Coming Up: Quarterly FSHS Newsletter. In this issue: May 2018 Volume 28 Issue 2. Register today! Visit 11% 19% 50% 16%

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1 fshs.org Quarterly FSHS Newsletter In this issue: 1 FSHS Annual Meeting 2 Meeting Registration Information 3 Greetings from the Editor 4 Presidents Corner 5 FSHS Proceedings Editors Report 6 Building capacity and improving productivity of stone fruit industry in Florida 7 Container IRRIGation May 2018 Volume 28 Issue 2 Coming Up: FSHS Annual Meeting Thinking, learning and researching. What we discover does not go anywhere unless we share it. The is an excellent platform to share everything that is relevant to the horticultural industry in the state. Do not miss the opportunity to make connections, to stay informed and to communicate your work and experience with colleagues. If you are a researcher, encourage your students and postdocs to participate in the society and to register in our annual meetings. We are just a few weeks away from the 131st Annual FSHS Conference. This meeting brings together not only science but also industry and government to advance horticulture in Florida. See more details on page 2. Find below a short report on our membership totals and a breakdown of members categories: 8-10 Horticulture in Fort Lauderdale Membership * % 19% 2% 16% 2% 50% Professional members Patron Student International Honorary Lifetime *as of 4/10/18 Register today! Visit

2 By Steve Rogers, FSHS Marketing Cordinator Page 2

3 Greetings From the Editor This issue in a nutshell Dr. Tatiana Sanchez Commercial Horticulture Agent It s that time of the year; we are warming up to have everything ready for the next annual meeting. Are you ready? Make sure to renew your membership and complete your registration. By Tatiana Sanchez Following up on our previous newsletter, FSHS president; Dr. Eric Simonne, brings us the second part of Business of Horticultural Science. Use this insightful article to learn about the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to the society and, to provide feedback on these. Keep an open communication with our BOD to better dedicate efforts to the growth and development of the society. We thank Dr. George Fitzpatrick for his service as past co-editor of the proceedings and his dedication to the society. Dr. Mary Lamberts will continue on this task and she brings us reminders and updates of interest to our readers. At the end of this issue, you will enjoy their article on Horticulture in Fort Lauderdale to get you excited about the hosting city. We welcome Dr. Ali Sarkhosh, Stone Fruit Extension specialist recently hired at the Department of Horticultural Sciences in the University of Florida. Meet him on page 6. Drs. Tom Yeager and Jeff Million from the University of Florida bring us an article on Container IRRIGation; a sneak peek on what they will be presenting during the upcoming meeting. Enjoy this issue and we look forward to seeing you in Fort Lauderdale! FSHS Board of Directors Board Chair: Mark Ritenour President: Eric Simonne President Elect: Gene McAvoy Board Member-at-Large: Cecilia Nunes Board Member-at-Large: Eric Waldo FSHS Sectional Vice Presidents Citrus: Vice President: Ute Albrecht Ornamentals, Garden & Landscape: Vice President: Terra Freeman Handling & Processing: Vice-President: Christina Dorado Krome Memorial: Vice President: Jonathan Crane Vegetable: Vice-President: Quingren Wang Natural Resources: Vice President: Lloyd Singleton Page 3

4 President s Corner The Business of Horticultural Science. Part II: A Rapid SWOT Analysis of the Society Dr. Eric Simonne, FSHS President By Eric Simonne This column is focused on the business of FSHS and how the links between FSHS activities (meeting and proceedings) interact together at the mission, scientific and business levels. Through a rapid SWOT (internal strengths and weaknesses; and external opportunities and threats) analysis, it seeks to provide a base to assess how and when the longstanding framework of FSHS operations do (or will) need to be modified. Strengths: healthy financial reserves; members willing to serve at all levels of responsibilities; services, advice and support provided by ASHS; the creation of a natural resources section increased the scope of scientific topics; the creation of a poster section has increased membership and participation of county faculty; student competitions and scholarships has increased student participation. Weaknesses: No long-term strategic plan; no central repository of key data about the society (including membership, budget items, publication rate); by-laws impose a rapid leadership position turn over on the BOD thereby restricting long-term action and retention of corporate knowledge; current section structure not conducive to subject matter expansion and membership increase; by-laws carry a strong expectation of publication of the information presented; technical program focuses on horticulture topics and few topics target the development of members soft skills; operations of the society are solely dependent on the commitment of key volunteers. Opportunities: Existence of by-laws that clearly define the mission and scope of FSHS; clear methods of operation for the production of the proceedings and the organization of the meeting; welldefined membership; adequate annual operating budget; Page 4 Unexplored feasibility of meeting with other plant-science societies in Florida; the membership of the dissolved Florida Soil and Crop Science does not participate in FSHS; unexplored opportunity to change the model of the meeting; possibility to increase support and participation by members of key University of Florida (UF) (Continued on page 5)

