Arkansas Horticulture Newsletter
Volume 10, Number 1, 2006.
- Alumni, Friends, and Service Honored
- International Internships Awarded to Undergraduates
- Recruiting High Priority
- Pea and Spinach Varieties Released by U of A
- Search Initiated for Extension Turfgrass Specialist
- Arkansas Students Bring Home the Cup!
- Published Paper Wins Award
- Scholarship Endowment Completed Ahead of Schedule!
- Hort Club Moves into Spring after Busy Fall
- Fruit Program Honored
- Faculty, Staff and Student Notes
Alumni, Friends, and Service Honored
Awards for the Department's Distinguished Alumni, Friend and Service, were presented at a reception in October at Carnal Hall on the University of Arkansas campus.
Honored at the ninth annual awards reception were Mark Valdez of Professional Turf Products, Cecil Bittle, Hazel Reed and Abbas Shirazi.
Dr. Hazell Reed and Dr. Abbas Shirazi received the 2005 Distinguished Alumni Awards. Professional Turf Products received the Distinguished Friend Award and Cecil Bittle of Hope received the Distinguished Service Award.
Dr. Reed, of Dover, Delaware, is Senior Administrator for Research and Federal Relations at Delaware State University. He is also professor of plant science and natural resources. Reed has served as Dean of the School of Graduate Studies and Research at Delaware State. Prior to being at Delaware State, he served as Vice Chancellor International Affairs/Title XII Officer at U of A Pine Bluff and also served as Dean of the School of Agriculture, Home Economics and Technology. He earned his doctoral degree in Plant Science/Horticulture in 1983 from the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences. His bachelor's degree was earned from Arkansas Tuil A.M. & N. College which is now U of A Pine Bluff. He earned his master's degree at Pennsylvania State University. Reed was introduced and presented his award by Dr. Teddy Morelock.
Dr. Shirazi is a research horticulturist at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois and adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois, Champagne-Urbana. In his introduction of Dr. Shirazi, Dr. Al Einert said that a most noteworthy accomplishment of Abbas Shirazi was the establishment of the Urban Horticulture Research Laboratory at the Morton Arboretum, in 1997. He added, "I believe Abbas Shirazi is an outstanding "ambassador" of the Department at the University of Arkansas." After earning his undergraduate degree in Horticulture at the U of A in 1979, he earned his master's and doctoral degrees in Horticulture at Oregon State University.
Professional Turf Products (PTP) sponsors a College Support System. Under this program Professional Turf Products and Toro "lease" four pieces of equipment to the turfgrass program for a year. According to Dr. Doug Karcher, "this equipment is critical in maintaining our turf research facilities. This is a zero dollar lease. At the end of each lease PTP picks up the used equipment and replaces it with brand new equipment", He added, "this is very nice for us since we are constantly working with new equipment which rarely needs repair. We are in the fifth year of this program. We would not be able to have our current research facilities without this program." Karcher introduced Mark Valdez of Dallas who was present to accept the award. Along with the University of Arkansas, Pennsylvania State University, Ohio State and Michigan State are also on this program.
Dr. Joe McFerran introduced Cecil Bittle and presented him vith the second Distinguished Service Award. After receiving his undergraduate degree, Bittle taught Vocational Agriculture for four years at Imboden. While working on his masters degree, he worked for the University of Arkansas College of Agriculture. After earning his M.S., Bittle served as director of the Southwest Research and Extension Center at Hope until he retired in l977. After receiving his award, Bittle stated, "I did what I wanted to do and never dreamed I would get an award for it."
This year's reception was the ninth year that the Department has recognized contributions to the field of horticulture. Honored in the past as distinguished alumni are Randy Woodson, Justin Morris, Marilyn Ligon, Jerry Brown, Warren Barham, James N. Moore, Daryl Revelle, Henry Bowmen, Stan McDaniel, Mitch Spanel, Joe McFerran, Charles Hall, Leonard Pike, Tina Shelby and Phoebe Stephens. Distinguished friends include Janet Mitchener, Russell Black, Gerber Products Company, Allen Canning Company, Roger Gravis, H.L. Hembree, and Bob and Marilyn Bogle. Elbert Baker was the recipient of the first Distinguished Service Award.
International Internships Awarded to Undergraduates
Department Head David Hensley is visiting with Amanda Moscoso and Mallory Mounce, recipients of the summer intern fellowships at the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh
The Department of Horticulture, through a grant from the Stanley Smith Horticultural Trust, has awarded fellowships to Mallory Mounce and Amanda Moscoso. These fellowships will support summer internships for Mounce and Moscoso at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) in Edinburgh, Scotland. Intern fellowships were awarded on a competitive basis to provide funding toward transportation, living expenses, and a stipend upon successful completion of the internship program. The approximate value of the fellowship is $8,000 per student.
The RBGE is one of the foremost botanic gardens in the world. Interns will be under the direction of Mr. Leigh Morris, Head of Education, RBGE, and will have the opportunity to work in several areas of the garden and to develop a special project of their own.
