Departmental Newsletter, Summer 2003
- NEWS FROM THE INTERIM DEPARTMENT HEAD
- by Sylvia Blankenship
- With a great deal of help from the faculty, I have
managed to make it through the first weeks as an interim
department head. To go along with our departmental
changes with Tom Monaco's retirement, we now have
a new dean, Johnny Wynne, and a new
director of research, Steve Leath.
James Oblinger is now provost. Three
candidates were interviewed for department head, and
we have just heard that Julia
Kornegay will be the new head, starting
September 1.
- We have faced several end-of-year budget challenges,
and will probably have more to come. We have also
faced a VERY rainy crop season, which is also creating
challenges for many in the department. However, I
am optimistic because I am now in a position to hear
much of what goes on in the department, and there
are a lot of success stories. Looking at the big picture,
we really are a first class horticulture department!
- DEPARTMENTAL HIGHLIGHT
- by Todd Wehner
 Sweetpotato
and white potato are the seventh and fourth most important
crops in annual production worldwide. In North Carolina, they are
the first and third most important vegetable crops based on annual
revenue. North Carolina is the largest producer of sweetpotatoes
in the U.S., with about 40% of the crop, and the second largest
producer of spring potatoes. The two commodities account for over
$90 million in annual farm receipts, making them a very important
component of our diverse agriculture production system.- Development of new sweetpotato and potato
cultivars is ranked as a high priority among
NC growers. Dr. Craig
Yencho, associate professor, is the leader
of the sweetpotato and potato breeding and genetics
program. Ken
Pecota, researcher and co-breeder and
Cindy
Pierce, research technician / pathologist
are assigned to the sweetpotato program on-campus,
while Mark Clough, research technician and co-breeder
is assigned to the potato project located at the Vernon
G. James Research and Extension Center in Plymouth.
The team conducts a wide array of field, greenhouse
and laboratory experiments, collaborating with many
NC State, national and international scientists, and
participating in the training of graduate students
from around the world. For more information on the
sweetpotato and potato breeding and genetics program,
visit our website at http://plymouth.ces.state.nc.us/hort/potato/.
- PEOPLE IN THE NEWS
- FACULTY NEWS
- by Sylvia Blankenship
 February
21-24, 2003: The Southeastern Fresh Produce Food Safety
Program was represented by an exhibit at the recent
United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association meeting
in Long Beach CA. Doug Sanders, Dennis Osborne
and Donn Ward prepared a display which included
Good Agricultural Practices posters and a display
of their 9 crop-specific brochures. George
Wilson assisted Sam Hailemariam
(departmental associate) in getting the display installed
at the convention site. Industry visitors commented
with interest about the work being done on food safety
and the program based at NC State.- Paul Nelson
has received the 'Friend of Extension' award for 2001
and 2002. Also, Paul will be inducted as a Fellow
of ASHS this year at the annual conference in Providence,
RI.
- Dick Unrath will be retiring July
1. Steve McArtney has accepted the
regional apple position shared between NC, Tenn.,
Georgia and S. Carolina.
- Roger Batts hosted two IR-4 Study
Directors for one day tours of his plots and facilities
this month: Mr. Bill Barney on May 13 and Dr. Marija
Arsenovic on May 30.
- Yong
Xu completed his research as a visiting
scientist with Todd
Wehner on Fusarium wilt and virus resistance
in watermelon, returned to the National Engineering
Research Center for Vegetables, Beijing. Cooperative
research will continue.
- Mary
Peet traveled with her Greenhouse
Food Production class (HS590C) to Tucson,
Arizona to tour the Controlled environment Agriculture
Center at the University of Arizona. They also visited
EuroFresh, a 160-acre greenhouse tomato complex in
Willcox, Arizona), and Nogales to observe the huge
volume of produce coming across the border from Mexico.
Finally, they toured rainforest, coral reef, desert,
and agro-forestry mesocosms at Biosphere 2.
Mary Peet also traveled to Jackson, Mississippi
over spring break to give several presentations at
the Greenhouse Tomato Short Course.
- Mary Peet was on the review panel
for the Department of Natural Resources and Landscape
Architecture at the University of Maryland, College
Park, MD. The 38-faculty-department was formed from
the merger of the former Agronomy Dept., Horticulture
Dept., and some members of Botany, and Plant Pathology.
