Sarah Strauss
Microbial communities are at the center of Sarah Strauss’ presentations during the Citrus Expo educational program. Strauss, an assistant professor of soil microbiology at the Southwest Florida Research and Education Center, will speak in both the citrus and in the vegetable and specialty crop sessions at Citrus Expo.
Citrus Seminar – An Update on Research
During Strauss’ citrus presentation, she will give updates on a couple of trials she is working on that explore the manipulation of soil microbial communities to potentially improve tree health and root growth.
Strauss will discuss the potential impact of microbial communities on tree growth, and the importance of studying these communities. She will also go over some of the difficulties when trying to manipulate the communities. “(It’s difficult) primarily because there’s still a lot of information that we still don’t understand,” Strauss says.
Additionally, Strauss will give preliminary data that she found looking at the impacts of several treatments on microbial communities.
Vegetable and Specialty Crop Seminar – A Focus on Microbial Complexities
For her vegetable and specialty crop seminar, Strauss will switch her focus to microbial communities in vegetable crops. She will discuss how manipulation of these communities can impact vegetable crops and root growth.
Strauss will spend some time focusing on the complexities of the interactions with microbial communities. “Soil microbial communities in vegetable crops are very complicated, and there are a lot of factors that are involved, so trying to manipulate them can be very complicated,” she explains.
Similar to her citrus presentation, Strauss will also present some preliminary data looking at greenhouse experiments. “(These experiments) look at adding specific organisms to the soil and whether we can see any impact of that,” she explains.
Strauss will be giving her vegetable and specialty crop presentation on Wednesday, August 15, at 3:45 p.m. Her citrus presentation will be Thursday, August 16, at 2:30 p.m.
Citrus Expo will take place August 15–16 at the Lee Civic Center in North Fort Myers, Florida. Growers will not want to miss this year’s event, so don’t wait. Click here or call 352-671-1909 to pre-register. All pre-registered growers will be automatically entered for a chance to win a John Deere gun safe courtesy of Everglades Equipment Group.
Due to a staggering amount of support, Citrus Expo is currently sold out of indoor exhibitor space, but there are outdoor booths available. If you would like to exhibit outdoors or be added to the waiting list for indoor space, please fill out a registration form.
Information about the seminar sessions is now available. Click here to view the seminar schedule. Be sure to mark your calendar for Citrus Expo’s biggest year yet! To learn more about Citrus Expo, including host hotel information, visit CitrusExpo.net.
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