Babita Lamichhane at Oklahoma State University researches soilless substrates

Babita Lamichhane is looking in unlikely places like breweries and tree trimmings to source the next generation of soilless substrates. As a graduate research assistant pursuing her master’s degree at Oklahoma State University, this Nepal native is exploring how biochar from renewable resources could revolutionize the greenhouse industry.

Lamichhane came to the United States in 2022 to pursue a Ph.D. in ornamental horticulture. After following her passion halfway around the world, she is excited to share her research, making her discoveries more practical for growers to apply in the greenhouse.

Chasing her passion

Lamichhane grew up in a farming community in Nepal, where her family has grown vegetables and flowers for generations. Although she initially considered a medical career, Lamichhane decided to follow after her sister, who pursued an education in agribusiness. After earning her bachelor’s degree in agriculture from Nepal’s Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science in 2020, Lamichhane applied for master’s programs in the United States and landed at Oklahoma State University.

“My parents are supportive because they know education is important,” she says. “They take pride in seeing us, the next generation, continuing in agriculture because we’ve been farming for a long time.”

Despite her family’s strong support, Lamichhane has faced plenty of skepticism from others about her career path, both back home and here in the U.S.

“If I say I’m doing research on ornamental greenhouse potted plant production, people think it’s just a hobby,” she says. “They don’t know there are different aspects of horticulture; they think it’s just manual work and not scientific.”

By taking a serious approach to her studies and sharing her research directly with growers and farmers, Lamichhane hopes to combat these misconceptions by making a noticeable difference in the industry.

“I want to work as a bridge between the farmers and the researchers,” she says. “My future goal is producing a new type of soilless substrate that we can use for greenhouse production.”

Balancing economic and environmental concerns

The more she learns about controlled environment agriculture, the more Lamichhane sees trends focused on protecting the environment outside of the greenhouse. “Everything we’re trying to do is eco-friendly,” she says.

In the search for more options for substrates, Lamichhane and other researchers at OSU are looking to solve multiple problems — for example, creating biochar by sourcing materials from waste or from invasive species — in a way that would be cost-effective for growers.

“The research is focused on eco-friendly production, but if we just focus on eco-friendly, it might be a challenge from the economic perspective, because organic products can be expensive,” Lamichhane says. “If we can do eco-friendly in a cheaper way, it will be a good opportunity for the future of the industry.”

With the goal of balancing environmental and economic concerns, Lamichhane is exploring biomass waste products to produce biochar as a potential alternative to other soilless substrates, like peat moss. Her research paper published last year in Horticulturae focused on biochar produced from eastern red cedar — an invasive species in the Great Plains — to supplement potted geranium and petunia production.

“Instead of buying things, I’m trying to use free waste products, like utility mulch from tree service companies and spent grain from the brewery industry, to figure out if we can replace peat moss,” she says. “It was interesting to see that the waste products that people normally throw away can be a good source of nitrogen for growing plants.”

Implementing innovation

As exciting as her research has been, Lamichhane says that “there’s still a gap between the research and its practical application in daily use.”

Committed to connecting both sides of the industry, she has been presenting her findings not only at industry conferences but also to master gardening groups through the local extension office.

It’s critical “to let farmers and growers know that they can do this, too,” she says. “It’s not only for scientific researchers.”

Lamichhane understands the importance of collaboration in bringing research into the greenhouse.

“We can’t only depend on one sector. We need the connection between different fields,” she says.

She collaborated with OSU’s engineering department to design the double-barrel system used to produce biochar for her research and partnered with economic researchers to assess the financial viability of the alternatives she studied.

“Every part of science is connected, so collaboration is the most important thing,” she says.

Lamichhane’s advice for other students pursuing horticulture careers is to “follow your curiosity,” she says.

“Once you step into the field, you’ll find different branches of the horticulture sector brimming with potential far beyond a hobby,” she added. “Don’t underestimate the power of plants to change the world.”

Brooke Bilyj owns and operates Bantamedia, a national award-winning content, PR and SEO firm based in Cleveland. She is a frequent contributor to GIE Media’s horticulture publications.