March 2020 - 8

INDUSTRY NEWS
from americanhort to you
Fungi - Small (But Mighty!)
BY JILL CALABRO, PH.D., RESEARCH AND SCIENCE DIRECTOR,
HRI AND AMERICANHORT
Fungi are so variable - from single-celled yeasts to the biggest living
organism on Earth (Armillaria ostoyae covers nearly 4 square miles in an
Oregon forest ... and is a butt rot!). Others are small but mighty, like the
artillery fungus.
Also known as the shotput fungus or the cannonball fungus, the artillery
fungus is most often found in mulch. Its Latin name, Sphaerobolus stellatus,
means star-shaped sphere thrower. Other species of Sphaerobolus have
been identified as well, including S. iowensis (Iowa-shaped sphere thrower?
Sphere thrower from Iowa?). The name alone implies that this fungus has a
colorful story to tell.
They resemble teeny tiny cups that grow in landscape mulch, about
⅛ inch in size. Their " cup " holds a mass of sticky spores called a gleba.
Water pressure builds up in the " cup " and eventually blasts the gleba out
into the world. Being sticky, the gleba sticks to the surface where it lands
and looks like a small, shiny black speck.
What's So Mighty About That?
Well, researchers documented a gleba shot as far as 18 feet long and
14 feet high. For perspective, that is equivalent to a six-foot-tall person
throwing a baseball almost two miles away and nearly 1½ miles high.
Since this fungus is prevalent in landscape mulch, homeowners with
light-colored siding often report headaches from trying to scrub scads
of tiny black spots off their home or car. If the siding is wood, spores
could germinate and slowly degrade it, if enough moisture is present.
In addition to being super sticky, the glebal mass is quite resilient,
and its job is to protect the spores within it. Research has shown that
even when the gleba is kept dry and dormant for 11 years, spores
are able to successfully germinate once exposed to ideal conditions
(moisture is key).
This is another example of a wood decay fungus. Artillery fungi prefer
mulch as a food source, since it is usually moist. The type of mulch
doesn't seem to matter. Researchers at Penn State have tested 27
different kinds of mulch, and all supported Sphaerobolus spp. growth
eventually. However, they do seem to favor the north side of houses,
which tend to have cooler temperatures and shade.
The Dark Side
New plant diseases don't come along that often; so, it's a fairly big deal
when it happens. One of the newest turf diseases is attributed to (you
guessed it!) the artillery fungus. Turns out mulch isn't the only substrate
they consume.
Back in 2010, a handful of golf courses in New Zealand, Scotland, and
the U.S. reported small dark rings that resembled fairy ring, except that
the turf was sunken within the ring. It looked as though the ring had
collapsed; thus, the name 'thatch collapse' was coined. In all cases, the
golf course had high levels of organic matter.
DÜMMEN ORANGE PARTNERS WITH PERFECT PLANTS
Dümmen Orange and Perfect Plants (formerly known as Pothos Plant)
have signed an agreement for intensive collaboration in the North
American market. The agreement grants Dümmen Orange the exclusive
sales rights for Perfect Plants' spathiphyllum genetics.
In this new partnership, Dümmen Orange will be responsible for the
sales, marketing and distribution, while Perfect Plants will coordinate
the production of tissue-cultured plants in their South African
laboratory facilities.
Several key introductions for the North American market have been
planned for this year, such as the innovative tetraploid variety 'Sweet
Catalina', which was displayed in the Dümmen Orange booth at TPIE
in January.
Mike van Schie, sales manager for Perfect Plants, said, " By joining
forces with Dümmen Orange's North American sales team, Perfect
Plants has the opportunity to significantly increase the impact for our
proprietary assortment of spathiphyllum. The entire Perfect Plants team
is looking forward to the collaboration with Dümmen Orange and the
possibilities that our partnership will create. "
Pieter Koen, product manager for tropicals at Dümmen Orange, said,
" Spathiphyllum is a great addition to our tropicals product range, which
already includes anthurium, orchids and succulents. I am confident that
the innovative Perfect Plants genetics will help us in having a great and
positive impact on the North American market.
For more information, visit www.dummenorange.com.
8 MARCH 2020 GPNMAG.COM
RESEARCHERS RECEIVE GRANT TO STUDY INDOOR LEAFY
GREENS PRODUCTION
A multi-university team of horticulturists, engineers and agricultural
economists led by Michigan State University has received a four-year
$2.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to study
indoor production of leafy greens. Industry partners have matched funding,
bringing the project total to $5.4 million.
The investigators on the grant include: Erik Runkle, Roberto Lopez and
Simone Valle de Souza of Michigan State University, Chieri Kubota of Ohio
State University, Cary Mitchell of Purdue University and Murat Kacira of
University of Arizona.
Leafy greens include commonly consumed vegetables such as lettuce,
kale and microgreens. Production challenges outdoors have led to interest
in growing these specialty crops hydroponically in controlled environments,
such as indoor farms. However, there is little information on whether this is
economically viable.
The team and its collaborators have three major goals:
* Define optimal profitability based on yield and other high-value
attributes of the plants, such as nutrition content.
* Optimize indoor environmental conditions, such as humidity, air
movement, temperature, light and carbon dioxide concentration, to
increase yield and high-value attributes.
* Encourage indoor farming stakeholders to collaborate with
academic and industry groups that are working in controlledenvironment
agriculture.
http://www.dummenorange.com http://www.GPNMAG.COM
March 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of March 2020
