Research Interests

Applied research for the commercial greenhouse industry, including

Directing the UNH Young Plant Research Center, which is an industry-driven research program for nutrition, plant health, and genetics for the production, propagation, and shipping of young plant material.
Media-pH and micronutrient management, including understanding how factors drive pH changes over time and correction of pH-related problems.
Computer decision-support systems for growers, to help to optimize growing conditions, and to consistently and profitably achieve high-quality crops in time for target sales periods. These tools allow graphical tracking of plant height, flower development, nutrient, or pest levels over time.

M.S. graduate students:

Amy Douglas: determine sexual compatibility between Nolana species.
Andrea Quintana: Studies of flower color in Anagallis monelli.
Amy Bestic: Determining micro nutrient concentrations within soil-less media.
Kate Santos: Optimizing nutrition during rooting of cuttings

Research funding for my program has been provided by

Grower organizations (American Floral Endowment, FIRST, New England Greenhouse Conference Research Fund, and the New Hampshire Plant Growers Association)
Numerous private companies
The Anna and Raymond Tuttle Environmental Horticulture Fund
The UNH Agricultural Research Station

On this page, I have included some of my abstracts that show examples of published or submitted articles on different aspects of my research program. For less technical information, please go to the Grower Tools section of my web site.

Research abstracts: