New Research Aims to Protect Gerbera From Powdery Mildew

Powdery mildew is the most common and damaging disease for gerbera crops. Growers often have to apply fungicides to control powdery mildew, which leads to significant increases in production costs.The lack of disease-resistant gerbera plants has been a major limiting factor for crop production.Severe powdery mildewAFE’s latest research report, Powdery Mildew Resistance in Transgenic Gerbera Plants, focused on increasing the plants’ resistance to powdery mildew through gene transference.Researchers Dr. Zhanao Deng, Zhonglin Mou and Natalia A. Peres of the University of Florida have concluded through this research that powdery mildew sensitivity can be overcome by transferring defense-related genes from non-crop plants to crop plants.Results have shown that genes from other plants can be transferred into gerbera crops to increase their…

Pollinator Work Continued Last Week

SAF and AmericanHort participated in two important meetings last week focused on the continuing debate about pollinator health.IR-4, the USDA-funded organization which helps provide EPA with data supporting registration of chemicals for horticulture and other specialty crops, worked with the chemical industry to host a conference on research needs.  Attended by several leading horticultural scientists, along with SAF and AmericanHort, the meeting generated productive dialogue around research needed to answer important questions about our industry’s impact on pollinators and how we can be part of the solution.A second, day-long meeting was held in Washington with the industry task force guiding the Bee and Pollinator Stewardship Initiative, launched by SAF, AmericanHort, the Horticultural Research Initiative (HRI) and the American Floral Endowment…

New Genetic Engineering Research Aims to Increase Postharvest Life of Cut Flowers

Roses overexpressing MTD. Symptoms are 4 days after spraying Botrytis spores on flowers of a low MTD expressing plant (2-), medium expressing plant (10+), and a high expressing plant (32+).New genetic engineering research from AFE funded researchers at North Carolina State University provides information about how to manage fungal diseases in eco-friendly ways, potentially increasing the postharvest life of cut flowers.Although fungal pathogens, such as Botrytis, cause economically devastating diseases in nursery, field and greenhouse production of important floriculture crops, few genes have been found that are suitable for targeted breeding or engineering specific resistance.This research is focused on expression of a naturally occurring plant resistance gene to produce plants with reduced production costs as well as lower maintenance requirements…

New Research Offers Cost-Effective Solutions for Ethylene Problems

The tomato plant on the right has been exposed to ethylene.Ethylene is an odorless, colorless gas that plays a role in seed germination, fruit ripening, leaf yellowing, etc., but too much ethylene can lead to product loss via accelerated flower wilting, abnormal growth and other problems. Results from two new research reports by AFE-funded researchers Michelle Jones, Ph.D., and Nichole Edelman of The Ohio State University can help with ethylene concerns.“Ethylene can be very destructive in both production and post-production environments,” Jones said. “Research aimed at understanding plant responses to ethylene and how to prevent damage will benefit producers, wholesalers, shippers, retailers and consumers.”Epinasty in tomato ‘Tumbler’ treated with different concentrations of ethylene for 24 hours.Use of Indicator Plants to…

New Banker Plant Research Identifies Environmentally-Friendly Pest Management Tactics

Parasitoid ‘stinging’ an aphid to insert an egg that will develop into a new parasitoid (left) and a typical banker plant system using biological controls to eliminate pesticide usage at a commercial greenhouse in North Carolina.AFE has new research that proves once again how Murder, Sex and Greed align with floriculture.North Carolina State University (NCSU) researchers describe how aphids can be managed (murder) by releasing the parasitoid wasp Aphidius colemani in Optimizing Banker Plant Systems for Aphid Biological Control in Floriculture Greenhouses, Research Report #217. This report explains how using banker plants is an environmentally friendly way to sustain the parasitoid with alternative hosts, removing the need to repeatedly purchase new parasitoids.“Aphids can murder profits for growers, wholesalers and retailers…

AFE Appoints Grower and Editor as New Trustees

Juan Carlos Gonzalez UribeAFE has appointed two new trustees: G.R.Chía SAS partner and Executive Vice President Juan Carlos Gonzalez Uribe and Laura Drotleff, editor of Greenhouse Grower magazine. Both will serve a three-year term on the AFE Board, with the option for a second term.Juan Carlos brings 31 years of experience in growing and cut flower research to AFE as partner and Executive Vice President of G.R.Chía SAS, an organization of 36 farms that grows and exports more than 30 different cut flower species in Colombia and sells more than 90 million stems annually in the U.S.The company employs more than 130 full-time agronomists, biologists and other professionals, along with a permanent team of 40 interns from Colombian universities.He will…

Visiting Industry Leader & Internship Host Bell Nursery

AFE Executive Director Debi Aker meets with Bell Nursery employees at their corporate headquarters in Elkridge, Md. From left to right, Bell employees are Tom Wheeler, Kevin Titherington, Cole Mangum, CEO Gary Mangum, Joe Perret and Paul Chisholm.In the late 1920s, Rose and Grafton Mangum built a greenhouse at their Maryland home, an endeavor that grew into the booming enterprise that is now Bell Nursery. AFE recently visited Bell, the largest wholesale nursery grower in the mid-Atlantic based on production space, and got a taste for the company’s commitment to high-quality plants.AFE supporters since 2000, Bell Nursery exclusively supplies more than 100 million retail ready plants annually to The Home Depot. Bell’s plants are found in 200 Home Depot stores…

Alluring and Murdering Thrips With New Research

A) Marigold guardian plant system in a test greenhouse. B) Thrips lure on sticky card (red arrow).AFE is still up to murder, sex and greed, this time with a new research report. In the report, scientists from the Entomology Research Laboratory at the University of Vermont (UVM) describe how they allured and then murdered western flower thrips through an inexpensive non-chemical pesticide system that is easy to use.Thrips are deadly for ornamentals, causing substantial economic loss by damaging flowers and leaves or transmitting plant viruses, and most chemical insecticides have proven to be ineffective at controlling thrips. Report #216: Formulations of Insect-Killing Fungi in Combination with Plant-Mediated Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Systems for Thrips describes an innovative strategy that uses…

Floriculture InfoSearch Puts Decades of Info at Your Fingertips

Industry members now have online access to a comprehensive floriculture library containing information that may have been previously unavailable. AFE has partnered with North Carolina State University (NCSU) to create the Floriculture InfoSearch Engine, a powerful search engine for convenient and comprehensive access to floriculture literature, videos and presentations.The website also contains a floriculture archive with materials from AFE, NCSU, scientific journals and trade publications, all of which is accessible and searchable through one website.“We want to thank a couple of floriculture pack rats, George Staby and Harold Wilkins, for opening their files to us and several industry groups and magazines for allowing us to scan and enter their articles,” project leader and NCSU Horticultural Science Department Head John Dole,…

Greenhouse Grower Donates Charity Competition Win to AFE

BASF Professional Turf & Ornamentals created a friendly rivalry with greenhouse industry trade magazine editors this year at the OFA Short Course in Columbus, Ohio, and AFE is $1,000 richer as a result.The company organized a special Media Pyramid for Charity game in their booth at the show on July 15. Editors and publishers from Greenhouse Grower, Grower Talks, GPN and Greenhouse Management magazines answered questions and earned $500 for their charity of choice just for participating. If more than four questions were answered correctly, BASF added additional money.Robin Siktberg, editor of Greenhouse Grower magazine, and her partner, Bob West, director of interactive sales, won the competition for the second year in a row, earning a total of $1,000 for…

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