficiency and increase in the dependence on imported food, and threatens the safety and reassurance of food in Japan. As a solution for this problem, the plant factory system attracts much attention as a prospective agricultural production system in Japan. However, at this moment, the plant-factory system does not always produce commercial success. So, further technological development is required.

Akatsuka Garden Company has continued research and development on various solutions which accelerate plant growth and activate physiological functions of plants since 1984. We have focused our attention on the behavior of iron ions in water and interaction of iron ions and water. Based on that research we developed a new water improvement device named "Ferrous Ferric Chloride (FFC^®) ceramic balls" (Sugi and Yamashita, 1991) in 1995. Water treated with FFC ceramic balls (called "FFC water" ) possesses specific biological effects such as stimulation of plant growth, especially root growth (Hasegawa et al., 2006). In animals, FFC also possesses stimulative effects on cell growth (Hirobe, 2007). The FFC ceramic balls have been utilized by users in many different fields in primary and secondary industries.

Although many depend on controlling S. litura larvae by spraying chemical pesticide, there are many examples of pesticide resistance occurring. In addition, chemical pesticide use may be restricted by the number of spray application times and crops on which it can be used even if it is still effective.

In this system, you grow runner plants by planting the cuttings (runner tips) in a SuiSui pot with capillary watering. The SuiSui pots are placed on trays with special watering mats placed on a bench.

In Stage 1 of the original micropropagation method for the production of virus-free plantlets, the shoot apexes were cultured on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium (Murashige and Skoog, 1962) supplemented with α-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) and 6-benzylaminopurine (BA) phytohormones

Dragon fruit (Hylocereus undatus Britt & Rose), also called pitaya of pitahaya, is a climbing cactus native to the tropical forest regions in Mexico and Central and South America (Mizrahi et al., 1997). Dragon fruit has been cultivated in Vietnam and currently in some countries such as Nicaragua, Columbia, and Israel (Merten, 2003).

In Japan dragon fruit has been cultivated mostly in Okinawa. In 2009 the growing area and amount shipped were 46 ha and 335 t, respectively (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, 2011). Dragon fruit can be grown without heating in warm regions; therefore the cultivation has been increasing recently in areas north of Okinawa.

• The growth of shoots on MKR1, which used to be named "rootstock-b" or "OD-1" was inhibited and the shoots hardly showed secondary growth (Tetsumura et al., 2010). As a result, the trees are dwarfed.
• Early fruit drop, which is one of the big problems for kaki growers, was drastically decreased on MKR1 trees (Tetsumura et al., 2011a).
• Efficiency, such as yield per ground area covered by tree canopy and yield per canopy volume, was the best in the trees on MKR1 (Tetsumura et al., 2010)

Aminoethoxyvinylglycine (AVG), an inhibitor of ethylene, has been used for blocking ethylene biosynthesis and revealing the responses of plants to it. The chemical 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) is able to block ethylene receptors and is functionable at very low concentrations in cut flowers (Serek et al., 1995) and fruits (De Wild et al., 1999). At the end of 2010, 1-MCP was permitted for use as an inhibitor of overripening with apple, pear, and persimmon by Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan.

Ethylene is said to cause plant tissues responsive reactions at very low concentrations and to be promoted or inhibited by auxin. In in vitro culture, rose shoots required different concentration of ethylene depending on rooting process: an adequate amount of ethylene was needed for root emergence and root formation but more ethylene was necessary for root growth (Kepczynski et al., 2006).

Wadatsuminoki (Nothapodytes amamianus Nagam. & Mak. Kato, Icacinaceae) is an endangered species only naturally found as a new species in 2004 in the southern part of Amamioshima Island located in the south of Japan (Nagamasu and Kato, 2004). It produces a useful alkaloid, camptothecin, which is a raw material of cancer drug irinotecan. Its related species, N. foetida, is currently cultivated for drug raw material production. For application of wadatsuminoki in the commercial usage and species conservation, propagation from limited number of trees is crucial. There are several reports about conservation of endangered species using in vitro culture (Sugii and Lamoureux, 2000; Ishii et al., 2004; and Ishii et al., 2005). So, screening of in vitro culture conditions of this species was carried out for the first time.

