Peat composes a significant portion of ornamental (nursery and floriculture greenhouse) container media as it has unmatched characteristics for water retention and plant production. However, peat harvesting activities impact climate change through the release greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and stored carbon, despite the rigorous restoration and management programs implemented by the Canadian peat industry. The ornamental horticulture sector is committed to environmental sustainability and is investing in a project to identify potential peat extenders to decrease the portion of peat in horticultural media used for commercial production.
The project objectives are to:
Investigate potential peat extenders (e.g., wood fibre, dried cattle manure, biochar) for availability, sustainability, cost, and consistency as well as the physical, chemical, and biological media properties of the various media; and evaluate various extenders on crop yield and crop characteristics (including root morphology and tissue analysis) through trials on at least six plant genera.
Trees sequester millions of tons CO2 per year in Canada. However, tree production in nurseries can result in severe soil disturbance and organic carbon losses, erosion and nutrient losses to surface water, and degraded production fields. In order to mitigate these effects and enhance its sustainability and resiliency, the sector needs Best Management Practices (BMPs) that combine building soil carbon stocks, reducing erosion and nutrient losses, and improve post-field water quality.
The project objectives are to examine the impacts of a multi-barrier approach using cover crops, organic matter amendments and hybrid treatment swales on key soil health measurements, erosion and nutrient losses, and post-field water quality.
Traditionally, the use and selection of ornamental plants in urban and suburban areas has mostly relied on their aesthetics value. While the ornamental value of these plants remains important, their potential to address different environmental problems has been gaining recognition. Living green infrastructures (LGI), such as green roofs and bioretention cells, are gaining prevalence in urban environments and many Canadian jurisdiction have implemented programs to stimulate the use of these infrastructures. However, knowledge on species selection, performance of plant species, combined with the variable climatic conditions for this type of urban agriculture is scarce, especially under northern climates.
The project objective is to develop a plant selection tool based on functional traits associated with two major LGI functions in the urban context:
carbon sequestration, and
stormwater management, for shrubs and forbs currently grown in Canadian nurseries.
The Canadian ornamental horticulture sector faces numerous challenges including climate change, plant health, plant protection, supply chain issues, and high energy consumption by greenhouses. Further, plants grown in greenhouses are most vulnerable to temperature and water fluctuations when initially transplanted outdoors potentially resulting in extended greenhouse use and increased energy consumption due to delayed transplanting and/or crop loss during transplanting. This research project will develop a Climate Resilient Ornamental Production System (CROPS) to supply robust, carbon-sequestering plants across the country while maximizing energy efficiencies in greenhouse operations to enhance the industry’s sustainability and profitability. CROPS will deliver stress-resilient plants for the ornamental horticulture sector.
The specific project objectives are:
Development of new germplasm adapted to drought/salinity and low nutrient environments.
Development of technologies for propagation of stress-resilient plants through indoleamines treatments.
The control of thrips and whiteflies is an ongoing concern for floriculture growers around the world and research into their control is a continuing industry priority, as growers look to reduce losses to these small but destructive insect pests. At the same time, the need for more environmentally sustainable practices has led to a significant shift in how growers and research scientists determine best practices for dealing with harmful greenhouse pests.
Vineland Research and Innovation Centre has been at the forefront of research into the control of greenhouse insect pests. As part of COHA’s current AgriScience Cluster 3 program, VRIC’s floriculture greenhouse research team will continue the research undertaken in their Cluster 1 and Cluster 2 research programs with a new project focused on changing production practices to increase plant health and production efficiency in floriculture crops.
The project will continue to explore earlier work by Vineland on reducing insect infestation at the propagative stage through early intervention practices such as dipping cuttings and will expand that focus to the development of best management practices for plant nutrition and biostimulant inoculations designed to optimize a crop’s pest resistance. Notes research team lead Rose Buitenhuis, “The principle is a universal one, but there can never be a one-size-fits-all solution, as the specific intervention, nutrient and biostimulant recipe will be very crop specific, depending on factors such as lighting requirements and nitrogen uptake.”
The project will therefore focus on the two commercially important crops of gerbera and chrysanthemum, and thrips and whiteflies as the two primary pests of economic concern.
The team (from left to right) Ashley Summerfield, Nadine Gaskell, Christine Cock and Zelda Pieterse, are sticking chrysanthemum cuttings to set up a new experiment. Missing from the picture is Taro Saito.
Although the project’s objectives can be simply stated, the multitude of factors to be considered add many layers of complexity. According to Dr. Buitenhuis, “Our research results will strive to offer economic advantages to growers, including less use of fertilizer and water and the reduced use of plant growth regulators, but at the same time our recommended practices must be compatible with standard IPM practices.”
