Sustainable Nursery Crop Production

Federal regulations and regional irrigation restrictions have caused nursery producers to become more aware of and manage more judiciously their use of water, fertilizers and pesticides.  However, the nursery industry as a whole still relies on synthetic fertilizers and imported substrate components. In 1998, container nurseries typically spent about 12% of their supply budget on fertilizers, and substrate costs were nearly 20% of the supply budget.  

New container nursery production strategies could offer environmental sustainability as well as profitability if inputs of synthetic fertilizers and imported substrate components could be reduced.  Gary Knox and Russ Mizell are part of a collaborative effort involving research into organic and other alternative methods of containerized production of landscape plants.  

Evaluation of  Plants for the Nursery and Landscape Industry 

Consumers and landscape professionals are demanding new or improved landscape plants, including native wildflowers and grasses.  Nurseries are scrambling to discover, develop, release and promote such plants.  In the rush to market new plants, few efforts have been made to evaluate plants for adaptability to Florida, ornamental characteristics in north Florida, and potential for invading Florida’s natural areas. 

Gary Knox is cooperating on research and extension projects being conducted to screen and evaluate primarily nonnative species and cultivars for their ornamental attributes and potential adaptability to Florida's nursery and landscape industries.  Similar cooperative work is being conducted by Jeff Norcini involving native wildflowers and grasses.  In addition, Sandra Wilson (University of Florida/IFAS, Indian River Research and Education Center) and Gary Knox are evaluating the potential invasiveness of several nonnative woody and herbaceous species. 

Integrated Pest Management of Arthropod Pests

Insect and mites are very important pests of most nursery-grown plants, and as a result nursery growers incur significant expenses to manage them. Pest management programs in research and extension are aimed at developing the necessary biology, ecology and management information to support “green” industry needs.  We have developed a primary source of nursery IPM information that is available through the WOODYBUG online database at http://woodypest.ifas.ufl.edu.  Current projects are aimed at developing alternative pests management tools and include, improved monitoring methods and controls for the Asiatic ambrosia beetle, the evaluation of sycamore cultivars for sycamore lace bug resistance and the augmentation of biological control through behavioral manipulations of natural enemies.  For more information, contact Russ Mizell. 

Indication of Asian ambrosia beetle attack

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