{"id":3011,"date":"2026-02-06T10:13:27","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T15:13:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/lammlab\/?p=3011"},"modified":"2026-02-07T10:32:54","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T15:32:54","slug":"lamm-lab-research-presented-on-grower-needs-associated-with-soilless-substrate-systems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/lammlab\/2026\/02\/lamm-lab-research-presented-on-grower-needs-associated-with-soilless-substrate-systems\/","title":{"rendered":"Lamm Lab Research Presented on Grower Needs Associated with Soilless Substrate Systems"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0Lamm Lab\u00a0presented its work from the\u00a0Soilless Substrate Science (S3)<\/a> <\/a>Project\u00a0at the\u00a02026 Southern Region American Society for Horticultural Science Conference. The project, funded by USDA – SCRI Award #2024-51181-43290, seeks to develop and validate sustainable, peat-reduced substrate systems that maintain crop performance while improving environmental and economic resilience, as growers transition away from traditional peat-based substrates and explore alternative materials. The Lamm Lab leads the\u00a0social science and communication research component.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of this effort,\u00a0Michael Batame\u00a0<\/a>presented research titled Identifying Specialty Crop Growers\u2019 Experiences, Challenges, and Research Needs Associated with Substrate Transitions<\/em> on behalf of the author team including Dennis Baffour-Awuah<\/a>, Dr. Alexa Lamm<\/a>, Dr. Kevan Lamm<\/a>, Dr, Jeb Fields<\/a>, Dr. Guil Signorini<\/a>, and Dr. James Altland<\/a>. The study explored how U.S. specialty crop growers view peat and peat-alternative substrates, the effects of transitioning from peat, and the research and communication needs to support adoption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Michael<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Michael<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Using a mixed-methods approach that incorporated an online survey and focus group discussions with nursery and greenhouse growers in Florida and Ohio, the research examined how growers make decisions regarding alternative substrates like pine bark, coir, wood fiber, and other locally available materials. The results indicated that although growers are aware of the environmental benefits of decreasing peat use, their willingness to adopt depends heavily on economic viability, material accessibility, and demonstrated performance in real production settings. The growers stressed the importance of research showing how these alternative substrates perform in real nursery environments, along with clear, practical evidence that they can sustain crop quality without increasing costs. The study also pointed out the need for effective extension communication, with growers favoring practical, visual, and easily accessible format such as short videos, podcasts, and demonstrations, to help learning and decision-making during substrate shifts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, the findings highlighted the need to align scientific research with growers\u2019 operational needs and communication preferences to facilitate sustainable shifts in soilless substrates in crop production.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0Lamm Lab\u00a0presented its work from the\u00a0Soilless Substrate Science (S3) Project\u00a0at the\u00a02026 Southern Region American Society for Horticultural Science Conference. The project, funded by USDA – SCRI Award #2024-51181-43290, seeks to develop and validate sustainable, peat-reduced substrate systems that maintain crop performance while improving environmental and economic resilience, as growers transition away from traditional peat-based substrates […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1005,"featured_media":3062,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,23,29,59,60],"tags":[10,62,67,36],"class_list":["post-3011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agproduction","category-environment","category-extension","category-plant-production","category-scicomm","tag-lamm","tag-baffour-awuah","tag-batame-research","tag-lamm-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/lammlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/lammlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/lammlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/lammlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1005"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/lammlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3011"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/lammlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3011\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3120,"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/lammlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3011\/revisions\/3120"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/lammlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/lammlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/lammlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/lammlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}