The department also housed turfgrass, bioremediation,
forestry and natural resource programs, as well as
landscape architecture and landscape management. There
are also programs in urban forestry, conservation,
and nutrient management.
- Frank
Blazich was inducted (May 10) into the
Athletic Hall of Fame of Smithtown High School. Frank
grew up in Smithtown, New York and attended Smithtown
High (class of 1963), where he was an all-star soccer
player and wrestler in addition to being a member
of the National Honor Society. He was honored for
his athletic and academic accomplishments in high
school, and also for serving as an infantryman with
the First Air Cavalry Division in Vietnam and his
career in academia. At the induction ceremony he was
presented with a glass sculpture and a permanent plaque
which was placed in the Hall of Fame Commons at Smithtown
High School.
- Doug Sanders
presented a special seminar at Michigan State University,
his alma mater, 'Moving California East--an analysis
of the plasticulture system for vegetable production',
which focused on how the plasticulture system adjusts
and improves the agroecosystem to help eastern growers
simulate the more idealized conditions in California.
Sanders also worked on cooperative research efforts
with colleagues Drs. B. Zandstra, S. Snapp, J. Huang
(NCSU alum), M.Ngouajio I. Widders and B. Behe. Sanders
was hosted for a luncheon by Horticulture Dept. graduate
students, where they discussed their research, job
aspirations, and recent changes in science.
- Horticultural Science is active in Summer Institute
for Faculty which is a one week short course for faculty
interested in Distance Education
(DE). This summer, we have 4 faculty and 2 support
staff selected for this year's program: Will
Hooker, Pat Lindsey, Paul Nelson, Nancy Mingis, Dennis
Osborne and Doug Sanders successfully completed
the course (Mary Peet has attended
previous sessions). This fall Ted Bilderback
will teach Advanced Nursery Crop Management via two
way video. Next spring Paul Nelson
is planning to teach his undergraduate nutrition course
DE, and Doug Sanders will teach Advanced
Vegetable Crop Management web assisted via two way
video.
- Dennis Osborne has been named a
Teacher Link Fellow by the NC Science, Mathematics
and Technology Education Center. Created by the Burroughs
Wellcome Fund, the Center operates in partnership
with the National Science Foundation, Duke University
and Sigma Xi. As a Fellow, Dennis will serve as the
Soil Science resource and curriculum advisor for selected
NC Public School Systems. NSF and Burroughs Wellcome
funded this work to evaluate the effect of delivering
research based, inquiry centered instruction for NC
classrooms, with particular emphasis on grades K-8.
- Nancy Creamer traveled to Brussels,
Belgium to do a proposal review.
- Bryce Lane and Stu Warren
traveled to Italy to develop future student tours
for the area.
- Jonathan Schultheis traveled to
Washington DC for a grant proposal review team.
- Nancy Creamer has recently been
joined by Dr. Phil Rzewnicki to work
within the CEFS program. Phil will be housed in room
226 Kilgore. He was hired as an extension associate
and will be administering the CEFS summer internship
program, and contributing to other CEFS extension
programming and ongoing research activities. Phil
will also be contributing to the development of new
courses for an undergraduate agroecology minor that
will soon be initiated through the Crop Science department.
Phil comes to us from The Ohio State University, where
he was the on-farm research coordinator for Ohio State
Extension and Ohio Agricultural Research and Development
Center supporting extension agents, faculty, and farmers
conducting applied research. He also developed and
taught a field crop ecology course through the Departments
of Crop Science and Horticulture while at OSU.
- Todd
Wehner served on the T-STAR grant panel in
Gainesville, FL (February 5-7).
- At the American Society for Horticultural Science
- Southern Region meeting, extension communication
awards were given to Drs. Richard Hassell and Jonathan
Schultheis for their publication 'Seedless
watermelon transplant production guide'; to Dr. Barclay
Poling for his publication '2002 preplant
meetings-plasticulture strawberries-berry agent';
and to Drs. Dennis
Osborne, Douglas
Sanders and coworkers for their publication
'Good agricultural practices for the production and
handling of citrus fruit, green beans and peas, peaches,
fresh carrots and root crops, melons, and tomatoes'.