Mounce, a sophomore from Prairie Grove, is a horticulture management and production major. Moscoso, a senior from Mountain Home, is also a horticulture management and production major.
Recruiting High Priority
Recruiting high quality students is a continuous goal for the department. Dr. Doug Karcher, chair of the department recruiting committee, has completed an agreement with Richland Community College (RCC) in Piano, Texas. This agreement, called a 2 plus 2 program, allows RCC students to complete an Associates Degree at RCC in two years and then transfer to Fayetteville to complete a BS in Horticulture, Landscape and Turf Sciences in two additional years. Karcher said, "We chose Richland Community College because of its strong horticulture program and student enrollment. Richland teaches many courses that will transfer to the U of A for credit and its relatively close proximity to the University of Arkansas offers an unique opportunity." Dr. Mike Evans pioneered contact with Richland Community College.
Golf course superintendents, landscape managers, industry sales people and extension specialists gathered at the U of A Agricultural Experiment Station for the Turf Field Day. Dr. Mike Richardson is pictured discussing a moss control study with approximately 60 attendees of the Field Day.
Pea and Spinach Varieties Released by U of A
The University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture has released two southernpeas, a cowpea, and two spinach varieties for home garden and commercial use.
According to Dr. Teddy Morelock, U of A vegetable breeder, the new southernpeas, "Elegance" and "Ark95-348", are well suited for the canning industry gardens, and fresh markets. The University of Arkansas has been involved in varietal development of southernpeas for more than 50 years.
"Elegance" is a cream pea that performed well in the southern cooperative trial. It has an upright bush habit with concentrated pod set and is resistant to root knot nematode. The seeds are medium sized and produce a high quality canned product in addition to being an excellent fresh market type. "Ark 95-348" is a hybrid out of "Chinese Red" and also performed well in the southern cooperative trials. In trials at the University of Arkansas Vegetable Substation at Kibler, it produced a 30 percent higher yield than industry standard varieties.
"Top Pick Pinkeye" is the name of the newly released cowpea. It has a red pod rather than a purple pod. It is an upright bush type with a concentrated pod set. According to Morelock, "Top Pick Pinkeye" yielded well in different types of environments.
Dr. Teddy Morelock, second from the right, shows spinach variety test plots to participants at the National Spinach Conference during a tour of the Vegetable Substation at Kibler in November. Two new spinach varieties are being released from Morelock's breeding program.
The two new spinach varieties, "Evergreen" and "F415", are the latest developments of a breeding program aimed at producing marketable crops with resistance to white rust, a severe disease endemic to states east of the Rocky Mountains. "Spinach is highly nutritious and is increasing in popularity more rapidly than any other salad crop," Morelock said. "White rust can cause serious economic loss to growers, shippers and processors. A combination of genetic resistance and fungicides is the most effective defense to insure production stability of a high quality product."
"Evergreen" is a slow growing, dark green semi Savoy (crinkly texture) spinach that exhibits good white rust resistance. According to Morelock it is not long standing and should not be used for spring production in Arkansas and Oklahoma. "F4l5" is an upright, dark green, flat leaf spinach that has a good level of white rust resistance. It is a processing type well suited to Arkansas production areas.
The U of A has released nine varieties of the southernpea, the first being released in the 1980's. Five varieties of spinach have been released since 1987. Morelock began his vegetable research program at the U of A in 1974 with work on green beans.
Search Initiated for Extension Turfgrass Specialist
A search has been initiated to fill the recently created Extension Turfgrass Specialist position. This new position will serve a large and very diversified audience including golf courses, sport turf, producers, lawn and landscape maintenance companies, and homeowners. David Hensley, Department Head said, "This position will have a tremendous impact on the safety and quality of public and school sport turf facilities and help sod producers improve profitability." He added, "the person hired for this position will work very closely with our teaching-research turf people and other extension specialists. The position is available March 1, 2006.
Arkansas Students Bring Home the Cup!
Students from Tennessee, left and Arkansas, right, pose with the travelling Tenne-Ark Turf Cup. The travelling Cup is a golf green cup cutter with one handle painted orange and one handle painted red. The winning team is to paint the entire handle in its colors.
Roger Gravis, longtime friend and supporter of the Arkansas turfgrass program and owner of Quail Valley Farms, Inc., hosted both teams at his home in Little Rock after the match.
University of Arkansas turfgrass students brought home the trophy from the 2nd Annual TenneArk Turf Cup. Five turfgrass management students, chosen from a qualifying match held at Favetteville Country Club, traveled to Little Rock to compete for the trophy. Arkansas won four of the five matches played at The Country Club of Little Rock. Students participating were Jonathan Tuck, Mark Brown, Scott McVey, Kyle Bunney, and Jay Richards. They were accompanied to Little Rock by Mike Richardson, turfgrass professor. Last year's inaugural match, played at The Legends Gold Club in Franklin, Tennessee, was a tie.
