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Horticulture and Organic Projects

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.

In 2008, Kerr Center entered a new era of horticultural work on the Stewardship Ranch that includes more in-depth work with organic growing methods and evaluations of heritage crop varieties. Click here for information on the 2009 organic garden and trials of heirloom tomatoes and squash varieties.

Organic Projects and Resources

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).

 

 

Contact:

George Kuepper
gkuepper@kerrcenter.com

 


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