Research At Public Gardens - Increasing Scope, Impact and Recognition Through University Collaboration

In 2008, Longwood Gardens had a research objective to evaluate many of the newly developed biodegradable containers available for use in the horticulture industry.  Upon further investigation, Longwood’s research staff determined there were similar efforts taking place on biocontainers by Michael Evans at the University of Arkansas and Jeff Kuehny at Louisiana State University.  Following several conversions, the determination was made that the three institutions would collaborate to evaluate the following criteria associated with each biocontainer: wet and dry vertical, horizontal and punch strength; algal and fungal growth on container walls; water loss through container walls; amount of water required to produce a marketable crop and the interval of time between irrigations; greenhouse and field plant growth; and container biodegradability in the field and during compost production.   Specific experiments took place at one or two of the institutions while other experiments took place at all three locations.  Through a collaborative research effort many more properties of the biocontainers could be evaluated.  The power of the research results was also greatly increased by conducting certain experiments at multiple locations.  Furthermore, this collaboration has enhanced the reach of communication of the research results.  To date, this collaboration has lead to two refereed publications, six popular press articles, three abstracts, five presentations at grower meetings and one blog article.  Additionally, each one of these forms of communication recognizes the research programs at Longwood Gardens, Louisiana State University and the University of Arkansas.