5 (Continued from page 4) academic departments; expand the appeal of the society to horticulture practitioners and industry members. Threats: Stable-to-a slightly-shrinking pool of members; change in scientific publication methods from pay-per-page to open publication; rising cost of hospitality services (hotel and food); historical uneven support of some UF academic departments; the high reliance of Extension Agents on In- Service Training funds to attend the meeting. Overall, that s quite a balance a lot to feel good about the society and its members. At the same time, we need to remain vigilant to address today s challenges and threat on a constructive way. If you are aware of additional entries in either category, let me know at esimonne@ufl.edu. FSHS Proceedings Editors Report Dr. Mary Lamberts FSHS Proceedings Editor By Mary Lamberts Co-Editor s Resignation - First, my Co-Editor, Dr. George Fitzpatrick resigned his position the end of February of this year. I have decided to continue in the position of Editor. Thank you to the Vice Presidents who successfully solicited a total of 12 papers, due March 23. As of the end of April, all submitted papers and almost all the front material has been sent to ASHS for layout. Author Agreements - If you have not yet returned your Author s Agreement to your sectional VP, please a copy at editors@fshs.org, copying your sectional Vice President. These are past due. Reminders to all authors - Please a copy of your paper directly to the Editor at editors@fshs.org, copying your sectional Vice President. Papers are due the last day of the meeting. This has always been the policy of the Society. If there is some reason you cannot meet this or any subsequent deadline, please the Editor with a date when she can expect your paper(s). If you would like to have your paper refereed, please submit it to the appropriate ASHS journal and let the Editor and your sectional VP know the number assigned by ASHS. If it is not accepted by an ASHS journal, please immediately let the Editor know if you would like to publish it in the Proceedings and send a copy as a Word document as soon as possible. (Continued on page 6) Page 5

6 (Continued from page 5) Formatting - Since refereed papers follow ASHS formatting, the Editor has adopted formatting similar to that of HortTechnology for the Proceedings. The Editor will each author a copy of the updated guidelines and a Checklist for Authors as soon as she has a list of authors. This is why your Author s Agreement is so important. They will also be published on the FSHS website. Building capacity and improving productivity of stone fruit industry in Florida By Ali Sarkhosh Dr. Ali Sarkhosh, Assistant Professor UF/IFAS, Dept. of Horticultural Sciences On Oct 1 st, 2017 the UF/Horticultural Sciences Department welcomed a new member, Dr. Ali Sarkhosh. He will be the new Stone Fruit Extension Specialist and has already taken on tasks of developing his research and extension plans. Dr. Sarkhosh earned his Ph.D. degree in 2010 and before coming to Florida, he worked for both private and public organizations in Australia and New Zealand. Florida may now be positioned to be the only major producer of low-chill stone fruits in the mainland United States. While traditional perennial crops are highly sensitive to interstate competition, low-chill stone fruit is unlikely to face the same challenges if producers can take advantage of a short production window from late March to late May when no other peaches are on the market. However, producing high-quality peach with good fruit size in the optimum market window has been one of the main challenges for peach producers in Florida. In 2016, the Florida peach industry produced over seven million pounds of fruit from an estimated 2,000 acres. This suggests a resurgence of interest in low-chill peach production in Florida, as growers are looking for a profitable substitute fruit crop to citrus. However, low-chill stone fruit production under tropical and subtropical climates has been facing a major challenge that negatively impacts fruit yield and quality. The target market window for Florida peaches is relatively short (late March-late May), and growers need to spend a significant amount of money and time for manual thinning and pruning to meet the market window. Our mission for the Stone Fruit Research and Extension program is to help to expand the Florida stone fruit industry by focusing on optimization of stone fruit production practices (training system, pruning, PGRs, etc.); innovative cultural practices to optimize fruit size and quality; nutrition management in subtropical stone fruits and, rootstock and scion evaluation. We welcome feedback and industry participation in the research and extension priorities. (Continued on page 7) Page 6

7 (Continued from page 6) I work with various UF/IFAS stations around the state and with several multi-county extension agents to address establishment and production issues in stone fruit. I am also responsible for effective communication transfer of research results and improvements in stone fruit production with the goal of expanding a competitive stone fruit and wine grape industry in Florida. In addition, I will also conduct research and extension on Mediterranean and subtropical fruit Container IRRIGation By Tom Yeager and Jeff Million UF/IFAS, Department of Environmental Horticulture such as persimmon, pomegranate, and fig. My aim as an extension specialist is to transfer integrated production system into crop management, which is organizing whole farm strategies and technologies to help farmers to manage multiples activities in a manner to get better productivity and profitability. I believe that effective communication is the key to gaining and maintaining support for coordinated research and extension activities. An irrigation control system for container nurseries (CIRRIG, Container IRRIGation) has been developed at the University of Florida, IFAS. CIRRIG uses on-site weather data, leaching fraction, which is the amount of irrigation drained from container divided by the water applied to container during the irrigation, and irrigation application rate as inputs to automatically adjust irrigation run times daily. The use of CIRRIG is a best management practice for applying irrigation water to container plants. During the past two years, CIRRIG has been evaluated at two nurseries in central Florida. Each evaluation contained two identical irrigated zones of plants. One irrigation zone was controlled by CIR- RIG and the other zone was irrigated by the grower using the nurseries standard irrigation practices. Plants were grown until marketable. An on-site extension educational event was conducted at each site. The events were conducted so that participants could learn about the use of CIRRIG and observe plant growth that resulted from overhead sprinkler and micro-irrigation controlled by CIRRIG or the nurseries standard practices. Dr. Yeager explaining CIRRIG at Cherrylake Nursery. (Continued on page 8) Page 7