Scott Base Nurseries (Auckland). At first, I visited Scott Base Nurseries, which mainly produced ground cover and shrub plants. I practiced division of Phormium, which is one of the most popular plants in N.Z. Large plants of Phormium were planted on road slopes and small ones were supplied for gardens. The nursery produced a very beautiful two-colored cultivar, but the sorting operation was difficult because its coloration varied with stock plants.

The excursion was arranged on 16 Oct. 2011 to visit nurseries, a market, and research institute. In the morning, 30 participants left the Hotel in Dogo Hot Spring Spa, Matsuyama City (http://www.city.matsuyama.ehime.jp/lang/en/sightseeing/dogo.html).

The first visit was the Fruit Tree Research Center of Ehime Prefecture, which is located northeast of Matsuyama City, where the aim is to breed new citrus cultivars and to establish stable production of high quality citrus fruits. All the participants learned something important about the cultivation of citrus from explanation by research staff.

Whether we like it or not, more people, companies, and organizations are joining and using Facebook^® each day. After the 2010 Eastern Region meeting, the IPPS Eastern Region created a Facebook page (www.facebook.com/IPPSER) and an informal committee to work on and maintain it. This page replaced an outdated Eastern Region Facebook group.

DISCUSSION

Currently, there are over 800 million active Facebook users in the world, of which about 200 million reside in the United States. Fifty percent of users log onto Facebook at least once each day (Facebook Statistics, 2011). Two-thirds of Facebook users will select a product or company based on a recommendation from a Facebook friend.

RECENT HISTORY IN THE GREEN INDUSTRY REVISITED

Prior to the recession, total economic contributions for the United States Green Industry in 2007, including regional economic multiplier effects, were estimated at $175.26 billion in output (revenue).

I was raised in the greenhouse and nursery business, with overnight, out-of-town trips for plants considered as a vacation. My father, Jack Randolph, started the nursery just after WWII, and my mother, Ruth, joined him as the greenhouse operator, while he pursued landscaping and most of the outdoor production. On family outings, we would trot through botanical gardens and other horticultural businesses, and on our way, we collected plants to bring back for ourselves. The youngest of five, I ended up being the one to stay behind and take over the family business. Beginning in the early 1970s, I have spent most of my spare time searching for new plants to grow and add to our collection. Most of the plants we asexually propagate are tropical, and we add these to annual and perennial container combinations for a colorful effect.

Location and Hotel. The 2012 IPPS meeting will take place in the Philadelphia area Oct. 10?13, 2012. The Host Hotel is the Holiday Inn Express in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania. Room rate would be $109 single/double and includes comp WIFI and hot breakfast buffet. There is a restaurant and bar on site and many restaurants within walking distance or a short drive. Hotel has a free shuttle service. Parking is free. Travel time is 16 min to Winterthur; 11 min to Longwood Gardens.

Travel. Travel time is 25 minutes to Philadelphia airport, half hour to Wilmington, Delaware train station ($46 shuttle; $65 taxi). Hotel has an airport shuttle service that they recommend at a reasonable price also Delaware Express Shuttle Co. We will encourage people flying in to rent a car.

In 1996, the first 20 cultivars were planted at the University of Kentucky Horticulture research farm, Lexington, Kentucky. Most were H. macrophylla cultivars. They grew nicely each year and died back to the ground each winter. Each summer there was sporadic flower production. Since nurseries were able to produce flowering plants, it was decided to make sure we could get consistent flower production by growing plants in containers and using cold frames for overwintering them. We were able to produce 10–20 usable blooms per plant when grown in a trade size #5 container (Editor’s note: container sizes all refer to trade size). Since we could obtain flowering with protection, the next step was to grow the plants in the ground and cover them with a cold frame which could support shade cloth in the summer and poly in the winter.

