The American Floral Endowment (AFE) has announced its 2026–2027 research funding, supporting 21 research projects at 15 universities and institutions with a total investment of $718,160 through AFE’s research funds. These projects address pressing challenges in floriculture and are intended to give growers practical, research-based solutions for the future.
“Research is one of the most powerful investments we can make in the future of floriculture,” said Laura Barth, AFE Research Director. “We’re proud to support projects that not only advance scientific knowledge, but also provide growers with practical tools and solutions they can put to work in their operations.”
AFE administers several named research funds, each created to support innovation in floriculture, including the American Floral Endowment Research Fund, the Fred C. Gloeckner Foundation Research Fund, the Thrips and Botrytis Research Fund, the Gus Poesch Research Fund at The Ohio State University, the Joseph H. Hill Memorial Research Fund, and the Christian B. Nissen Research Fund.
In the area of disease management, Dr. Steven Jeffers and Linus Schmitz of Clemson University are continuing a Fred C. Gloeckner-funded project exploring the plasticity of mefenoxam resistance in Phytophthora nicotianae from floriculture crops, aiming to determine whether mefenoxam-resistant isolates from annual vinca, petunia, and lavender are also resistant to other commonly applied fungicides, and to investigate whether such resistance can be readily gained or lost under both laboratory and greenhouse conditions.
Dr. Cora Kenderline of Meredith College, also supported by the Gloeckner fund, is examining the resident microbiome of greenhouse-grown lavender as a source of bacterial biological control agents against Phytophthora nicotianae, with plans to isolate and characterize bacteria from lavender rhizospheres and roots, screen isolates for antagonistic activity against the pathogen, and evaluate the efficacy of the most promising isolates and multi-strain consortia in reducing disease incidence and severity.
Dr. Ana Maria Pastrana Leon of the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources is continuing an AFE-funded project assessing biocontrol and chemical strategies for managing Phytophthora species in commercial floriculture production, with goals that include characterizing key pathogenic species affecting California crops, confirming their pathogenicity, evaluating biological and synthetic fungicides against them, quantifying fungicide effectiveness using qPCR, and sharing findings with stakeholders through bilingual publications and outreach.
Dr. Jason Slot of The Ohio State University, supported by the Gus Poesch Research Fund, is working to advance sustainable, non-chemical disease management for cut flower farming by defining the conditions needed for effective anaerobic soil disinfestation and comparing its performance to soil steaming in suppressing soilborne pathogens, while also assessing impacts on soil health in high tunnel systems.
Dr. Mary Wildermuth of the University of California, Berkeley, continuing an AFE-funded project, is developing an RNAi biocontrol product against powdery mildew for floriculture, with a focus on identifying target genes that may also be effective against downy mildew in roses.
Dr. David Zlesak of the University of Wisconsin, River Falls, supported by the Gloeckner fund, is using BSA-Seq to map and develop PACE markers for a novel rose black spot resistance found in the cultivar ‘Lakeshore Louise,’ with the goal of validating and sharing linked markers and releasing resistant hybrids as germplasm for breeders to use freely.
In insect management, Dr. Rose Buitenhuis of the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre is continuing a three-year Thrips and Botrytis-funded project to develop sustainable long-term solutions for managing the invasive tropical pest Thrips parvispinus, taking a systems approach that investigates multiple integrated pest management strategies.
Dr. Christian Nansen of UC Davis is continuing an AFE-funded project on innovative, three-tiered management of western flower thrips in ornamental greenhouse production, integrating a robotic rail system for releasing predatory mites, customized LED lighting, and optimized organic insecticide formulations combined with plasma-activated water.
Dr. Margaret Skinner of the University of Vermont is continuing Thrips and Botrytis-funded work refining UV-C light application for thrips management, with plans to improve the design of an automated UV-C device called the Dome, test its efficacy in reducing western flower thrips populations and reproduction on three ornamental species, and assess the effects of UV-C exposure on the plants themselves.
Dr. Bin Wu of Auburn University, supported by the Gloeckner fund, is studying ways to improve the marketability of ornamental hibiscus by rapidly suppressing feeding and optimizing treatment timing against the two-spotted cotton leafhopper, quantifying cultivar-level feeding risk and marketability loss, determining how long damaging feeding can occur before visible symptoms appear, and comparing drench and foliar treatment timings to identify programs that preserve ornamental quality.
