pot news

**"Maryann Whitman" m*@comcast.net**

Private-Public Effort Aims to Develop Biobased Nursery Pots
By Sharon Durham
June 14, 2006

Plant pots made from farm wastes could one day be a boon to the
horticultural industry--and to the environment. The Agricultural Research
Service (ARS) and the Horticultural Research Institute (HRI) of the American
Nursery and Landscape Association are working together to create
biodegradable pots for nursery production.

ARS and HRI signed a three-year cooperative research agreement to develop
and test biobased nursery containers. ARS is the U.S. Department of
Agriculture's chief scientific research agency. HRI is a nonprofit
organization based in Washington, D.C.

ARS research associate Justin Barone, in the Environmental Management and
Byproduct Utilization Research Unit at the Henry A. Wallace Beltsville (Md.)
Agricultural Research Center, is slated to formulate the biodegradable
nursery containers. He will test the suitability of agricultural byproducts
such as poultry feathers, egg protein and lipid, milk and cheese protein,
blood protein, animal and plant lipids, polysaccharides and plant proteins
for conversion into polymeric products that can be pressed into pot shapes.

Barone will also design and build a mold of standard container dimensions to
match nursery industry standards.

ARS horticulturist Donna Fare, in the U.S. National Arboretum's Floral and
Nursery Plants Research Unit at McMinnville, Tenn., will study the effects
of the new, biobased containers on plants and determine their longevity
under nursery production conditions.

The pots will also be tested for use in composting, during which carbon
dioxide production will be monitored. The ultraviolet and weather stability
of pots during storage will also be determined.

ARS has granted exclusive license rights to HRI for products developed from
this research. HRI will solicit funds to support the research from nursery
industry companies and, later, will pass on nonexclusive rights to
interested companies. This should speed delivery of the technology to a wide
range of commercial entities.

Maryann

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