This episode is part of our “What Plants Crave” series, where Dr. Sabeh speaks with growers, researchers, engineers, and manufacturers who work in controlled environment agriculture, to get their insights about the direction of the industry, and of course, what exactly it is that plants crave.

This week’s episode features John Ertle. John Ertle is a Plant Physiologist at PP Systems, specializing in the development and application of portable photosynthesis measurement instruments for studying leaf-level gas exchange. In his role, he not only conducts plant science research within the company but also collaborates with academic and industry partners to enhance research outcomes.

John's prior research initiatives include formulating methods to address lettuce tipburn, a prevalent nutrient deficiency in vertically farmed lettuce that impacts its marketability and growth. Additionally, he developed thermal time models to assess the chilling tolerance of grafted watermelon seedlings, aiding their safe transportation to open-field growers.

John earned his PhD in Horticulture and Crop Science from The Ohio State University in 2023, where he studied under Dr. Chieri Kubota. He received his MS in the same field in Dr. Kubota’s lab in 2020 and holds a BS in Biology from the University of Akron, obtained in 2017.