- STAFF NEWS
- by Barb Amos
- The eighth annual NC State University Awards
for Excellence luncheon was held on May 28
at the McKimmon Center to honor the 43 university
winners. This year our department had three winners:
Bernadette Clark, on-campus technical;
Sandie Wash, on-campus supervisory;
and Tom Eaker, off-campus technical.
Each winner received a plaque, a $250 bonus, and 8
hours of leave. Congratulations on a job well done!
- The department says good-bye to Agricultural Research
Technician Kirk Creel this week.
Kirk joined Doug Sanders' program in January, 2001.
Best of luck to you!
- The department welcomes Brad Thompson
who was hired June 1, 2003 to work as the technician
in Jonathan Schultheis' program. Welcome Brad!
- The Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension
Center welcomes a new Maintenance Mechanic, Wayne
Pace. Wayne started on April 1st.
- Brian, Ingram, and Clarissa McCall
welcome a new family member. Jacob Eli
was born on May 8. He was 6 pounds, 13 ounces and
19.5 inches long. Congratulations on your new arrival!
- UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMS
- by Bryce Lane
- Student ALCA Team update. The Student
ALCA Team XIII that participated at Hinds Community
College near Jackson Mississippi did in fact not place
6th as a team. Due to some scoring errors it turns
out that the team ended up placing second place! The
ALCA organization informed all the schools that scoring
errors had occurred and that a new top ten would be
announced. Although the team was not recognized at
the closing ceremonies in Mississippi they did receive
a plaque which is now hanging in the major’s
room. The team's second place finish is the best they
have done in 13 years. Students have also placed third
twice before and fifth numerous times. Congratulations
to this year's ALCA Team XIII!
- Spring graduation was held May
17 at the Ruby McSwain Education Center at the JC
Raulston Arboretum. Dr. Tom Monaco came out of his
recent retirement to preside for one last time. We
had 3 graduate, and 29 undergraduate students receive
degrees. The graduating class was indeed academically
strong. Three students were NC State Valedictorians
with 4.0 GPAs, 5 graduated Suma Cum Laude, 3 Magna
Cum Laude, and 2 Cum Laude. The Outstanding Senior
award recognizing academic achievement, departmental
involvement, leadership, and character was awarded
to two individuals, Vance Whitaker and Sarah Lane.
A catered luncheon followed the ceremony.
- GRADUATE PROGRAMS
- by Dennis Werner and Rachel McLaughlin
- nothing this season
- NEWS FROM AROUND NORTH CAROLINA
- Horticultural Crops Research Station (Castle
Hayne)
- by Susan Rooks
- We had two visitors in April from Australia.
On April 10, Ridley Bell met with faculty and
growers reviewing variety development from New
South Wales. He is a grower who has been breeding
blueberries for Australia for twenty years. On
April 28, Gary Wright is responsible for blueberry
production at Chiquita Brands of South Pacific,
previously known as Blueberry Farms of Australia.
They produce 1/2 of the blueberry production,
out of Australia, on 500 Acres. Gary talked to
the faculty and growers about their experience
with using wind machines for frost protection.
- We have had 9.5" of rain since the beginning
of May. The summer heat has been in full swing
in the last two weeks. This has caused the strawberries
to stop producing and the blueberries to come
on fast. The highbush blueberry season is almost
finished with rabbiteye blueberries ripening up.
The rain has decreased fruit quality in both the
strawberries and blueberries, more rots prevalent.
Prices have remained good for fresh packing, longer
than usual for this time of year.
- JC Raulston Arboretum (Raleigh)
- by Bob Lyons
 Spring
semester has been a full one for engaging undergraduate
courses in the further development of
the JC Raulston Arboretum. The most visible efforts
have come from the students in Anne Spafford's
landscape construction class. For the second year
in a row, Anne's students designed and built creative
structures to support vines in the Annuals Evaluation
area, located between the Perennial and Mixed
Borders. Drop by and read the labels identifying
the student designers and builders, and pick up
a construction brochure for each so you can build
your own! Pat Lindsey's class was involved behind
the scenes in the design of the soon to be established
"Contemplation Garden," located directly
inside and to the right of the our pedestrian
gate. The final master plan for this area will
be refined this summer under Pat's direction and
in concert with the donor, Ms. Priscilla Swindell.