Whenever I travel to plant conferences — IPPS meetings and IPPS area meetings — I am inevitably asked: "Well what hormone do you use to root this particular plant?" While I might have a ready answer more often than not, I offer "well, it depends." This paper is an attempt to explain some of the things that fall under the category of "it depends."

From a commercial stand point auxins come to us in a variety of forms. There are auxins dissolved in an alcohol solvent to form a concentrate that we in turn dilute with water to the desired concentration. Some auxins come as a talc powder formulation that has a fixed dosage and in the last 10 years or so there are now auxin preparations that are completely water soluble and can be diluted to the desired concentration in the same manner as the alcohol concentrates but without the possible injury from the alcohol.

Ash (Fraxinus) consists primarily of temperate, deciduous trees and shrubs, with ?60 species native to the Northern Hemisphere. Ash diversity is highest in China (22 species) and the U.S.A. (16 species). In Eastern North America, six native ash species are under threat of functional extinction by an exotic insect pest, emerald ash borer (EAB; Agrilus planipennis), introduced from Asia to southeastern Michigan, probably in the 1990s. Emerald ash borer adults feed on ash leaves, females lay eggs exclusively on ash, and larvae feed on cambial tissue in ash stems and trunks. There is no documented resistance to EAB among these six ash species, and larvae commonly infest and kill healthy and stressed mature trees and juvenile saplings alike. This severely reduces opportunities for the evolution of increased tolerance to EAB and may hasten extinction.

In recent years, the generic name Arundinaria has become restricted in usage to the native "cane" species of eastern North America: gigantean (= macrosperma), gigantea subsp. tecta and appalachiana (Triplett et al., 2006, 2009, 2010). The closest living relatives of these bamboos are in East Asia, where they are now classified into several distinct genera (Li et al., 2006; Triplett and Clark, 2010). The purpose of this paper is to summarize what is known, superficially, about the biology of Arundinaria, as applied to problems in horticulture, restoration, and ecology.

Arundinaria has several unusual or unique characters, when compared to other native plants of eastern North America. These characters are also typical of many bamboos in temperate regions of East Asia. In flowering behavior, however, species of Arundinaria differ from most of their long-lost East Asian cousins, which generally exhibit gregarious flowering over many hundreds or thousands of acres or even whole regions, after nonflowering periods of several decades. Flowering is generally rare and sporadic in Arundinaria, with no evidence of such widespread gregarious events.

Flowering cherries have been an important part of Japanese culture for at least a thousand years. The beauty and ephemeral nature of the blossoms is evident in historic and modern Japanese literature, art, language, and culture, as well as in landscapes. Flowering cherries were brought to the U.S.A. sometime in the mid-1800s, as evidenced by mention in several nursery catalogs from that time, but they were not well-known or widely grown.

I’m going to spend some time today giving a brief overview of how perennial plants come to market. This will include definitions of what a perennial plant is, history of plant introduction and cultivation, and modern-day examples of plants and techniques used to develop new perennials.

Perennial Definition:

• Any herbaceous plant that survives multiple flowering cycles over multiple years.
• Darwin Perennials definition: plants hardy to USDA Zone 6 or colder.

Why are perennials such an important class? Perennials continue to grow in popularity and are one of the fastest growing categories in the five-billion dollar green industry. Perennials are important because they are/have:

• Excellent landscape feature and transition plant between woody ornamentals and lawn.
• Long lasting.
• Diverse texture, habit, and colors.
• Very early to very late flowering species.
• Many native cultivars.

My name is Larry Walsh and I have worked at Prides Comer Farms in Lebanon, Connecticut for exactly 12 years as of this week. I have been involved in running our grafting program at Prides Comer Farms since 2003. In 2003 we grafted a total of 8,800 plants with a total of 13 taxa of plants, eight of them being Acer taxa. In 2011 we grafted over 15 taxa of Acer and a total of more than 30 different plants for a combined total of 31,000+ actual grafts. The most popular plants we do by grafting are A. palmatum ‘Bloodgood’, A. palmatum var. dissectum ‘Tamukeyama’, Pinus strobes ‘Soft Touch’, and Cornus kousa ‘Wolf Eyes’. We also graft some selections of Hamamelis, Magnolia, and Larix that are much harder to do and we limit these to just a few thousand or so every year.

