View a slide show of some recent photos of the horticulture project at the Kerr Center
The Kerr Center has a long history of work in horticulture. Projects
have included small fruit and vegetable production, U-pick marketing,
shiitake mushrooms, sweet sorghum, Christmas trees, paw paws, and production
of bedding plants.
Kerr Center is converting about ten acres
of pasture to certified organic status as our main demonstration and
research site, including five acres dedicated to organic horticultural
demonstrations. The site features a long-term soil-building
rotation based on cover crops, green manures, and modest inputs of compost. There
is a hoop house, greenhouse, and compost area.
Organic
production is not new at the Kerr Center. For much of its 15-year
history, our original 20-acre horticultural farm was certified organic
through the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry.
Recycling nutrients and building up the soil through natural means
has been the goal of many projects over the years. The staff has experimented
with cover crops, compost, and crop rotations to build soil fertility.
These are old techniques that had largely been abandoned; yet they work
extremely well.
Cover crops such as purple hull peas or crimson clover add nitrogen
to the soil. They also can prevent soil erosion, increase organic matter
(which in turn enhances biological activity in the soil) and improve
soil structure so that water is more available to crops.
An increasing number of farmers and gardeners in Oklahoma and the South
are growing crops organically and need information. Kerr Center
offers farmers and gardeners a variety of resources and publications
on organic production and transitioning to organic production, certification,
and processing (see Organics link below).
Horticulture Projects
The new horticultural thrust will build on the lessons of our earlier
experiences—trying
some new ideas and re-evaluating some old ones.
Development of the horticulture project is intertwined with Kerr Center’s
Internship program, with student interns actively involved in all phases
of production and study. Results will be shared widely through
field days, workshops, and publications.
Horticultural crops are well suited to the small acreages so common
in much of Oklahoma and are ideal for value-added businesses and direct
marketing. Finding the crops best adapted to Oklahoma climate and soils,
as well as to the small farmer’s wallet has been an important goal
of the Horticulture Farm.
Center projects have included growing U-pick
blueberries, strawberries and blackberries as well as greenhouse bedding
plants (using composted chicken litter as a potting medium), vegetables,
ornamental trees and Christmas trees.
In 1989, the Kerr Center staff led by Alan Ware began growing shiitake
mushrooms on small oak logs. These tasty Japanese mushrooms sell for
high prices, and are relatively easy to grow. This popular project spawned
regular workshops and numerous requests for information and resulted
in a production manual describing small scale how to produce shiitake
mushrooms on logs outdoors.
One crop that has been grown each year for more than ten years is sweet
sorghum. Sorghum grows well in the area, and was a common crop in pre-World
War II Oklahoma. A demand still exists for the syrup as a value-added
specialty crop.
The Kerr Center offers a manual, Sweet
Sorghum: Production and Processing, which describes a small
scale, commercial operation with extensive background information.
Heritage (Heirloom) Varieties
Heritage (or heirloom) varieties are what some call old-fashioned—non-hybrids.
Some of these were developed in specific geographic locations and so
are well-adapted to specific climates. Sometimes these varieties offer
greater disease resistance and sometimes better flavor. Often they come
in a greater variety of colors and shapes.
In previous years, Kerr specialist David Redhage conducted several
trials of traditional vegetable varieties. In the summer of 2008, the
Kerr Center's School of Sustainability evaluated 30 heirloom okra varieties
and 20 heirloom sorghum varieties. The results are available online,
along with a new overview of heirloom varieties and their importance
for sustainable agriculture (see resources below).
