Research

Sustainable Fertilizers for Vertical Farming

Currently, vertical farming is heavily dependent on the use of synthetic fertilizers. We are investigating the utilities of food waste fertilizer and microorganisms as sustainable alternatives to chemical synthetic fertilizer for vertical farming to create a circular economy from food waste to food.

Indoor Strawberry Production

Although there continues to be increasing interest in producing diverse food crops through vertical farming, most indoor vertical farming studies have been performed on leafy vegetables. There are still gaps in knowledge in how the growing conditions of vertical farming can be optimized to elicit desirable results on a range of food crops. We are currently investigating how lighting control can improve strawberry growth and fruit yield to generate research-based vertical farming information beyond the leafy greens.

Industrial Hemp Transplant Production

While industrial hemp is a high-value crop with many uses, including fiber, fuel, and food, Arizona growers face many challenges of growing industrial hemp, including poor seed germination and seedling establishment. We work with local industrial hemp grower to improve the germination and seedling establishment, specifically looking at the effects of soil types, nutrient concentrations, and irrigation.

Luminescent Greenhouse Film Applications

Using luminescent greenhouse films enables to manipulate the solar radiation spectrum inside the greenhouse. In collaboration with UbiQD, we used the quantum dot (QD) luminescent greenhouse film that converts a portion of ultraviolet and blue into green and red light and investigated how the subsequent spectral conversion influences plant growth and fruit yield of strawberries under two daily light integrals compared to a transparent greenhouse film.