As universities throughout the world eliminate classes and programs in plant breeding, this discipline is becoming a dying art and science. Instead, genetic engineering and molecular sciences are being touted as the future for new plant development. However, as the world climate changes, and as new pests and diseases damage and destroy commercially valuable plants, it is critical that new plants are found, evaluated, hybridized, and introduced. Novel genetic resources, that are adaptable, valuable, and ornamental, are critical for the future. Plant exploration, collection, and breeding are as important as ever to meet the new challenges of the green industry because germplasm is a vital resource for the generation of new plants (Chang, 1987).

There are three main reasons that plant exploration is important: To find and collect new plant material, to breed and develop new and valuable commercially acceptable plants with the collected germplasm, and to educate future plant breeders.

The romance and intrigue of plant discovery and acquisition continues to entice plant explorers, most often to remote and exotic places far away from the United States. Though early explorers and botanists including the Bartrams, the Michauxs, Nuttall, Torrey, Gray, and Harper described the vast richness of eastern North America’s flora, the range of diversity and adaptability continues to be underappreciated to this day. In efforts to more fully document and explore its potential, we have continued to explore and promote this rich flora.

PLANT EXPLORATION WITH PURPOSE

he forests of eastern North America are replete with a remarkable array of plant communities, habitats, and plant species, particularly, Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, and western Florida.

The global market for horticultural products has decreased. The shrinking horticultural market is due to the housing market contraction, over production of horticultural products (too many commodity products which were grown for the expanding housing market), and loss of consumers (especially young people) due to them not gardening. The reduction in plant sales per nursery as well as the closure of nurseries in North America is evident. We have seen several nurseries that serviced the national sales in the United States go bankrupt in the past several years.

Between 1999 and 2010, the average dollars spent per household on Do It Yourself "Lawn and Garden" fell from $532 to $355 USD. This precipitous plummet was not just a result of the recession. Even in the "boom" year of 2007, the 1999 figure dropped more than $100 to $428 per year.

Realistically, Dr. Elwin Orton should stand here and make this presentation to you, as all the honor goes to him.

I am really happy having been invited and would like to thank you all, especially my friend Susanne Lucas. I am here to let you know how Cornus ‘KN30-8’, Venus^® hybrid dogwood made it from Rutgers University to Germany.

"The best service you can render a culture is to add a new plant to its horticulture."

The quote by Thomas Jefferson (Hatch) is exactly what Dr. Orton did.

Many of you will remember that Dr. Orton has worked successfully with many species of holly (Ilex) since 1960. In 1965, he also started assembling many different cultivars of three major species of large-bracted dogwood (Cornus florida, C. kousa, and C. nuttallii) to add another project to his program of inter- and intra-specific hybrids of woody ornamentals.

In a recent talk in Raleigh, North Carolina, Tony Avent of Plant Delights Nursery described those of us, who are obsessed with plants and gardens, as being a little "odd." George Mitchell of Woodlanders Nursery in Aiken, South Carolina told me, at the same symposium, about the story of the nurseryman who had died, and met St. Peter at the Pearly Gates. They had a cordial chat and St. Peter finally asks the new arrival what he’d done for a living. He said he had spent his career as a nurseryman. St. Peter says, "Oh my God, you?ve lived your life in Hell."

George Mitchell’s business partner, Bob McCartney, tells the interesting story about how Amsonia hubrichtii came into the trade. "… a teenage Ken Wurdack, who now works at the Smithsonian, was doing a lot of research on rare plants and travelling all over the South following up on old records, herbarium collections, etc. in the early 1980s."

While there is a growing percentage of savvy gardeners hooked on looking for unusual plant selections, there are lots who have no inkling. How to hook them?

One avenue is to make gardening unintimidating. At conferences I often listen to talks by garden designers or landscape architects who trot out lofty principles or rules, striking fear into listeners that they might do something tacky.

A few "rules" we should help to expunge:

• Never put a plant in the ground until you have a plan laid out on paper.
• Never buy a plant unless you know where it will go in your plan.
• Use plants with variegated or golden foliage minimally and with discretion.
• Plant in drifts, or at least in groups of threes or fives.

• Agastache aurantiaca ‘Tango’
• Agastache cana ‘Bolero’
• Bouteloua gracilis ‘Blonde Ambition’
• Camellia japonica ‘Anacostia’
• Cercis canadensis ‘Vanilla Twist’ ppaf
• Eritrichium canum ‘Baby Blues’
• Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Munchkin’
• Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Ruby Slippers’
• Loropetalum chinense ‘Snow Panda’
• Pinus strobus ‘Stowe Pillar’
• Styrax japonicus ‘Spring Showers’
• Tradescantia roseolens ‘Morning Grace’
• Trollius × cultorum ‘New Moon’
• Viola walteri ‘Silver Gem’

The present studies were done to guide growers on successful cutting propagation from cuttings using water-based indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) rooting solutions. The following four studies:

1. The time of foliar treatment after sticking,
2. The effect of alcohol or wetting agents in the solution,
3. The effect of cold temperature at time of treatment, and
4. The use of basal long-soak method on cuttings which are seasonably difficult to root.

This poster outlines the basic steps of producing cold-hardy non-invasive bamboo via tissue culture propagation. Exact protocols are not included, as this poster is introductory in nature in effort to simplify the process for interested parties. Lab preparation and tissue culture propagation of the BambooSelect^® line is conducted via an exclusive propagation license with North American Plants, LLC located in Lafayette, Oregon.

Tissue-culture propagation of bamboos leads to very uniform, vigorous, and robust liners. The protocols ensure the plants are disease-free and true-to-type propagation. Crop time is greatly reduced compared to traditional vegetative division or from seed. Micropropagation (in-vitro tissue culture) of cold-hardy non-invasive bamboo via axillary branch cuttings is the best method for mass production of uniform, vigorous clones with unique landscape potential as an evergreen grass as an elegant specimen, privacy screen, or hedge.

Propagating and growing plants in containers, in this case herbaceous perennials for the purpose of producing rootstock or root mass divisions, can be a straight forward and effective low-tech method of propagation. This presentation describes the process used to produce several types of perennials for landscape use.

METHOD AND MATERIALS

It has been said, the simplest idea is often the best. With that in mind, I sought to devise a method for producing herbaceous root stocks of various perennial plants. The goal would be to minimize stress to stock plants, and to have minimal steps in the production process.

The box huckleberry [Gaylussacia brachycera (Michx.) Gray] is a slow-growing, dwarf evergreen woody groundcover that is native to both the mountains and coastal plains of Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, Delaware, and Maryland (USDA, NRCS, 2002), and North Carolina (Wilbur, 2004). It has glossy, dark green, fine-textured foliage. New growth may have a deep red to maroon coloration as may older foliage under conditions of high light intensity or stress. Box huckleberry suffers from no known serious disease or insect pests. The box huckleberry?s global conservation status is listed as G3 (NatureServe Explorer, 2001), and the state listing for Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania is S1 (critically imperiled). In Maryland, there is only one plantlet left of the known wild population. In Delaware, only three wild populations have been found. In the seven states in which it is native, there are less than 20 known populations of this species.

The 36th Annual Meeting of the International Plant Propagators? Society-Southern Region of North America convened at 7:45 AM at the Rainwater Conference Center, Valdosta, Georgia, with President Donna Fare presiding.

PRESIDENT DONNA FARE

President Fare welcomed everyone to Valdosta, Georgia, for the 36th Annual Meeting of the International Plant Propagators? Society-Southern Region of North America. She thanked Local Site Committee Chair, Stewart Chandler, and Co-chairs Kay Phelps and Fred May, and their committee for the long hours in arranging the excellent tours, hotel, and other planning activities and all their attention to detail. Dr. Fare thanked the Executive Committee and Tom Saunder ’s Sponsorship Committee, which raised $27,850 in cash sponsorships, which was outstanding with the challenging economic times.