We're looking towards this fall for initial installation
efforts.- On the awards front, I'm pleased to tell you
that the special 25th Anniversary edition of our
JCRA Newsletter, edited by Chris Glenn, received
a Garden Globe Award of Achievement
by the Garden Writers Assoc. of America! This
same group also gave this award to the entire
year's publication set of Successful Gardener
for 2002. The front page of S.G. always describes
a particular plant or plant group found at the
JCRA and encourages visitation via our website
or in person........we are most pleased for these
significant signs of recognition!
- LCPTRS-Cunningham Research Station (Kinston)
- by Bill Jester
- Spring season has been wet, with 9.8 inches
of rain from May 1 to June 17 at Cunningham Research
Station. Despite the weather, the Specialty
Crops Program is doing well. The baby
squash cultivar research is on schedule and test
marketing is under way. Other projects include
the specialty melon screening test, the honeydew
cultivar evaluation, the grape tomato evaluation,
the yellow and orange seedless muskmelon cultivar
trials, the ethnic sweetpotato screening, the
specialty potato screening, the purple sweetpotato
trial, the hispanic pepper cultivar evaluation
and the specialty eggplant cultivar evaluation.
- The Cunningham Research Station
and Specialty Crops Program personnel have done
a excellent job caring for the research being
conducted on the station in spite of continuous
wet conditions this spring.
- The Specialty Crops Field Day
is planned for July 17, 2003.
- Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension
Center (Fletcher)
- by Tom Ranney
- nothing this season
- Small Fruit Program (Morganton)
- by Andy Allen
- The NC Winegrowers Association
and the NC Cooperative Extension Service will
be holding Vineyard Views in June, July and August
of this year. A Vineyard View is a meeting at
a vineyard of Association members and those interested
in joining the Association to discuss vineyard
issues. This first is set for Sunday afternoon,
June 29, at 3:00, at Pilot Mountain Vineyard in
Pinnacle, NC. For directions and details, go to
http://www.ncwine.org/upcoming.htm#ncwa.
Extension associate Andy Allen
will be discussing vineyard trellising systems
and canopy management issues. Extension vineyard
weed specialist Wayne Mitchem
will discuss vineyard weed control. The second
View will be held on Sunday afternoon, July 27,
at 3:00, at South Mountain Vineyard in Morganton,
NC. Program planning is still in progress. The
third View is tentatively scheduled for Friday
afternoon, August 8, at 4:00 at the Upper Piedmont
Research Station in Reidsville, NC.
- Vernon James Research and Extension Center
(Plymouth)
- by Gina Fernandez
 A
flag dedication ceremony was held at the Vernon
G. James Center at the Tidewater Research Station
(TRS) June 3, 2003. The ceremony was held in recognition
of John W. Smith's of 37 years of service
to NCDA. He served as superintendent of the TRS
from July 1, 1965 to June 30, 2002. In addition
to raising new state and U.S. flags at the TRS,
an additional U.S. flag that was flown over the
U.S. capital in Washington DC was presented as
a gift to Mr. Smith. A plaque commemorating his
service is mounted at the base of a flagpole in
front of the James Center.- A tornado whipped through TRS
on May 9, 2003. A tall elm tree was ripped downed
just 100 feet from the strawberry plots of Gina
Fernandez. However, the strawberries
did not receive any damage, as the tornado did
not touch ground in that area. The tornado also
caused damage to 2 hog houses and a pump house
at the TRS. The tornado continued east to the
Lake Phelps area where a tree fell on Paul
Lilley’s (ret. Soil Science) van
and 10 trees fell down in Steve Barnes
(supt. TRS) yard. Like the rest of the state,
it has been raining a lot which has made field
work difficult.
- Craig Yencho traveled to Chicago
in March to visit Ball Seed and see his son Adam
perform in his senior play at Columbia College.
Mark Clough and his wife are
patiently awaiting the birth of their first child,
scheduled to arrive right in the middle of potato
harvest.
