2015 Biennial Priority Setting Workshop

The 2015 Ornamental Horticulture Workshop, held at the Hyatt Regency Schaumburg-Chicago started with an optional tour on October 6, visiting the Ball Horticulture seed treatment facility, Morton Arboretum, and three facilities of Midwest Groundcovers. At Ball, participants split into two group to tour 1) the seed storage and packaging facilities to view a machine that counts and measures seeds as fast as 2000 seeds per second and 2) the seed coating stations where naked seed is slowly coated with inert ingredients and an outer coat to facilitate automatic seeders.

In the breeding greenhouse at Morton Arboretum, the enthusiastic Joe Rothleutner is developing new trees with improved characteristics. The afternoon stop included Midwest Groundcovers headquarters, the Natural Gardens, and their primary production facilities in Virgil, IL where they clearly demonstrated a commitment to growing high quality plants of many types using the best strategies available.

During the morning of the workshop, registrant representatives presented new active ingredients and highlighted opportunities for existing products. Then, the results of the Grower & Extension Survey were presented, and participants discussed the pros and cons for conducting efficacy or crop safety research on 41 current and potential new projects across entomology, pathology and weed science. To have these discussions flow smoothly, IR-4 staff developed project sheets that summarized recently studied project and potential new projects based on the annual Grower and Extension Survey and newly received project requests. Also, new projects for each discipline were raised as potential research avenues during the workshop. The moderators for each discipline included: Cristi Palmer (Pathology), J.C. Chong (Entomology) and Tim Miller (Weed Science).

After the relative merits of each project were captured on poster-sized paper and fastened to the walls, the regions ranked projects of interest. A “Sticker Caucus” was held so that attendees could vote for the research projects IR-4 should undertake during 2016-2017. During the second morning of the workshop, the outcomes for each discipline were displayed and protocol directions were finely tuned.

After the priorities for the Ornamental Horticulture Program were finalized, the group led by Michael Braverman and Krista Coleman discussed and prioritized projects for the Biopesticide and Organic Support Program. The highest ranked projects were similar to the ones that determined at last year’s Biopesticide Workshop. In particular, there was a decision to continue the research on managing chestnut blight. The two approaches for chestnut blight management include resisitance from on oxalate oxidase gene and using a cirus to reduce the activity or the fungi that causes chestnut blight.

All in all, the 2015 Ornamental Horticulture Workshop was successful in fostering good discussion and finalizing research priorities. People who provided feedback liked the registrant presentations, networking opportunities and the flow and organization of the workshop.

For more details, please view the Agenda.