Reducing the use of water and plastics in nursery production can have a large impact on the sustainability of a nursery operation. Container-grown woody ornamentals were irrigated at four different levels based on daily water use (DWU) to study the impact on plant growth, leachate electrical conductivity, pH, runoff water volume and nutrient loss. For all taxa, final growth index, leachate electrical conductivity (EC), pH, runoff water volume, runoff NO 3- and PO43- concentration were similar under all treatments. Water runoff volume and nutrient loss were much lower than the conventional nursery irrigation volume used by Warsaw et al., 2009. Alternative containers were evaluated to compare water use, plant growth, leachate EC, pH, root zone temperature and container physical properties and biodegradability compared to conventional plastic containers. Container type did not affect final plant growth index, leachate EC or pH. The seasonal mean substrate temperature in all alternative containers was lower than that of plastic containers. Paper fiber containers used more water than plastic containers in 2011; however plastic containers had the greater water use than alternative containers in 2012. All alternative containers tested passed the germination tests for biodegradability according to ASTM D6868, 6400 and D5338. Alternative containers tested were not proven to be biodegradable according to the ASTM D 5338 standard. -- Abstract.
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