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Jim's Corner • Horticulture Department News • Research Reports • What's Up • Product Profile • New Extension Publications

Jim’s Corner

From most accounts, it looks like this was a good spring for garden center business. While March was slow, sales picked up significantly in April, May and June.

At the Arkansas Green Industry Association (AGIA) meeting in February, we discussed several options for independent garden centers to distinguish themselves from mass merchandisers. Ideas included establishing "idea" gardens within their retail area, offering educational classes or hosting trips. In early May I tagged along with Horticare & Associates of Little Rock when they hosted a half-day tour of distinguished gardens in the Little Rock area. What a superb idea! Although putting this tour together took a lot of effort, I am convinced that it will return positive benefits to the retailer in multiples. Basically, the concept consisted of using four rented 15-passenger vans to shuttle a morning and an afternoon group to four private gardens. The noon-hour overlap for the two groups provided an opportunity for Horticare to host a gourmet lunch at their retail location. The tours were a great opportunity for the staff to highlight certain plants or design services they offer. The gardening public is hungry for this type of value added business!

May also brought an opportunity for Janet Carson and I to get a behind the scenes tour of the new Rock Garden at Garvan Woodland Gardens in Hot Springs. I will be honest. I was not prepared for how fabulous this new garden is! While the grand opening is not until September, I encourage all of you to check out what is going on at Garvan. The new "sky walk" trail is near completion, and a visitors center is also under construction.

Major events:

U of A Turf and Landscape Field Day – July 9 at the University of Arkansas Research and Extension Center in Fayetteville. Registration begins at 9 a.m. Tour starts at 10 a.m. This field day will feature the latest research in the areas of golf, sports and landscape turf, as well as current activities in landscape and ornamental research at the UofA. Lunch will be provided. Call 501-575-2603 for information.

"Under Utilized Plants for Arkansas" – This plant materials workshop will be offered from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Cooperative Extension Headquarters in Little Rock on Tuesday, August 14. Call 501-671-2226 for information.

Arkansas Certified Nurserymen (ACN) Test – Thursday, September 20, at the Cooperative Extension Headquarters in Little Rock. Review is September 19. Contact AGIA at 501-225-0029 for details.

Advanced Plant Propagation Workshop – A two-day workshop on plant propagation will be offered in Fayetteville on Thursday and Friday, September 27 and 28. Details available soon by mail or contact Jim Robbins at jrobbins@uaex.edu.

Horticulture Department News

1. As I indicated in the last newsletter, Dr. Mike Evans has officially started with the University of Arkansas as the new Floriculture faculty member. We are very lucky to have Mike as he brings tremendous expertise to greenhouse growers in the areas of container media and disease or insect problems associated with media.

Mike is originally from Virginia where he received his B.S. from Virginia Tech. His M.S. and Ph.D. degrees are from the University of Minnesota in horticulture and plant physiology. After working at the University of Florida’s Gulf Coast Research and Education Center for two years, he joined the faculty in the Department of Horticulture at Iowa State University. Mike will be responsible for teaching greenhouse production classes and conducting research on growing media and soil-borne diseases, such as root rot caused by Pythium and Phytophthora, with an emphasis on greenhouse crops. I would strongly encourage you to check out Mike’s floriculture web-based information.

2. The Department of Horticulture is embarking on distance education classes for fall semester 2001. The classes will originate from facilities on the University of Arkansas Fayetteville campus and be transmitted through streaming video to locations across the state.

Hort 2303, Introduction to Turfgrass Management, taught by Dr. Mike Richardson and Hort 1103, Plants in the Home Environment, taught by Dr. Gerald Klingaman and Dr. Craig Andersen, will be made available to Arkansas Community Colleges participating in ACTA (Arkansas Consortium for Teaching Agriculture. These sites include: University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff; University of Arkansas at Monticello; University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville; East Arkansas Community College; Mississippi County Community College; North Arkansas College; Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas; University of Arkansas Community College at Hope; Rich Mountain Community College; Northwest Arkansas Community College; and Mid-South Community College. 

Introduction to Turfgrass Management will be offered as a three-credit course. Plants in the Home Environment is a two-credit course and may be offered at some extension centers.

For further information, contact the ACTA institution near you to see if they will be carrying the course. If you are interested in the extension version of Plants in the Home Environment, contact your county Extension office.

Research Reports

Establishing Zoysia japonica From Sprigs: Effects of Topdressing and Nitrogen Fertility. Mike Richardson and John Boyd, University of Arkansas, HortScience 36(2): 377-379.

This scientific paper reports important results about sprigging zoysiagrass in Arkansas. While sprigging is generally considered an impractical establishment method for golf courses, home lawns and sports fields because of the slow growth rate of the species and subsequent long establishment period, the study does suggest some useful tips to improve the establishment process. The study was designed to test the effects of soil topdressing and post-planting nitrogen rates on turf establishment rate for ‘Meyer’ zoysiagrass.

Results: Topdressing the sprigs with native soil significantly improved establishment compared to traditional sprigging, presumably because of enhanced sprig survival. Applications of nitrogen during the establishment period had little or no overall effect on establishment, although use of no nitrogen was slightly inferior to all other rates.

What’s Up?

Interesting websites!

Galbraith Greenhouses in Clinton, Arkansas

Are you a U-pick operation or are you looking for one: the Arkansas State Plant Board has started a website to feture U-pick operations and farmers markets:

Need help translating text from one language to another, try: Free Tranlations or EW Gate.

Product Profile

1. I am very excited about the plug transplanter that I saw at the Mid-South Greenhouse Conference in Jackson, Mississippi. Finally someone is offering an affordable unit for the many small greenhouse operations across Arkansas. I asked the manufacturer to provide the following information on this unit.

Manufactured by Blackmore, the Tagawa Plug Punching SystemTM is being introduced this summer as a joint venture between Ball Seed and Tagawa Greenhouse, Inc. It turns out that Tagawa Greenhouses has been using this manual transplanter in their operation for over 15 years! At a cost of $3,000 plus freight, and the capability of transplanting 400 flats an hour, this portable unit looks like a terrific option for many growers in Arkansas. The only trick at this point is that you must purchase compatible punchable flats from Tagawa. Call Donnie or Kathy Clayton at Ball Seed (870-862-9917) if you are interested in additional details or check out the article in the June 2001 Growers Talk magazine.

2. During our recent tour of Garvan Woodland Gardens, Janet Carson and I noted what a unique walking path material they had used. The gardens had combined an attractive rock dust from Northwest Arkansas with an organic binder to yield a stabilized path that was attractive and yet held up under small vehicle and foot traffic. The binder is a bioproduct of a plant! According to their literature, this same organic binder can be used on baseball in-fields and equestrian riding tracks. If you are interested, contact Stabilizer Solutions, Inc., at 800-336-2468.

New Extension Publications

FSA 6096 - Sources and References for the Nursery Industry. Robbins/Klingaman

By: Jim Robbins, Extension Specialist - Ornamental Horticulture

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