- GRADUATE STUDENT FEATURE STORY
- by Richard Olsen and Megan Weddington
- PAX: As most springs go, this was a busy semester
for the graduate students. The Pi Alpha Xi
(PAX) plant sale was a record success, grossing $50,000
for the first time. This allowed the distribution
over nearly $20,000 to area horticultural organizations,
including funding for the Thomas J. and Virginia S.
Monaco Horticultural Science Graduate Fellowship Endowment
for Diversity and the Larry K. Bass scholarship endowment.
Elections for new PAX officers took
place, with the following results: President, Peter
Conden; Vice President's, Jeff Adkins, Carrie Judge,
and Jim Owen; Secretary, Erin Naegle; Treasurer, Denise
McKinney; and Marshall's, Kristen Cook and David West
(both undergraduates).
- HSGSA: Carrie Judge handed over the reins of the
Horticulture Graduate Student Association
leadership to the new President, Richard Olsen. The
Social Chair (our unorthodox name for a Vice President)
is Brian Krug, Roland Leatherwood is our new Secretary/Treasurer,
the International Representative is Denise McKinney,
and our two representatives to the University Graduate
Student Association are Nancy Brill and Juliana Buckelew.
- Graduation: There were four May graduates
from the Graduate program this spring. Bradley Holland,
who is currently the Superintendent of the Horticultural
Field Laboratory, earned his MHS under the direction
of Tom Ranney and Stu Warren. Bradley plans to one
day work in education or extension. Wendy Elliott
also received an MHS under the direction of Dennis
Werner. Wendy plans on doing lots of yard work this
summer as she contemplates what she wants to do "when
she grows up." Gabriele Gusmini completed his
MS degree under the direction of Todd Wehner. Gabriele
is already working on his PhD with Dr. Wehner on watermelon
breeding and genetics. Rebecca Lough earned her PhD
under the direction of Randy Gardner.
- Awards: Denise McKinney was recently
awarded the $5,000 Governor and Mrs. Dan K. Moore
Fellowship to Keep North Carolina Clean and Beautiful.
In addition to academic achievement, the fellowship
seeks students whose research efforts and vision work
toward creating solutions to address the environmental
challenges facing North Carolina. Denise is working
with Nancy Creamer on the management of summer annual
cover crops preceding fall vegetable production. Scott
Derby was recently inducted into Gamma Sigma
Delta, the honor society of agriculture. At the American
Society for Horticultural Science - Southern Region
meeting, extension communication awards were given
to Mr. James
L. Gibson and Ms. Lane
Greer for their website 'Retail Reflections'.
- Summer Fun: If the Graduate office
looks a little empty these days, well, it should,
as many of the students have left for their respective
research stations or are out at the field laboratories
cramming another season of data into their dissertations!
- HORTICULTURE FACILITIES
- by Sylvia Blankenship
- New windows for Kilgore Hall are
scheduled to be installed beginning after the 4th
of July holiday. After some work on the outside of
the building, they will replace all windows, working
room by room. They will start on the 2nd floor and
work their way down.
- The new Kilgore greenhouses behind
the USTL building are starting to take shape. They
have some structure up on the first house. We will
probably be moving in November or December. It is
going to be a really nice facility for Horticultural
Science.
- OTHER NOTES
- by Todd Wehner
- The Horticultural Science departmental
web pages have been expanded over the last
year to make them more useful. The web site has gone
from 4 Mb size in 2001 to 119 Mb today. Please visit
the site and browse through some of the new areas.
You may want to look at the departmental
history area that was expanded with assistance
from the graduate students taking HS 801 (Seminar
Techniques and Technology).
- DEPARTMENTAL NEWSLETTER COMMITTEE
- Editor / webmaster: Todd Wehner
- Printing and mailing: Rachel McLaughlin
- Newsletter design: Anne Spafford
- Administrative news: Sylvia Blankenship
- Faculty news / Facilities: Sylvia
Blankenship
- Staff news: Barb Amos
- Undergraduate news: Bryce Lane
- Graduate news: Dennis Werner
- Graduate student feature: Richard
Olsen
- Location news: Bob Lyons (Arboretum),
Susan Rooks (Castle Hayne), Tom Ranney (Fletcher),
Bill Jester (Kinston), Andy Allen (Morganton), Gina
Fernandez (Plymouth)
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