Also to be considered are the environmental considerations and the grower’s need to reduce production costs in an increasingly completive marketplace which has them introducing an ongoing myriad of new production technologies and practices. The introduction of LED lighting technologies for instance, has been shown to improve plant growth, but there is little information available on the impact to insect populations and plant response to bio controls.
Noting that plant breeding is focused on saleability and therefore ornamental traits rather than pest resistance, it becomes the responsibility of commercial growers, aided by scientific research, to determine how they can tailor their production practices accordingly, says Dr. Sarah Jandricic. And it is filling this gap where exciting new advances utilizing biostimulants can come into play. “Currently, biostimulants are used by the floriculture sector to improve shelf life and improve plant tolerance to other stresses in the retail setting. It is a logical addition to our research project to look at the role that biostimulants play in improving plant vigour and making them less susceptible to insect damage. Although our findings are very preliminary, there is already good evidence to support our theory that use of biostimulants can also improve the efficiency and predictability of biocontrol practices.”
It is always the ultimate goal of the Vineland research team to arrive at results which can be transferred to industry. Noted Dr. Michael Brownbridge, “Moving research from the lab to the commercial greenhouse is always messy. By necessity, research environments are very controlled and sterile, and that is not the case in an active commercial greenhouse.”
The end goal is therefore taken into consideration at the very start of the project, at the research design phase. Vineland works closely with their commercial greenhouse partners to understand their planting media, growing temperatures, watering regimens, pest control strategies and more.
“Ultimately, it is our commercial greenhouse partners and not the researcher or the new product manufacturer that drives the research design process,” noted Dr. Brownbridge, adding that, “It is mostly through word-of-mouth testimonials from our greenhouse partners, on their successes and failures that other growers will adopt new technologies. They must see a benefit. The benefit is usually only incremental, but substantial enough to be a component of the larger production picture.”
Although this project is at a very early stage, the research team are anxious to share their results with the greenhouse floriculture sector on an ongoing basis. Check the links below for recent updates and research presentations and stay tuned to this website’s Coming Events column for further information on the COHA-ACHO research webinar update, tentatively scheduled for mid-February 2020. Registration will be required.
Organization: Vineland Research and Innovation Centre
Research Team:
Dr. Rose Buitenhuis, Research Scientist, Biological Control
Dr. Michael Brownbridge, Research Director, Horticultural Production Systems
Dr. Sarah Jandricic, OMAFRA, Greenhouse Floriculture Extension Specialist
Dr. Chevonne Carlow, OMAFRA, Greenhouse Floriculture Specialist
This project is part of the Accelerating Green Plant Innovation for Environmental and Economic Benefit Cluster and is funded by the Canadian Ornamental Horticulture Alliance (COHA-ACHO) and by the Government of Canada under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership’s AgriScience Program.
Welcome to COHA Connections, the official research website of the Canadian Ornamental Horticulture Alliance.
After many years of ad hoc collaboration, followed by more than 10 years of formalized cooperation enabled by Agriculture and AgriFood Canada’s (AAFC) AgriScience Cluster programming, as a sector we are working together to advance the research needs and accomplishments of Canada’s very diverse and economically important ornamental horticulture sector.
COHA Connections plays a key role in the research investment being made by sector and our partners together with the Government of Canada. Research outcomes need to be accessible to the growers and other players in the value chain who can use them. This strong communication link between industry practitioners and the research community is essential.
COHA Connections is funded jointly by COHA-ACHO and Agriculture and AgriFood Canada’s (AAFC) AgriScience Cluster component. The key objective of the website is to communicate relevant project results on the 10 research activities that have been co-funded by AAFC and our valued industry partners as part of the current cluster program.
COHA strives to be a true industry alliance that unites diverse organizations and industry sub-sectors. To live up to our name and our commitment, COHA Connections is intended to be your one-stop website for all industry-related research matters, including the research work that is ongoing by our Alliance and other industry partners. We look forward to connecting with you and welcoming you back many times!
Invasive species make up 27 per cent of total vascular plants in Canada. This contributes to an estimated cost of $2.2 billion a year for the agriculture industry through reduced crop yield, increased pest management expenses and overall market loss1. Herbicides are a critical tool for land managers battling invasive and weedy plants. Novel herbicides with new modes of action (MOA) are in great demand since invasive and weedy plants are gaining a resistance to commercial herbicides and a new MOA has not been introduced in over 30 years2. Plants remain a largely untapped resource for new agrichemicals, particularly herbicides with novel MOAs, and research and development in this area could become a priority for plant scientists globally3.
