What HRI is Funding This Year

Chris Beytes

The Horticultural Research Institute (HRI) funds loads of timely research projects that directly or indirectly help all horticulture businesses. Their slate of research projects for 2019, which they’ve funded to the tune of $437,200, includes retail plant purchasing habits, RFID and drones for nursery inventory, and using two different mediums in one pot to reduce nutrient and water use. Here’s a list of all the projects, and the profs and schools behind them:

• “Off the sales floor & into the cart: Analyzing the path to plant purchases”—Dr. Bridget Behe, Michigan State University

• “Fertility, population dynamics, & pollinator attractiveness of standard & sterile cultivars: Buddleia as the case study may inform the way forward for our national industry”—Dr. R. Contreras, Oregon State University

• “Seed your future”—Dr. J. Dole, North Carolina State University and S. Yoder, Seed Your Future (Continued support of the Seed Your Future program, which aims to increase the number of students and graduates in horticulture programs)

• “RFID & beyond: Using RFID, drones, and BLE to improve crop inventory management”—Dr. R. Fernandez, Michigan State University

• “Fundamental aspects of auxin foliar spray applications to woody plant cuttings”—Dr. R. Geneve, University of Kentucky

• “National green industry survey”—Dr. Charlie Hall, Texas A&M University (Conducted every five years since 1988)

• “Interactions between spotted lanternfly and woody ornamentals that influence tree health and insect fitness”—Dr. K. Hoover, Pennsylvania State University

• “Using hyperspectral technology to assess seed quality of horticultural crops”—Dr. M. Mesgaran, University of California, Davis

• “Boxwood blight management in the landscape”—Dr. J. LaMondia, Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station

• “Measurement of plant nitrogen status in floriculture and nursery production using smartphones”—Dr. K. Nemali, Purdue University

• “Landscape plant performance: Water use assessments of new cultivar selections”—Dr. L. Oki, University of California, Davis

• “Defying gravity: Stratified growing media to reduce inputs, crop stress, and minimize time to market”—Dr. J. Owen, Virginia Tech

• “Submist for propagation of nursery crops by stem cuttings"—Dr. B. Peterson, University of Maine

• “Preventing clogging of irrigation emitters caused by algae in greenhouse and nursery”—Dr. R. Raudales, University of Connecticut

• “Increasing inventory management efficiency with automation for ornamental nurseries & Christmas tree farms using unmanned aerial systems”—Dr. M. Wallhead, University of Maine

For more details on each project, visit hriresearch.org. GT