Improving disease management for ornamental crops is the purpose of my program, with the emphasis on developing new information to benefit the floriculture industry of New York. Greenhouse flower businesses are often located in highly populated areas, and thus have many neighbors who are concerned with environmental safety. Increasingly, growers are challenged with the need to control diseases with minimal chemical input—and yet reliable information on cultural and biological methods of control and reduced-risk chemicals still needs to be developed for practical application. Hundreds of new crop species and cultivars are introduced annually, so that there are also many new diseases to study each year. One important new trend is that the cuttings for many vegetative annual crops are now produced off-shore, increasing the chance for introduction of exotic pathogens (e.g. the new downy mildew seen on coleus beginning in 2005) that represent a threat to US horticulture, and sometimes to US agriculture. Providing timely guidance to producers both off-shore and at home is essential for reducing disease losses and pathogen spread within the greenhouse industry. New culture methods (i.e. recirculating subirrigation in flood-floor or ebb/flood systems) designed to reduce run-off from production facilities have increased the opportunity for pathogen spread within greenhouses, and thus new control systems must be implemented to cope with these new challenges. The information that I collect through disease diagnosis, research and networking with other plant pathologists is delivered to growers, industry tradespeople and extension educators at conferences and individually. On the national level, I work closely with the Society of American Florists and the American Phytopathological Society to improve communication of disease management information. I aim to disseminate current knowledge of disease management (IPM) techniques to growers, arborists, landscape gardeners and Master Gardeners. My objectives include improving the utility of biocontrols and cultural controls for management of Pythium, Phytophthora, Fusarium and powdery and downy mildew diseases. I am currently writing an illustrated reference on diseases of herbaceous perennials.