Advances in protected cultivation of ornamentals

Description

The ornamentals industry continues to incorporate scientific and technological advances to adapt to the challenges of a changing marketplace and societal demands. The advent of LED technology has created new and unique opportunities for growing plants. Vertical propagation systems and the ability to precisely control the light spectra have the potential to revolutionize the industry in the coming years. Labor costs and availability have driven the relocation of production tasks, such as sticking unrooted cuttings, to new geographic locations. Labor issues have also spurred the engineering of automated and robotic systems to improve production efficiencies. The drive to reduce the industry’s dependency on synthetic pesticides, non-renewable resources, and plastics has generated the exploration of alternative production techniques and materials, some of which have become extremely successful. This chapter will explore these recent advances as well as the future directions of this dynamic industry.

Table of contents

1 Introduction 2 Light-emitting diode (LED) lighting systems 3 Manipulation of plant growth and development 4 Sustainable practices and renewable inputs 5 Case study: propagation of ornamentals in a vertical propagation area 6 Conclusion and future trends 7 Where to look for further information 8 References