Educational Grant Blooming at Mississippi State University

If there’s one thing we love to see, it’s our educational grants in action, educating and inspiring students. In 2022, AFE gave researchers at Mississippi State University an educational grant of $5,500 to start a cut flower garden on campus. This funding helped purchase perennial plants, gardening tools, and materials to create raised gardens with an irrigation system. MSU began work on the garden last Spring. Since then, they have installed 24 raised flower beds, established a drip irrigation system, placed weed barriers, and set up compost bins. In addition, they grew and evaluated 23 varieties of specialty-cut annual flowers as part of an experiment through the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers.  As the flowers grow, the MSU faculty have…

Protect Spring Crops from Ethylene

Protect Spring Crops from Ethylene Ethylene damages and kills plants and flowers. Ethylene is a naturally occurring wound hormone that causes leaf yellowing, leaf drop, bud drop, and reduced flower life. Ethylene gas is given off by dying, decaying, and dead fruits and vegetables. Also, plants and flowers produce ethylene internally as they age and when plants have undergone mechanical damage, such as vibration during shipping, drought, and heat stress. Damage to plants and flowers may be caused by ethylene in the atmosphere and from ethylene produced within the plant.  In severe situations, plants may not be marketable unless plants are treated with anti-ethylene products. You can protect your plants and flowers from ethylene. Today, several products are available from…

How to Get Involved and Volunteer with AFE

Did you know there’s a multitude of ways you can get involved with AFE? Volunteering not only supports vital floral industry programs – but also inspires networking, community collaboration, and leadership opportunities to help provide for the future.  The Endowment has been providing support for the industry for over 60 years, and we can use your help to keep going for the next 60 years and beyond! Why Volunteer With AFEAFE is the trusted source and catalyst for floriculture advancement through funding innovative research, scholarships, internships, and educational grants that best serve the dynamic needs and demographics of all industry sectors.  Through volunteer opportunities, you will get an inside look at how AFE makes an impact on our industry and a chance…

Celebrating AFE’s 2022 Research #Eras

Some of you may have seen people talking about their 2022 “Eras” on TikTok or other social media platforms. (By the way, AFE is on TikTok – follow us at @AmericanFloralEndowment) An era, in this sense, is a lighthearted and often humorous way to look at an important phase, event, or milestone that happened during the year. As we wrap up 2022 and look back on AFE’s research accomplishments, I thought it might be fun to put our own twist on this trend and share some of our standout #2022Eras.#InvestmentEra:AFE-funded university researchers, along with the help of highly talented graduate students, work with all segments of the floral industry to understand challenges and identify solutions in order to prepare for…

Press Release: Applications Now Open for Graduate Scholarships!

Calling All Floral Industry Faculty, Students, and Department Chairs! The American Floral Endowment (AFE) is excited to announce applications are now open for the Altman Family Scholarship and the Paul Ecke, Jr. Scholarship.  These merit-based, prestigious scholarships are for graduate students who have the skills and passion to become leading floricultural scientists and educators. Applicants must be in the process of successfully completing either a bachelor’s or master’s degree in horticulture or a related field (e.g., agricultural engineering, entomology, agricultural marketing and economics, plant pathology, etc.) and must have the intention of pursuing an MS or Ph.D. degree on a full-time basis. Learn more at Endowment.org/floriculture-msphd-scholarship. Applications are due by Wednesday, February 1, 2023! Apply Now! The Altman Family Scholarship was established by Ken and Deena Altman — owners of…

Keep Calm and Grow On: Research to Prevent Plant Stress and Stressors Before they Happen

Stress-free plants = less stress for growers and retailers. Two AFE-funded research projects from scientists at the University of Georgia are currently underway that investigate new ways to detect and reduce plant stress from abiotic pressures and diseases before they happen. These two projects, providing valuable insights to growers, are funded through AFE research funding. This funding is only possible with generous contributions from our supporters. If you would like to help us as we continue to tackle tough industry challenges facing floral and nursery growers, consider making a contribution as the end of the year approaches at endowment.org/donate. Let’s strengthen the future of the industry together. Here’s what the researchers have to say after this past year of funding:…

Career Opportunities: Calling all Job Seekers!

AFE Career Center’s Resume Bank Provides Connections Between Candidates and Companies After the pandemic, the rules for finding a new job changed. Gone are the days of physically handing or mailing in your resume and waiting for a call about the position. Now, nearly all job search communications happen electronically. When you’re hunting for a new job, the biggest challenge is always knowing where to start, and that’s where the AFE Career Center is here to help. Find new opportunities today! We encourage all individuals interested in a career in the floral industry to upload their resumes to the AFE Career Center. With the Spring hiring season right around the corner, job seekers will benefit from being first in line…

Supporting Education for All Levels of the Industry, One Grant at a Time

Nineteen organizations will receive Educational Grants in 2022-23 from the Endowment, totaling $76,590 given in support of important industry programs. We welcome the opportunity to support these great organizations and their programs as they grow the industry we love. With this funding, these organizations will be able to host conferences, teach students and educators about the floral industry, offer programs such as greenhouse training and florist certification classes, promote floral sustainability practices, and more. “We are proud to support vital programs like these that strengthen the industry,” AFE Treasurer/Secretary and Education Committee Chair Greg Royer said. “We continue to work hard to uplift programs that provide learning opportunities for industry members and bring awareness to the younger generations about the…

Bring FFA to AIFD Virtual Workshop 2022 ‘Fun with Creativity’

There is an old saying that ‘if one is good, two is better!’ For five FFA Teams from across the United States, the second “Bring FFA to AIFD Virtual Workshop,” hosted by the AIFD Career Development Committee, was a day to remember. Focusing on this year’s theme of “Fun with Creativity,” Woodbury FFA (Connecticut), North Calloway FFA (Missouri), Cape Fear FFA (North Carolina), Diamond Mountain FFA (Nevada), and Chelan FFA (Washington) joined design instructors, Lisa Belisle AIFD, Lesleighan Cravens AIFD, Sharon McGukin AIFD, and Julia Marie Schmitt AIFD, on Saturday, September 24, 2022, via Zoom. Thanks to this event’s sponsors, students were able to design with tropical flowers while utilizing eco-friendly containers in unique and creative ways. The American Floral…

White LEDs: A Cost-Effective Alternative to Red + Far-Red LEDs

Many important greenhouse floriculture crops are long-day plants, meaning they require long days and short nights (usually less than 8–10 hours of darkness) to produce flowers early. In areas where winters have short days and long nights, the flowering of long-day plants grown during that time is delayed or inhibited. To shorten long nights and promote flowering of long-day plants, growers can use dim photoperiodic lighting at the end of the day (day-extension lighting) or in the middle of the night (night-break or night-interruption lighting). 16-hour days created from day-extension lighting or 4 hours of night-break lighting are generally sufficient to achieve complete flowering of long-day plants.In the past decade, “flowering” LED lamps with custom light spectra including red (R)…

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