Thank you for your supportive comments on the Fall 92 Newsletter. I sent a few copies to key industry people such as Ron Enomoto and that seems to have been well received. Although I would like to keep my mailing to industry at a minimum, leaving the large mailings to EH Advisers, I could send copies to a few key industry people in each county if you would like. Please let me know.
HONORS: Ali Harivandi, area advisor for turfgrass, soils and water in Alameda, Contra Costa, and Santa Clara counties, received the 1992 Excellence in Research in Turfgrass Culture from the Northern California Turfgrass Council. Dave Burger has been nominated for the 1993 Distinguished Teaching Award at UCD and has been appointed Western Regional Editor for the Proceedings of the International Plant Propagators' Society.
Picnic Day is coming up Saturday, April 17, and our committee of Roy Sachs, Pat Lindsey, Lin Wu, and Sy Gold promises to develop another outstanding exhibit. The theme this year is "Faces to the Future"; I hope we will see some of you there. Last year we enjoyed sipping and nibbling with Alums from the 60's, 70's and 80's. We were able to discuss possibilities for an annual event for Alums and Friends that we could have at the Department. It was generally agreed that Spring was not a good time for those employed in the Green Industries and perhaps a Fall BBQ or something might be better than Picnic Day. I will invite a group to function as a planning committee this Summer. Volunteers?
Thanks to Mike Mellano and Dave Pruitt for helpful comments on Cut Flower Commission
plans regarding problems of the industry. Thank you, too, Karen.
The mistletoe work of John Lichter and Alison Berry was presented in a nice article in the Washington Post. In addition, Alison has also been working with Don Phillips of Agronomy and John Yoder of Vegetable Crops on a new research project on communication between centers of activity in plants and in plants parasites. The research recently won a CAES multidisciplinary award of $18,000.
Malgorzata Serek from the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University in Copenhagen is spending a year working in Mike Reid's laboratory on a variety of projects, including management of potted plants, an area of much interest in Denmark. Niels Ehler and Poul Karlsen, from the same university, visited Dave Burger, Harry Kohl and Ron Lane of the Department to discuss environmental control in greenhouses.
Sy Gold was recently appointed to the Executive Committee of the Ecology Graduate Group at UCD.
Don Durzan has served as a consultant on tree improvement for UNESCO/UNDP aimed at industrial timber estates in Indonesia, as a panel member for the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada evaluating biotechnology for industry, and as advisor to the Nordic Industrial Foundation for transferring genes to forest trees in Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark and Iceland.
Scientists from the Center for Urban Forest Research converged in Los Angeles to meet with officials from Southern California Edison, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. Rowan Rowntree led discussions concerning the Center's cost-share research project designed to test the hypothesis that more trees in cities mean cooler air and lower energy costs. Jim Simpson and Greg McPherson outlined project status and led a tour of experimental sites. The four-year study is the first scientific field test of the commonly-held notion that trees cool urban air by evapotransporation.
Request: If you know of some Ebb&Flow Greenhouse Benches that are not being used, Ron Lane would gladly accept a gift, or special buy; they could help reduce irrigation costs for bedding plant research, such as the petunia molecular genetics projects of Carolyn Napoli and Rich Jorgensen.
We wish Dana Groot well in his new position as Production Manager for Ecke Poinsettia Ranch in San Diego county.
New work in Dave Burger's lab includes evaluation of the Horiba Nitrate Sensor to monitor nitrogen fertility in container-grown nursery stock. A computer driven system that irrigates and fertilizes plants on need could significantly reduce nitrate runoff in production nurseries.
Pat Lindsey and Mark Francis are organizing a four-day People-Plant Symposium to be held at UCD in Spring, 1994. It is sponsored by the American Society of Horticultural Science, Associated Landscape Contractors of America, Wholesale Florist and Florist Suppliers of America, American Horticultural Therapy Association, and Society of American Florists. It is expected that 150-200 papers will be presented and that a symposium volume will be published.
NEW GRANTS THIS YEAR: Roy Sachs, Dave Shaw and Richard Evans have received a Slosson Grant of $15,000 to continue studies on plants for minimum irrigation. Dave and Roy have also received grants to study water recycling from Marin and San Diego Water Districts. Pat Lindsey will be helping them with the research. Richard Evans is studying boron and nitrogen with $26,235 from Joseph Hill and Nor-Am Chemical, and is studying nitrogen leaching, and the role of boron in petal blackening with grants from Roses Inc. The California Cut Flower Commission is supporting Richard Evans' and Mike Reid's work with grants of $9,250. Lin Wu received $76,000 in special funds from UC to continue his research on selenium and salinity, and $1,200 from the Northern California Turfgrass Council. Slosson Foundation grants to Alison Berry, Dave Burger, Roy Sachs and Lin Wu totalled $52,500. Rich Jorgensen is receiving $86,000 a year on his USDA grant on paramutation in petunia. Faculty, staff and students appreciate each dollar.
The Department thanks Jeff Hart (Arborist/Consultant), Frank Chan (PG&E), Ray Tretheway (Sacramento Tree Foundation), Nelda Matheny and Jim Clark (HortScience, Inc.), and Steve Dreistadt (IPM Program, UCD) for lectures given to Alison Berry's course on Woody Plants in the Landscape. Our students really appreciate your input.
Congratulations to Sally Wagner and Brad Fabbri on the birth of their daughter Marissa on March 26.