Learning Opportunity: Soil Science for Sustainable Cut Flower Production

American Floral Endowment‘s upcoming webinar, scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026, as part of its ongoing Grow Pro series, will cover the importance of healthy soil as the foundation of successful and sustainable cut flower production. Topics of the webinar will include:

• How soil biological, chemical, and physical properties affect crop performance
• Key soil science principles to support strong plant growth, nutrient efficiency, and long-term soil health
• Practical insights in building resilient production systems from the ground up

The featured speaker for “Soil Science for Sustainable Cut Flower Production” is Dr. Melanie Stock, an Associate Professor and Urban & Small Farms Extension Specialist at Utah State University. Her work focuses on adapting cut flower crops for Utah, from basic cultivation methods to nutrient management and physics-based season extension, overwintering, and water-use efficiency. In addition to cut flowers, her teaching interests include high tunnels, backyard livestock, manure management, and soil fertility.

Willing participants can register for the webinar directly through Zoom or by visiting the Grow Pro Webinar series page on the AFE website, where information on future webinars in the series can be found. Recordings of all past Grow Pro webinars can also be found on the AFE’s YouTube channel.