Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources / Oklahoma State University

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Oklahoma’s horticulture industry

grows forward

By Fred Causley

Heath Sand, a graduate student with the OSU Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, listens as Merle Jones, superintendent of the water delivery and recycling system for Greenleaf Nursery, details the required water pressure.

For instance, Cherokee County is now the second leading county in the nation in sales of wholesale nursery and greenhouse products, with only a county in California ahead.

Oklahoma State University researchers and Cooperative Extension specialists are working on plant genetics, varietal development, Integrated Pest Management, cultivation, post-harvest management, marketing, and pollution control to build an even stronger horticultural industry in the state.

However, efforts by OSU personnel that have the most immediate effect on economic development in the state’s horticulture industry are right down on the front lines with the producers and entrepreneurs who are actually in the businesses. Examples are many, but the following success stories of collaboration between OSU and horticultural businesses (some small, some large) are but a few examples that have resulted in a financially stronger Oklahoma.

American Plants, Oklahoma City—In addition to wholesaling plants to retail operations, Rod and Donna Moesel have expanded into selling greenhouse structures and actually helping what would seem to be their competition through education.

“We believe the best way to help our business grow is to educate ourselves as well as our clientele,” says Donna Moesel. “There have been a lot of questions we didn’t have the answers to, and we have leaned on OSU quite a bit.”

Rod Moesel’s affiliation with the OSU Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture goes back quite a way. He and emeritus professor Dick Payne created the Oklahoma Greenhouse Growers Association.

“I have worked with OSU since my 4-H days,” he recalls. “Dick Payne, Carl Whitcomb, and Jim Motes were my instructors at OSU and later helped me with my business. John Dole and Mike Schnelle [research scientist and Oklahoma Cooperative Extension specialist, respectively] are my contacts now, and I visit with one or the other several times a month.”

The Moesels say the interchange between growers, researchers, and teachers has been very productive.

“We hold seminars such as, ‘Everything You Wanted to Know About Fertilizer but Were Afraid to Ask,’” says Donna.

“We are matchmakers,” says Rod Moesel. “We match our clients with our knowledge and skills and include OSU’s knowledge and skills when needed.”

Prairie Wind Growers, Noble—Bill and Sally Farris have a small but bustling business supplying perennials, herbs, and some annuals to independent garden centers. They also grow starter plants for other growers to develop into retail sales. Counting themselves, the Farrises employ four people full time, and up to four more on a seasonal basis.

Farris says his first horticultural expertise came through OSU shortcourses, one of which he and Sally attended even prior to buying their business. They also attended Oklahoma Greenhouse Growers Association shortcourses.

The use of Integrated Pest Management is another area which Farris credits to OSU. “Mike Schnelle Cooperative Extension ornamental floriculture specialist] helped me with greenhouse pest control problems and that enabled us to greatly reduce the use of expensive and toxic chemicals. It does save some money, but the biggest savings have been in time,” Farris says. The grower also credits OSU horticulturist Jim Motes, now retired, with putting him in contact with a company that needed rosemary cuttings for sales of that herb. “Our rosemary plantings have increased enough that we now keep several high school students working in the summer just to help with that crop,” Farris says.

American Plants, Inc., in Oklahoma City, owned by Rod and Donna Moesel, is a good example of the cooperation between OSU and private industry keeping a business healthy—and thus improving the state’s economy. The Moesels say they have used advice from OCES specialists from the beginning.

Greenleaf Nurseries, Park Hill—Talk about doing business in a fish bowl! This 570-acre facility, one of the largest in the country, is perched on a bluff overlooking Lake Tenkiller, one of the most popular tourist attractions in northeast Oklahoma.

“We are conspicuous here on the edge of the lake,” says Jim Zangger, Greenleaf president and general manager. “A lot of the people who live here are urbanites from other places without a good understanding of agriculture. If something were to happen to the lake, we would be one of the first places they would blame. We wanted to be in compliance before regulations are passed, simply because it is the right thing to do.”

Greenleaf was already operating under a voluntary agreement with the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture to reduce nitrates and phosphorus and eliminate pesticides in their runoff when they installed a recycling system to make sure they could meet any future environmental demands.

“The Oklahoma Department of Agriculture checks us regularly because we are so close to the lake,” acknowledges David Morrison, vice president of operations for Greenleaf. “We didn’t want to be mandated to do this, so we wanted to put a model system in place.”

That’s when Sharon von Broembsen, with the OSU Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, and Mike Smolen and Ron Elliot, with OSU’s Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering became involved in helping to design a workable system.

“They came to us and we helped define the drainage area, establish runoff volumes, estimate the sizes of drainage holding basins, and determine pump capacities,” Elliott, a soil and water specialist, says. “The project has turned out to be quite successful. It is great to work with an industry leader willing to put resources into our suggestions and then have them willing to share their experiences with their competitors.”

Smolen explains that the research and Extension work that went into helping Greenleaf in this project was co-funded by the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service and the Environmental Protection Agency, as a nonpoint source demonstration.

