HS News Fall'05

NEWS FROM THE DEPARTMENT HEAD
- by Julia Kornegay
- We had a very successful year of outreach to the public. For example, over 80 people attended the Vegetable Crops Field Day at the Mountain Hort Crops Research Station, August 4, 2005. Attendees learned about new varieties, disease, insect and weed management procedures, slow release fertilizers, biological methods of pest control, and limited tillage and organic production systems (see photo).
DEPARTMENTAL HIGHLIGHT
- The cucurbit breeding project has been run by Todd Wehner since 1979, and involves the genetic improvement of the major cucurbit crops cucumber and watermelon, as well as specialty cucurbits such as Oriental melon, and luffa gourd. Dr. Wehner is assisted by Tammy Ellington and a staff of between 5 and 10 graduate students, visiting scientists, and project assistants, for a total of 111 people over the last 26 years.
- Research involves collecting seeds from centers of diversity such as China and southern Africa, evaluating the germplasm collection of 1300 cucumbers and 1600 watermelons for important horticultural traits, developing elite cultivars of the four cucurbit species, and training students and scientists for plant breeding careers. The project has produced 141 articles and book chapters, 32 cultivars and germplasm releases, and 40 graduate students and scientists since 1979 (see photo).
- Dr. Wehner teaches plant breeding CS-HS 541, seminar production HS 601, and plant breeding seminar CS-HS 802. He is chair of the Cucurbit Genetics Cooperative, and is the ASHS consulting editor for the Vegetable Cultivar List.
INTERESTING WEB SITES
- by Mary Peet
- Have you noticed the small RSS link on the NCSU homepage? NCSU RSS feeds allow you to get the latest news from NCSU as soon as it is published. RSS is short for Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication and is another term for a news feed. Instead of having to navigate to a website for news updates, news items are delivered to your computer directly.
- You can customize the NCSU news you receive by choosing feeds from Agriculture and Life Sciences, NCSU Libraries, NC cooperative Extension, or Information Technology. The January 2005 edition of the NCSU Library Newsletter http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/publications/NLarchives/NL.vol.32/NL_32_6.pdf discussed Newslogs in general and the many different feeds available from the library. You can also get RSS feeds from many other sources including Google, Apple and most news services (BBC, CNN, New York Times, ESPN, MSNBC). You can choose exactly which type of news you want and how you want it delivered on most sites.
- All you need to get started is a news reader. There are a number of free programs available for both Windows and OSX operating systems, and the latest version of Safari, Firefox and Netscape browsers all support RSS.
- Go to http://www.ncsu.edu/rss.html for more information and to select your NCSU feeds!
FACULTY NEWS
- by Todd Wehner
- Luz Reyes, Doug Sanders, Dennis Osborne and Donn Ward developed video tapes of Good Agricultural Practices and "Wash Your Hands, It is For the Kids" in both English and Spanish versions. This is part of the group's fresh produce food safety education program. The tapes are to be used to train on-farm food handlers (pickers and packers) in proper food safety procedures as a means of reducing food borne illness. This project was a family affair because Luz and her son and daughter starred in the hand washing tape. She translated both tapes into Spanish, and her husband Dr. Jose Estrada provide the voice for Dennis Osborne's part in the Good Agricultural Practices video (Dennis sounded funny with a deep Latin voice). See photo (Dr. Reyes and Ken Ellzy, Extension videographer).
- Faculty Awards
  - Doug Sanders received the Pride of the Wolfpack award in May.
  - Todd Wehner received the Vegetable Breeding Award of Excellence from the Vegetable Breeding working group at the annual conference of the American Society for Horticultural Science in Las Vegas, NV in July.
  - A.D. Draper and Jim Ballington won the outstanding fruit cultivar award for 'ONeal' blueberry at the annual conference of the American Society for Horticultural Science in Las Vegas, NV in July.
  - Wayne G. Buhler, James R. Baker, Robert Bellinger, Rick L. Brandenburg, Mark Czarnota, Erv Evans, Paul Guillebeau, Bruce Martin, Tim R. Murphy, Lane P. Tredway and Colleen Y. Warfield received the ASHS Extension Materials Award for 'A Pesticide Applicator Certification Manual for the Carolinas and Georgia'.
  - Charles D. Safley, E. Barclay Poling, Michael K. Wohlgenant, Olga Sydorovych and Ross F. Williams received the ASHS Extension Materials Award for 'Producing and Marketing Strawberries for Direct Markets'.
STAFF NEWS
- by Barb Amos
- Ann Green and Joe Conner were recognized for their years of service, 30 and 25, respectively, at a university luncheon held on August 25, 2005 at the McKimmon Center. Congratulations to both!
- Staff Awards
  - Bernadette Clark has been awarded the status of Full All-America Selections (AAS) Bedding Plant Judge and Full AAS Cool Season Bedding Plant Judge. All-America Selections is a non-profit organization for evaluating new seed-grown flowers from around the world. AAS was established in 1932. It is the only independent, seed testing organization in North America. The North Carolina State University Trial Garden is one of 22 locations used for national evaluations. Bernadette has been evaluating bedding plant trials since 1984 (see photo).
  - Barb Amos was presented with the Golden Wrench award from Facilities Operations in recognition of her Building Liaison responsibilities.
- Departing Staff
  - The department bids farewell to two of it's technical staff. Brad Thompson left August 31 for a new position with Bayer in Research Triangle Park. Cindy Pierce left September 5 for a position in Harnett County as an environmental health inspector. We wish them the best of luck in their new careers!
UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM
- by Bryce Lane
- Fall semester classes are well underway in the Department of Horticultural Science. All classes are fully enrolled with many over enrolled. We currently have 212 students in our 4-year undergraduate program and 85 in our 2-year program. We have 101 Landscape Hort Students (THL), 102 General Hort. Students (THG), and 9 Science Hort. Students (SH).
- The student Horticulture Club is off to a great start. About 45 students have attended the first two meetings and activities for the fall are being planned. The club will be helping Pi Alpha Xi, our honorary fraternity, with the Fall Plant Sale.
GRADUATE PROGRAM
- by John Dole and Rachel McLaughlin
- The Pi Alpha Xi plant sale is October 1 and 2 at the JC Raulston Arboretum. Bring your friends, and help the graduate students raise money for worthwhile activities at NC State.
- Graduate students starting this fall
  - Colleen Brannen. Colleen was born in Omaha, Nebraska. She received her BS from University of Nebraska at Lincoln majoring in Horticulture. She also attended the University of Wollongong in Australia and Metropolitan Community College in Omaha NE. While attending the University of Nebraska, she was involved in the Horticulture Club, a member of PAX and recognized as an Outstanding Woman in Science. Past work experiences have included work with the Omaha Zoo, volunteering at L’arche Farm & Gardens in Tacoma, Washington and most recently Camellia Forest Nursery in Chapel Hill. Colleen will be working on her MHS degree with Pat Lindsey.
  - Juliana Buckelew. Juliana was born in Davenport, Iowa. She received her BS from Iowa State University majoring in Horticulture. In May 2005 Juliana received her MS degree in our Department under the direction of David Monks. Past work experiences have included internships evaluating and caring for Mediterranean-climate plants at Longwood Gardens Research Greenhouses, Kennett Square, PA and consulting home gardeners on the Iowa State Horticulture Extension state-wide toll-free help line. Her job positions have included Special Gardens Coordinator at Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, IA and Horticulture Research Technician for Oregon State University at North Willamette Research and Extension Center located in Aurora, OR. Juliana will be working on her PhD degree with David Monks with a weed science concentration.
  - Roland Leatherwood. Roland was born in Waynesville, North Carolina. He received his BS degree from UNC-Asheville majoring in German and Business Management. In August 2005 he received his MS in our Department under the direction of John Williamson. To prepare himself for graduate school, Roland took four semesters of coursework in the sciences. He was hired by the Dept. of Computer Science at NCSU to teach some of the IT classes. He also participated in an independent research activity with Dr. Davies in Botany. Roland will be working on his PhD degree with John Dole.
  - Per McCord. Per was born in Portland, Oregon. He received his BS from Brigham Young University majoring in Plant Genetics and Breeding. In August 2005 he received his MS in our Department under the direction of Bryon Sosinski. While at BYU, he was a lab assistant and performed DNA extractions, assisted with RFLP/AFLP analyses of tomato and preparation of reagents. At Cornell University, Dept. of Plant Breeding, he was a lab technician and performed large-scale DNA extractions for mapping studies in Capsicum. He also assisted graduate students and postdoc fellows on various projects: cloning, transformations, recombinant protein expression and purification, SDS-PAGE, etc. Per will be working on his PhD degree with Craig Yencho.
  - Ramon Molina Bravo. Ramon was born in Chihuahua, Mexico. He received his BS and MS from New Mexico State University, Las Cruces majoring in Horticulture Science for both degrees. His MS research involved screening for AFLP molecular markers linked to the resistance to the fungal pathogen Phoma terrestris in Allium cepa L. Ramon will be working on his PhD degree with Gina Fernandez and Bryon Sosinski.
  - Chris Sickler. Chris was born in Reading, Pennsylvania. She received her BS from Pennsylvania State University majoring in Horticulture Science. In 2003 Chris received her MS from Washington State University majoring in Biology. Her Master’s project involved evaluating Arabidopsis transformants with the mannose-6-phosphate reductase (M6PR) gene, which converts mannose-6-phosphate into mannitol-1-phosphate. Chris will be working on her PhD degree with Jim Burton.
NEWS FROM AROUND NORTH CAROLINA
- Cunningham Research Station (Kinston)
  - by Bill Jester
- Horticultural Crops Research Station (Clinton)
  - by Allan Thornton
  - Harvest is under way in our trials and growers' fields with the newly released sweetpotato variety, 'Covington'. Early harvest feedback for 'Covington' is very positive. Preparations are underway for the Sweetpotato Field Day scheduled for October 12 at the Horticultural Crops Research Station.
- Vernon James Research and Extension Center (Plymouth)
  - by Mark Clough
  - The new Highway 64 is open between Plymouth and Columbia (70 mph). The station is still under quarantine and will likely be for 2 years at a minimum because of the tropical spiderwort. As yet, they have only found it on one seven-acre block of land, and are planning to fumigate soon.
WISH LIST
- by Julia Kornegay
- We hope that our alumni and friends will review this list and help us obtain these items.
- For Kilgore Hall
  - stove and extraction hood
  - poster printer (HP 1055CM)
  - digital camera (5-8 Mpixels)
- For the greenhouses
  - two golf carts with back utility beds
- For the graduate student office
  - six replacement computers (Win, Mac)
DEPARTMENTAL NEWSLETTER COMMITTEE
- Editor: Todd Wehner
- Assistant: Rachel McLaughlin
- Send items for the newsletter to Todd Wehner (todd_wehner@ncsu.edu)

Departmental Newsletter, Fall 2005