Worthington Farms uses fabric containers to grow trees. These fabric containers air-prune roots and keep root temperatures cool in the summer. Worthington Farms is located in eastern North Carolina (USDA Plant Hardiness 7b(. Windy conditions, high summer temperatures, and hurricane preparedness are primary issues that affect container tree growing. While pot-in-pot production is utilized by the company, the rising costs of plastic for socket pots, drainage pipe, and the labor to install the system is beginning to make the system less cost effective given the stagnant price of trees. Fanntum^™ containers offer an option to pot-in-pot production where plants need marginal winter protection (http: / /www.fanntum.com/(.

In today’s economy you might ask, "how can my business afford marketing?" After all, every expense has been minimized and the pie that is our market has not increased in size. Despite the bleak outlook, what should be asked is "how can my business afford not to market itself?" Nurseries that are increasing sales are doing so by gaining market share. Essentially they are getting a larger piece of the pie while others’ pieces are shrinking or going away all together. Market share is gained through successful promotion of products that exceed competitors’ quality and are backed by excellent customer service.

Irrigation is where agricultural water security meets plant biosecurity. In light of global water scarcity, capture and reuse of runoff water for irrigation is of strategic importance to the sustainability of ornamental nursery and greenhouse industry. Without water no plant can be grown nor can existing plants survive. However, this practice could potentially recycle and spread destructive plant pathogens from isolated infections to an entire production facility and from a single facility to all sharing the same water resources, wiping out entire crops within weeks or even days.

Pathogen diversity in water and evidence of their economic significance has been mounting in recent years. According to a recent review (Hong and Morman, 2005), the diversity of plant pathogens found in water include 17 species of Phytophthora, 26 of Pythium, 27 genera of fungi, 8 species of bacteria, 10 viruses, and 13 species of nematodes. There is a growing body of evidence indicating that contaminated water is a primary, if not the sole, source of inoculum for a large number of destructive diseases on ornamental crops (Stewart-Wade, 2011).

Compared to the propagation and sale of pecan trees (Carya illinoinensis), which goes back to Simpson Nurseries’ inception in 1902, Japanese persimmon (Diospyros kaki) propagation is fairly new, going back only approximately 30 or 40 years. Another difference is that we only graft pecans, while we both bud and graft persimmons. In 2006 (Covan), I presented a paper which described field grafting of pecans and persimmons, and so, will address only bench grafting of pecans for containers, as well as bench grafting and chip budding of Japanese persimmons for containers.

BENCH GRAFTING PECANS

Understock Preparation. Starting with the understock, we plant seed of the pecan cultivars ‘Elliott’ and / or ‘Candy’ in 1.2-m (4-ft) raised field beds. The seed are planted end to end in rows of three, 38 cm (15 in.) apart.

Peat moss is the main component found in soilless greenhouse substrates today and is thus in high demand commercially. Due to the increasing demand for peat moss; the issue of peat bog preservation has been brought to light. Another concern associated with peat moss production is the cost of shipping from Canada or Europe and the economic strain it puts on growers. Perlite, another common media component, is also experiencing increased demand. Perlite is not only expensive to produce; there are also high amounts of energy required for both the production and shipping processes. Perlite is considered a nuisance, causing lung and eye irritation in cases involving over-exposure (Du et al., 2010). Due to these concerns, growers have been engrossed in finding replacement substrate options for both peat moss and perlite. In recent years research regarding alternative substrates has steadily increased; with an emphasis on local and regional sources of materials which are considered to be more sustainable.

The title of my talk is a quote that Dr. Burl Long from the University of Florida told our class at my first meeting with the Wedgworth Leadership Institute. The intent of the Wedgworth Leadership Institute for Agriculture and Natural Resources (http://wlianr.ifas.ufl.edu/) is to develop and refine the leadership capabilities of young leaders who, in turn, will be prepared to become increasingly involved in policy formation on behalf of agriculture.