8 (Continued from page 7) Participation at each event was limited to approximately 45 persons to facilitate small groups for learning and moving through the production fields. An evaluation was completed by participants. Seventy-eight percent of all participants indicated they were interested in using weather-based irrigation scheduling technology like CIRRIG. In addition, 79% indicated the educational events more than satisfied their expectations. Specific details regarding what to consider prior, during, and after educational events at commercial nurseries will be presented in the Ornamental, Garden, and Landscape session at FSHS annual meeting. That information will be of particular interest to Extension agents with plant production responsibilities. We look forward to seeing you at the Ornamental, Garden, and Landscape session for a discussion about planning and conducting educational events at plant production venues. Horticulture in Fort Lauderdale Drs. Mary Lamberts & George Fitzpatrick The annual meeting in June 2018 will take place in Fort Lauderdale, at the Renaissance Fort Lauderdale Cruise Port Hotel. The last time FSHS was in Fort Lauderdale was 10 years ago, so those of you who attended then will notice some changes, including the fact that the meeting hotel is much closer to the world famous beach. The following is a short list of some of the more significant places of interest to horticulturists that are within an easy drive of the meeting hotel. Bonnet House Museum and Garden 900 North Birch Road, Fort Lauderdale (about 4 miles NE of the hotel) is a 35-acre historic beachfront estate built by Frederick Clay Bartlett, the prominent landscape painter. For many years it was the winter home of Bartlett and his second wife, Evelyn Fortune Bartlett. Although best known for their interest in the arts and philanthropy, the Bartletts were consummate gardeners who were widely known for the lush tropical landscaping of their estate as well as for their extensive orchid collection, which is still on display. Mrs. Bartlett, who lived to be 109, donated the estate to the State of Florida, which currently manages it as a state park. Open Tuesday Saturday, 10 am to 4 pm, Sundays 12 noon to 4 pm, closed Mondays. General admission to the house and grounds: $20 for adults, $16 for students (6 12); gardens only: $10; tram tour: $ (Continued on page 9) Page 8

9 Flamingo Gardens and Everglades Wildlife Sanctuary 3570 Flamingo Road, Davie (about 17 miles west of the hotel) is a 60-acre botanical garden that was designed and planted beginning in 1930 by Frank Stirling, a former president ( ) of FSHS. Flamingo Gardens is the home of the largest collection of Champion Trees in the State of Florida, mostly tropical species that would not survive in areas colder than USDA zone 10. For those interested in history, the restored home of Floyd L. Wray, a former City of Hollywood municipal judge and the original owner of the grove, is decorated as it was in the 1930s and is open for tours. Open daily 9:30 am 5 pm (ticket booth closes at 3 pm). Admission: $19.95 for adults (12+), $12.95 for children (3-11); 20% discount (with ID) for seniors (65+) and college students. Visit the website for a discount coupon ($2 off for adults; $1 off for kids) Butterfly World 3600 West Sample Road, (Tradewinds Park, south side of Sample Road), Coconut Creek (19 miles NNW of the hotel), is a 10-acre collection of aviaries and gardens housing the largest collection of living butterflies and the associated host plants in the State of Florida. Open Monday Saturday, 9 am 5 pm; Sunday, 11 am 5 pm. Adults & senior: $29.95, Children (3-11): $ Fern Forest Nature Center 201 South Lyons Road, Coconut Creek (14 miles NW of the hotel), is a 247-acre county park that contains one of the northernmost tropical hardwood hammocks in Florida, as well as the more familiar bald cypress and low hammock habitats. Marked trails, including some elevated boardwalks, allow visitors to see natural vegetation similar to that in tropical hardwood hammocks in the Florida Keys and other islands to the south. Open daily, 8 am 6 pm. Free admission (Continued on page 10) Page 9

10 (Continued from page 9) Plantation Heritage Park South Fig Tree Lane, Plantation (7.5 miles W of the hotel). This 88-acre park was originally the site of the University of Florida/ IFAS Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center, with abundant tropical flowering trees and palms. The Anne Kolb Memorial Trail, named for a former Broward County Commissioner active in environmental causes, winds through re-created representative plant communities. There is also a Tropical Fruit Grove with trees from Africa, Asia, South America and the Caribbean. Open daily 8 am 7:30 pm; Free admission on weekdays; admission charged on weekends: $1.50 per person or $8 maximum These are just a few examples of horticultural sites of interest in close proximity to the meeting. Information about other attractions is available through the hotel or online through the Greater Fort Lauderdale Visitors Bureau: Fort Lauderdale is well known for its clean and safe beaches. The closest is Fort Lauderdale Beach, which is only a couple of miles East and then North of the Hotel. When you exit the hotel, go East on SE 17 th Street past Pier Sixty-Six Hotel & Marina. The road will curve to the north and take you along the beach. Parking (paid) can be found at various locations. Page 10