We are excited to have two poster presentations at the annual Plant Health meeting by the American Phytopathological Society. Postdoc Vineeta Rai and graduate student Althea Loucanides highlight their recent results, which unravel constitutive and stress-induced root exudation of secondary metabolites in response to biotic and abiotic stressors. Their work builds a foundation to understand the biochemistry of plant interactions with their biotic and abiotic environment below ground.