THE PROGRAM

Let me start by explaining a little bit about this program, and add that there are programs very similar to this one in other states in the Southeastern U.S.A. The program consists of class members, similar to a school class, except that each class is selected once every 3 years. Each class consists of up to 30 people, between the ages of 25 and 50, who make the majority of their income from agriculture, natural resources, or other related industries. The class is a state-wide mixture of individuals from different sectors of agriculture, including ornamental horticulture, timber, cattle, citrus, vegetables, row crops, fertilizer producers, etc.

With 161 species, Mexico has the greatest number and diversity of oak species of any country in the world (Valencia, 2004). Of these, 36 are listed as globally threatened (Mendoza, 2007). In Mexico, oak and pine forests occur mostly in mountainous regions with temperate and semi-humid climates. These temperate forests cover 21% of the country and include 24% of the recorded flora. Unfortunately, biodiversity losses from these forests have been severe, and 25% of the original temperate forests have been converted to agriculture or livestock use (Rzedowski, 1998). These forests have been determined to be vulnerable to long-term climate changes. It has been predicted that an additional 13% of the temperate forests will be lost because of the effects of climate change (Villers and Trejo, 1998). There is scant literature available on performance of Mexico oaks in Southern U.S.A. landscapes, but there is a reasonable body of anecdotal information suggesting that the oaks of Mexico deserve further evaluation and perhaps promotion north of their accepted range.

Camellia oleifera has been cultivated in China as a source of edible oil, but there is no documentation that the crop has ever been grown for edible purposes in the United States. This species has been used as a parent of hardy ornamental camellia hybrids in the USA since at least the late 1970s; the U.S. National Arboretum having released more than a dozen such cultivars (Ackerman, 2007). However, these cultivars are grown and used only as ornamental landscape plants. Traditional row crop agriculture is in need of new crops for the southeastern U.S.A. In 1999, I initiated a research program to evaluate C. oleifera as a commercial oil seed crop for the southeast (Ruter, 2002).

Considerable research is being conducted to develop agricultural crops with high levels of oleic acid due to oleic acid’s ability to help reduce low density lipoproteins (LDL, or "bad cholesterol"). The percentage of oleic acid in C. oleifera oil typically ranges from 75% to 85% (Shanan and Ying, 1982; Xia et al., 1993).

The JC Raulston Arboretum (JCRA) has a 35-year history of collecting and evaluating new plants for introduction to the nursery industry. New plants drive the industry especially those that have a marketing push behind them. Many great landscape plants get passed over in the rush for the latest and greatest but deserve a second look.

The JC Raulston Arboretum (JCRA) has grown from the first plant the JCRA planted in the mid-1970s. Conifers which were not supposed to survive in the south have grown into mature specimens. Gardens and collections have been planted, grown up, torn out, and re-established. Students have been the mainstay of the arboretum development and have done a great job when given adequate direction.

The JCRA’s collection holds many great landscape plants that may never make it to the mainstream due to propagation difficulties. Other plants have shown they have great potential for the south.

The horticulture industry and gardening are a lot like the fashion industry. Both always have to come up with a new trend, present something different, or make an imaginative statement to excite and keep the public’s interest. However, when it comes down to it, landscapers and the average gardener want plants that can stand up to a certain degree of neglect, can survive inexperienced and unknowledgeable maintenance crews, and still have the ability to provide a "WOW factor" with an expected and understood degree of longevity and dependability.

In fashion, when a lady requires a perfect look for an important event, she will pull out a classic black dress and her best string of cultured pearls. A gentleman will don a well-tailored suit, a perfectly starched shirt, a silk tie — and stylishly arrive in a Lincoln Town Car or silver Mercedes.

For success in horticulture, you are always going to depend on and select from your palette of plants that are "tried-and-true" and have stood the test of time, using the new introduction as an occasional accessory to the total look.