Water recycling was not new to Greenleaf, which has had a system in operation at their El Campo, Texas, nursery since 1993. But runoff is much harder to control at the Park Hill site, which has some 130 feet in elevation differences among the rolling hilltops.

The answer to the challenge was—like Greenleaf Nurseries—big. Eight holding basins now contain some 62 million gallons of water, preventing any from being returned to the lake except in the event of a half-inch or more rain. One-and-a-half million gallons of water is pumped through the recycling system per day, carrying nutrients back up the hill to have another chance at becoming a part of a beautiful plant rather than undesirable algae bloom downstream.

Greenleaf employs slow-release fertilizers to minimize initial runoff, and total nutrient loading back into the Illinois River basin has been reduced by 98 percent. However, the need for OSU expertise didn’t end with the recycling. With water being used over and over, the opportunity for any existing water-borne plant pathogens to be recycled also increases, providing a potential for them to proliferate.

Von Broembsen and graduate student Shanda Wilson researched the situation at Greenleaf to establish a baseline for a specific indicator pathogen. That done, they are now monitoring the organisms to see if populations increase significantly above the baseline.

Economic development highlights in this story: • Increased sales of greenhouse structures through education to clients • Greenhouse IPM methods save in cost of chemicals and in time • Herb sales provide five part-time jobs, employ youths • Water recycling system provides five full-time jobs. • Plant nutrient loading into Illinois River basin reduced 98 percent • Overall reduction in lake water use of up to 50 percent. • Tourism and associated spending established at 13 locations

So far, the pathogens have not been a problem, but true to Greenleaf style, the action is proactive to head off the problem before it is a problem. The researchers also are working with Greenleaf’s IPM people, watching for any increase in plant disease as the recycled water is used. “There are really three parts to this project,” Smolen explains. “First, one of our graduate students, Heath Sand, is working on Dr. Elliott’s hydraulic model that engineers can use to manage the Greenleaf system and to design systems for other nurseries. Second, Dr. von Broembsen is looking at controlling pathogens in the recycling system. Third, Dr. Mike Schnelle, with OSU’s Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, will help share this state-of-the-art system with the rest of the industry.”

The recycling system has provided five new jobs at the Park Hill site. Prior to recycling, Greenleaf Nurseries was pumping 3,000 gallons of water a minute from the lake 20 hours a day during the growing season. That has been reduced to 10 to 12 hours a day, eliminating runoff and achieving some 50 percent reduction in lake water use.

That translates not only into savings for Greenleaf, but into an increased economy for eastern Oklahoma—and an overall better environment for everyone’s enjoyment.

The Oklahoma Botanical Garden and Arboretum and its Affiliate Gardens—Located on 100 acres west of the OSU campus, the OBGA headquarters includes the studio gardens where the popular Oklahoma Gardening [see story on page 11] television program is produced, turf, nursery, and cut flower research areas, and the Centennial Grove Annex, which is on the corner of Hall of Fame and Farm Road.

Oklahoma is one of only two states with a statewide arboretum system and the only one in which a university’s horticulture department has oversight responsibilities.

“The thirteen Affiliate Gardens located across the state are OBGA members,” explains Dale Maronek, OBGA director and head of the OSU Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture. “They are key to the success of our statewide system, because they help disseminate information through a variety of field days, workshops, and seminars.”

Maronek says the Affiliate Gardens share management and cultural information, participate in a statewide plant evaluation system, and help identify and test new materials to determine which plants are best suited for various parts of the state. This information can be used to help industry produce the best plants for Oklahoma.

A volunteer group known as the OBGA Ambassadors receive special horticulture training from OSU personnel and, in return, they donate work back to the arboretum. They assist with the Oklahoma Gardening program, serve as tour guides, and are involved in the construction, planting and maintenance of many different gardens throughout the arboretum.

Dale Maronek, head of the OSU Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, says the 13 affiliate gardens of the Oklahoma Botanical Garden and Arboretum directly contribute to the state’s economy through increased tourism.

It is the Affiliate Gardens that are currently adding to the economic development of Oklahoma through increased tourism, Maronek says. The campus of Northern Oklahoma College at Tonkawa is an Affiliate Garden, as are the Tulsa Zoo and Living Museum and the Myriad Botanical Gardens and Crystal Bridge in Oklahoma City.

Individuals also host beautiful garden sites, such as the one featured in the accompanying story on Lendonwood Gardens at Grove. For the names, descriptions, and locations of all the Affiliate Gardens, contact the OSU Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture at 405-744-6460.

A recent Gallup survey indicated that Americans spend an average of $710 annually on improving their outdoor living space. Recreational horticulture [use of parks, greenbelts, etc.] is predicted to increase five percent annually over the next 20 years. As the baby boomer generation begins to retire, the demand for yard and garden information is predicted to increase.

Like the small green shoots of a new plant breaking through the soil, horticulture has only one way to grow as a thriving industry for Oklahoma: forward. Look out, California!

Agriculture at OSU Spring / Summer 1998
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Agriculture at OSU is provided for online viewing by the Department of Agricultural Education, Communications, and 4-H Youth Development, Division of Agricultural Science and Natural Resources at Oklahoma State University.