The project
Thanks to the support of Ontario Trillium Foundation’s Seed Grant, an interdisciplinary
team of researchers at Vineland Research and Innovation Centre (Vineland) investigated the
feasibility of a new approach to the control and eradication of invasive plants. They tested natural methods of removing invasive species and assessed the feasibility of using the unique natural chemistry of invasive plant biomass. The use of the invasive plant Vincetoxicum rossicum (Kleopov) Barbarich, commonly referred to as dog-strangling vine (DSV), allowed the team to uncover new information about the phytotoxic (toxic effect by a compound on plant growth) properties of invasive plants.
Vineland’s team evaluated the different chemical compounds produced by DSV
and assessed the influence those chemical compounds have on other plants to better understand how to control invasive plants and weeds.
Trial gardens play an important role in the evaluation of plant performance, prior to the release of new varieties to the trade and consumer by plant breeders. The University of Guelph’s annual trial garden event held every year in mid-August attracts an audience keen to learn more about potentially new and exciting varieties ready for release in the not-too-distant future. Retailers and landscapers in attendance are anxious to learn more about new varieties they will be able to offer to their clients. The main audience, however, are the staff of parks departments from across southern Ontario, eager to find new varieties of annuals and perennials that will perform well in their challenging urban environments.
Now a long-standing annual tradition, the Trial Garden Open House starts at the University of Guelph with a series of educational speakers, followed by a guided tour of the trial gardens, led by U of Guelph’s Rodger Tschanz. The U of G seminars and tours are always followed up by a site tour of the trial gardens at the Landscape Ontario Horticultural Centre in Milton.
Read more about the 2019 Trial Garden event, including the attendee’s top picks of annual, perennial and shrub selections.
VINELAND STATION, Ontario, October 11, 2019 –Thanks to a seed grant from Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF), an interdisciplinary team of researchers at Vineland Research and Innovation Centre (Vineland) has discovered a new approach to control and eradicate invasive plants and weeds. Vineland’s innovative solution utilizes the unique natural chemistry of invasive plants as a source of new sustainable control tool.
“This exciting discovery shows the value that Vineland Research and Innovation Centre brings to Ontario,” said Sam Oosterhoff, MPP for Niagara West. “I am proud to see how the centre collaborates with industry and community to bring forward solutions to real-world problems, while providing value for money to taxpayers. Niagara West is honoured to have this type of forward-looking research taking place in our community.”
“Using Vincetoxicum rossicum, commonly known as Dog Strangling Vine as a model system, our team is assessing whether natural plant chemistry can control invasive species threatening our natural and agricultural spaces,” said Darby McGrath, PhD, Vineland’s Research Scientist, Nursery & Landscape.
Vineland is collaborating with Curator Jon Peter and the Invasive Plant Committee at Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG) to explore some of their sites invaded by Dog-Strangling Vine and understand how these invasive plants affect soils and plant communities.
“Royal Botanical Gardens is excited to be assisting Dr. McGrath and Dr. David Liscombe and their teams at Vineland on this important research. Understanding and controlling invasive species is a high priority for us. Dog Strangling Vine in particular is a serious threat to natural habitats in our area,” said David A. Galbraith, PhD, RBG’s Head of Science.
Positive results from this project will help combat invasive species and provide new effective tools for municipalities and landowners to reclaim natural areas (recreational, agricultural and managed woodlots).
The role of external factors such as climate, weather, microclimate, etc. are well-understood in the growth and productivity of agricultural and horticultural crops, both outdoors and in controlled environments. However, the subtleties of heat regimes within plant structures and tissues remains largely unexplored. An understanding of the micro-thermic regimes in floral stems and flowers may lead to practical applications in culture, aesthetics, and perhaps disease and pest control.
The project’s objectives are:
To survey the gross anatomy and microscopic morphology of the floral stems and flowers of horticulturally important crops,
To measure the extent of microclimatic amelioration in relation to growth rates, stem elongation, blooming and floral presentation and,
To explore how microclimatic regimes within stems and flowers might be manipulated to enhance the value of commercially important ornamental crops.
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Now a long-standing annual tradition, the Trial Garden Open House starts at the University of Guelph with a series of educational speakers, followed by a guided tour of the trial gardens, led by U of Guelph’s Rodger Tschanz. The U of G seminars and tours are always followed up by a site tour of the trial gardens at the Landscape Ontario Horticultural Centre in Milton.
VINELAND STATION, Ontario, October 11, 2019 –Thanks to a seed grant from Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF), an interdisciplinary team of researchers at Vineland Research and Innovation Centre (Vineland) has discovered a new approach to control and eradicate invasive plants and weeds. Vineland’s innovative solution utilizes the unique natural chemistry of invasive plants as a source of new sustainable control tool.
Communication Materials on the Latest Research