In 2005, we initiated a pilot effort for selecting blueberries for the edible ornamental/home garden consumer. The effort quickly gained momentum from the ornamental industry, and is thus being expanded and becoming a second major effort of our UGA Blueberry Breeding Program. We are seeking a diversity of plant types for this industry that are specifically ornamental in nature.

Numerous forms of Ilex have been assembled over the years at Hefner?s Nursery for evaluation. Variegated leaf forms, slower growing forms, and forms with unique habits such as fastigiate or pendulous growth have been entered into trial for evaluation. Although all of the Ilex in trial can be easily rooted at the proper time of year, many have not grown off well in container or field production. This is primarily due to the lack of vigor in the root system. Factors such as heat in container production and compact clay soils in field production have lead to the lack of durability in these unique and marketable plants. In the year 2000, grafting of some of these hollies was tried on a small basis to evaluate potential for increased vigor and eventually durability in the landscape.

Successful propagation requires the same amount of planning as does finishing the plant for sale. A careful analysis of the plant material to be propagated is an important initial decision. Just as critical is a clear understanding of who makes that decision. At GreenForest Nursery, a team approach is used and involves the sales manager, the production manager, the propagation manager, and the owner. A team approach often helps identify potential strengths and problems. These decisions are based on how a plant is selling, how it is projected to sell, ease of production, and production time.

Deciding when to propagate is also a critical part of the planning process. This again requires input from the previously mentioned team. Liners need to be ready when the production manager needs them. Non-available liners when needed waste valuable production time.

Black chokeberry [Aronia melanocarpa, (Michx.) Elliot] or aronia, as it is known commercially, is a small fruit-bearing shrub in the rose family (Rosaceae) and apple sub family (Amygdaloides). Its range is from Newfoundland, west to Ontario, south into Alabama, and east to Georgia, and is hardy to Zone 3 (USDA NRCS, 2011).

Aronia is a landscape quality plant with few pests and diseases. Because of this, it is an ideal candidate for organic fruit production. The fruit is typically between 1 and 1.5 cm in diameter, very similar in size to commercial blueberries. Often misnamed as a berry, the fruit is actually a pome (apple) and grows in clusters of between 5 and 20 in cyme-like inflorescences. The aronia fruit has nutraceutical qualities, heightening its marketability and sales potential as a value added product. There is currently great interest in fruits and vegetables that contain high concentrations of flavonoids, considered potent antioxidants (Gu et al., 2004; Pietta, 2000).

The increase in demand for peat moss and the environmental concerns that are associated with the harvesting of peat bogs provide justification for seeking new alternatives to the industry standards. Two alternatives currently marketed for greenhouse crop substrate use are rice hulls and coconut coir. Recent research has indicated the potential of wood fiber products. WholeTree, a component made from loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) was evaluated along with starter fertilizer rate in the production of greenhouse-grown petunia (Petunia ‘Dreams Purple’) and marigold [Tagetes patula L. ‘Hero’ (Fain et al., 2008)]. Results of this study revealed that with the addition of an adequate starter nutrient charge, WholeTree is an acceptable substrate component replacing the majority of peat moss in production of petunia and marigold.

Understanding how available water in the substrate affects plant growth and how much water plants use is important for effective irrigation management. A better understanding of plant water use will allow growers to irrigate more efficiently, increasing sustainability, reducing leaching and runoff, and decreasing disease incidence and severity. Precise control of irrigation can also provide growers the possibility to manipulate plant growth rate(s) by controlling substrate water content. The use of soil moisture sensors to successfully monitor substrate water content has been demonstrated in both greenhouse and nursery settings (Lea-Cox et al., 2008; van Iersel et al., 2009; van Iersel et al., 2010). Used in tandem with an automated irrigation system, soil moisture sensors can be used to monitor and control substrate water content (Nemali and van Iersel, 2006).

The ability to manage plant growth via control of substrate water content can be a valuable tool for growers, providing the possibility to increase or decrease the length of production cycles, foster or impede plant growth, or potentially help plants adapt to water-stressed environments.

Several fungicides will control web blight, but guidelines about when to spray have not been clearly understood.