Overton Horticultural Field Day scheduled; vegetable trials added
Submitted by Daingerfield1 on
By Robert Burns
For the first time since 2009, the 2014 Overton Horticultural Field Day will include vegetable trials in addition to the hundreds of bedding plant trials that are the standard fare, according to Texas A&M AgriLife Research experts.
Set this year on June 26 at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Overton, gardeners, professional landscape managers and seed company representatives will learn which landscape plants do well under East Texas heat and sunshine at the field day, said Dr. Brent Pemberton, AgriLife Research ornamental horticulturist.
Pemberton said he started the trials in 1994 in response to need by both commercial seed companies as well as for local nursery managers and gardening enthusiasts.
There is no cost to attend or for the barbecue lunch. The field day will begin at 8:30 a.m. at the center’s North Farm site, about four miles north of the Overton Center on FarmtoMarket Road 3053.
The field day will feature more than 500 bedding plants, including everything from geraniums to petunias to verbena to begonias in outdoor plots, said Pemberton.
The vegetable trials are a collaborative effort between AgriLife Research and Kilgore College, Kilgore. They are conducted by Dr. Karl Steddom, AgriLife Research plant pathologist who also is an instructor at Kilgore College.
Dr. Steddom said his vegetable trials include more than 30 tomato varieties, five pepper varieties, cantaloupe, strawberries in low tunnels, a fungicide trial on watermelon and a pruning trial on watermelon.
“We also have other vegetables like pole beans, bush beans, cucumbers, squash are things which we’re doing for student education,” Dr. Steddom said.
He noted that watermelons are subject to several diseases, including powdery mildew, downy mildew and gummy stem blight, all of which can be devastating for both commercial growers and home gardeners.
The bedding plant tour will continue at the North Farm, as will the vegetable tour, until about 10:30 a.m., then both tours will move to the Overton center’s headquarters building at about 10:30 a.m. Lunch will be served at about 11:45. The program will move inside after lunch with presentations by Pemberton and Dallas Arboretum representative Jenny Wegley, who will discuss the 2014 California Spring Showcase, also known as Pack Trials, as well as top performers for 2013. Indoor presentations will begin at 1 p.m., and the program will conclude by 3:15 p.m. There also will be indoor presentations on vegetables by Steddom and Texas AgriLife horticulturists from College Station.
Participants are welcome to start the day at the Kilgore College site, then move to the bedding plant trials, or vice-versa, Steddom and Pemberton said. Or they may tour only one of the sites if they wish, and still have lunch at the Overton Center and attend the indoor presentations.
To continue reading this article purchase the June 12th edition of The Steel Country Bee or go to our online e-edition at: http://www.etypeservices.com/Daingerfield%20BeeID312/default.aspx
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