In nutrition and water management, Dr. Tom Fernandez of Michigan State University is continuing an AFE-funded project on bioreactors for reducing agrochemicals in agricultural production water, aiming to determine optimal hydraulic retention times and oxidation-reduction conditions for pesticide remediation and nutrient control in return flood-floor irrigation at commercial scale, while also studying the microbiome dynamics responsible for that remediation.
Dr. Brian Whipker of North Carolina State University, supported by the Gloeckner fund, is developing smart nutrient diagnostic tools for hydrangeas, with plans to expand leaf tissue interpretation standards, build a machine learning algorithm for automated diagnostic interpretation, incorporate hydrangeas into a web-based diagnostic app being developed under a separate AFE grant, publish revised nutrient interpretation standards, and add the resulting values to a leaf tissue database for future use.
Dr. Brian Jackson of North Carolina State University is continuing an AFE-funded project on floriculture production practices in peat-reduced substrates, intended to provide growers with data on crop management strategies that can be implemented immediately to improve production efficiency, reduce crop losses, and improve quality while relying on more economical and sustainable peat alternatives.
In breeding and genetics, Dr. Mason McNair of Michigan State University, supported by the Gloeckner fund, is working on overcoming challenges in developing ornamental cultivars of Asclepias, inducing whole-genome duplication in two species to evaluate whether tetraploids can enhance floral and vegetative traits, developing controlled hybrid populations for quantitative-trait loci analysis, and compiling the findings into an accessible guide to Asclepias breeding that will include pollination protocols, phenotyping workflows, and trait-inheritance summaries.
Dr. Oscar Riera-Lizarazu of Texas A&M University, with AFE support, is generating high-quality genome sequences of rose lines carrying major resistance loci for rose rosette disease and black spot, aiming to enable identification of resistance genes and support the development of improved, disease-resistant rose cultivars.
Dr. Xingbo Wu of the University of Florida and Yu Ma of The Ohio State University, also with AFE support, are working to enhance bacterial blight resistance in Pelargonium through germplasm screening and molecular tool development, seeking to create the first molecular resources for breeding blight-resistant cultivars while generating knowledge with broader applications for disease resistance, stress resilience, and postharvest shelf-life.
In post-production research, Dr. John Dole of North Carolina State University, with AFE support, is working to validate hyperspectral and multispectral imaging technologies for the rapid, early detection of Botrytis-infected flowers in cut roses after harvest but before shipping, with the goal of determining the reliability of these methods across cultivars and production environments so infected stems can be removed before symptoms become visible.
Dr. Dole is also leading a project, supported by AFE, the Joseph H. Hill Memorial Research Fund, and the Christian B. Nissen Research Fund, to develop rapid, non-destructive methods for assessing postharvest quality in chrysanthemums using hyperspectral and multispectral imaging, identifying key wavelengths associated with water status, carbohydrate status, and disease presence in order to support real-time quality monitoring and more consistent delivery of high-quality flowers.
In production technology and protocols, Dr. Michelle Jones of The Ohio State University, with AFE support, is working to improve fertilizer nutrient use efficiency and plant health through novel plant growth-promoting bacteria, aiming to determine how much fertilizer use can be reduced and identify the most effective application methods for producing high-quality ornamental crops.
Dr. Ariana Torres of Purdue University, supported by the Gloeckner fund, is developing a HortCalculator for cut flowers, planning to validate the economics of production by collecting a year of financial data from six to eight farms comparing open-field and high tunnel systems, build new tools to help growers evaluate high tunnel investments including return on investment and cost-share opportunities, create publicly available economic benchmarks for production costs and profitability, and deliver results through field days and webinars to more than one hundred growers.
Dr. Brian Whipker of North Carolina State University is continuing an AFE-funded project called Putting Floriculture A.I. to Work, aimed at expanding leaf tissue standards for several major floriculture species, developing an automated AI interpretation algorithm for poinsettias, geraniums, New Guinea impatiens, petunia, and gerbera, and creating a web-based diagnostic app that allows growers to input lab results and receive interpretations and recommendations.
Notifications for research funding are sent after the first review, completed by October 1st, with final selections made by January 15th. Learn more about the application and apply here.