Published Paper Wins Award
A paper coauthored by Dr. Curt Rom was elected for the Shepard Award as the best published research contribution to the Journal of the American Pomological Society 2004. The paper is titled "Eight Year Performance for 19 Peach Rootstocks at 20 Locations in North America". According to Rom, the research of the University of Arkansas, done at Clarksville, was a component of the paper. Rom said, "Others who contributed significantly to this publication were our research staff, specifically Ms. Kenda Woodburn, the project technician who collected all of the data for the plot, and Dan Chapman who managed the trial at the Fruit Research Sunstation." He added, "I am very grateful for their support of our tree fruit research program and the quality of their work is reflected in the quality of the paper as indicated by its award selection".
Scholarship Endowment Completed Ahead of Schedule!
Bentonville Garden Club members visited with representatives of the University of Arkansas to present a check to complete a $25,000 scholarship endowment for undergraduate students majoring in horticulture at the U of A. Pictured from left are Mark Power, Marilyn Bogle, Sandy Edwards, Curt Rom and Cynthia Coughlin.
When the Bentonville Garden initiated the "Bentonville Garden Club Endowed Scholarship" in July of 2004, the goal was to have it fully endowed in 2007. It was announced at the Club's annual Christmas luncheon and auction that the scholarship endowment is complete. Celebrity horticulturist P. Allen Smith donated a tour of his little Rock garden for the club's scholarship endowment project. Smith is the host of "P. Allen Smith Gardens" on network television, "P. Allen Smith's Garden home" on public television, and author of best-seller gardening books. He is a Little Rock native and current resident. The tour donation brought in $15,000 which helped to complete the endowment ahead of schedule.
Investment earnings from the endowment will provide an annual renewable scholarship of $1,500 to $2,000 starting in 2007.
The Bentonville Garden Club was founded in 1948. The club has 50 members and is active in community beautification, youth education and gardening therapy for nursing home residents.
Bentonville Garden Club members Marilyn Bogle and Cynthia Coughlin, president of the Club, visited with U of A representatives Mark Power, Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences development director, Sandy Edwards, associate vice chancellor for development, and Curt Rom, horticulture professor to present the check.
Hort Club Moves into Spring after Busy Fall
Hort Club member Gabriel Allen works with Craig Andersen measuring and weighing pumpkins. The Club harvested and sold Andersen's pumpkins this fall as a fund raiser.
April 22 is the date set for the Horticulture Club Plant Sale to be held at the horticulture farm at the Agricultural Experiment Station. Club members are responsible for the production, care and sale of hundreds of plants that will generate income for the club. Members who work on the sale receive points to be redeemed for book or travel scholarships.
Ashley Brock, member of the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks Education Committee spoke to the Club in the fall about volunteer opportunities at the Garden.
This year's club officers are: President, DeAnna Wright-Rains; Vice President, Brock Pruett; secretary Marie Golbski; newsletter editor, Mallory Mounce; scrapbook/historian, Ananda Moscoso; greenhouse manager, Gabe Allen.
The purpose of the club is for students to participate in activities which further their horticultural education through education and social activities. The club is open to any student or member of the University community and has no dues.
Fruit Program Honored
The General Assembly passed a concurrent resolution recognizing the fruit breeding program at the University of Arkansas. Dr. Milo Shult, Vice President for Agriculture, second from right, presented the Resolution to Dr. John Clark, U of A fruitbreeder, Dr. James N. Moore. Distinguished Professor Emeritus, and Dan Chapman, Director of the Clarksville Fruit Substation.
Faculty, Staff and Student Notes
Doug Karcher presented a seminar to the Agronomy Department at the University of Padova in Italy. The seminar was titled "Turfgrass Research in Arkansas". Karcher also worked with University of Padova scientist, Stefano Macolino, to set up use of digital image analysis techniques to evaluate the turf plots in his research. These techniques were developed by the University of Arkansas turf research program.
John R. Clark presented "New Trends in Blackberry Breeding" at the Ninth International Rubus and Ribes Symposium in Pucon Chile. He also presented "Blackberry Breeding Progress at the University of Arkansas: Progress and Prospects" at a meeting of small fruit growers in Neuquen, Patagonia, Argentina. While in South America he visited U of A fruit cultivar licensees in Chile and Argentina.
Graduate students working on master's degrees new to the department this school year are Hallie Dodson, working with Dr. Teddy Morelock; Chris Stiegler and Ryan Rolfe working with Dr. Mike Richardson; Andy Wycislo, working with Dr. John Clark; John Kauffman and Josh Summerford, working with Dr. Doug Karcher. Johann Buck is working on a Ph.D. with Dr. Mike Evans.
Adjunct Professor Dr. Paolo Sambo from the University of Padova in Italy, visited the department in February to work with Dr. Mike Evans on cooperative research projects. Dr. Sambo gave a seminar "Organic Agriculture in Italy - Two Sides of the Coin". He is also a member of Johann Buck's PhD committee.
Attending the February meeting of the Southern Region American Society of Horticultural Science in Orlando were Dr. David Hensley, Dr. John Clark, Dr. James Robbins, Dr. Teddy Morelock and Dr. Curt Rom.