Bill Fonteno

Bio

Departmental Assignments

• Teaching (60%)
  • HS 041 Greenhouse Crop Production – Spring
  • AGI 095H Plant Growth & Development – Fall
• Research (40%) – Hydrology of Horticultural Substrates and Urban Soils
• Director, Horticultural Substrates Laboratory

Professional Experience

• Professor Horticultural Science 1995 – Present
• Associate Professor Horticultural Science 1982 – 1995
• Assistant Professor Horticultural Science 1976 – 1982
• Research Fellow. Texas A&M Univ. 1975 – 1976
• Research Assistant, Texas A&M Univ. 1973-75

Awards and Honors

• A. H. Krezdorn Award American Society for Horticultural Science, Southern Region Award for Excellence in Doctoral Research. (1977 )
• Alex Laurie Award for most outstanding research paper published in HortScience or the Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science given by American Society for Horticultural Science. (1978 )
• Alex Laurie Award for most outstanding research paper published in HortScience or the Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science in 1990, given by the Ohio Florists Association at the International Floriculture Industry Short Course. (1990 )
• Alex Laurie Award for most outstanding research paper published in HortScience or the Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science in 1990, Presented by the Ohio Florists Association at the International Floriculture Industry Short Course. (1991 )
• Kenneth Post Award for best paper published in HortScience and the Journal of ASHS with senior author graduate student (Robert Milks) given by the Floriculture Working Group of ASHS. (Robert Milks, W.C. Fonteno, R.A. Larson, authors)

Professional and Honor Societies

• American Society for Horticultural Science
• International Society for Horticultural Science
• Phi Kappa Phi
• Phi Sigma (Biological Science)
• Pi Alpha Xi (Floriculture)
• Gamma Sigma Delta (Agriculture)

Area(s) of Expertise

Teaching and research responsibilities in floriculture with emphasis on plant-soil-water-nutrition relations of container-grown crops. Research areas include physical properties of horticultural substrates, water use and delivery systems, and computer modeling of aeration and drainage in horticultural substrates. Research and outreach efforts also include on-site nutritional monitoring and management of greenhouse crops. Director of the Horticultural Substrates Laboratory.

Publications

• A review and analysis of particle size parameters and their relationships to physical properties of growing media , SOIL SCIENCE SOCIETY OF AMERICA JOURNAL (2024)
• Advances in substrate particle characterization using dynamic image analysis compared to sieving procedure for predicting water retention properties , XXXI INTERNATIONAL HORTICULTURAL CONGRESS, IHC2022: INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES AND PRODUCTION STRATEGIES FOR SUSTAINABLE CONTROLLED ENVIRONMENT HORTICULTURE (2023)
• Particle size distribution of growing media constituents using dynamic image analysis: Parametrization and comparison to sieving , SOIL SCIENCE SOCIETY OF AMERICA JOURNAL (2023)
• Quantitative Description and Classification of Growing Media Particle Morphology through Dynamic Image Analysis , AGRICULTURE-BASEL (2023)
• A Review and Analysis of Horticultural Substrate Characterization by Sieve Analysis , HORTSCIENCE (2022)
• Particle Densities of Horticultural Substrates , HORTSCIENCE (2022)
• Quantifying the Sorptive Behavior of Traditional Horticultural Substrate Components Based on Initial Hydraulic Conditioning , HORTSCIENCE (2022)
• Exploring Substrate Water Capture in Common Greenhouse Substrates through Preconditioning and Irrigation Pulsing Techniques , AGRONOMY-BASEL (2021)
• Industrial hemp vegetative growth affected by substrate composition , III INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON GROWING MEDIA, COMPOSTING AND SUBSTRATE ANALYSIS (2021)
• The Use of Wood Fiber for Reducing Risks of Hydrophobicity in Peat-Based Substrates , AGRONOMY-BASEL (2021)

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