Poinsettias ready for the Hortus Forum sale.

Cornell’s student horticulture club, Hortus Forum, presents it’s annual Poinsettia Sale:

December 7 & 8
7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
KPL Greenhouse #9 [Map]

6” pots: $12; $10 pre-order
10” pots: $25; $20 pre-order

Pre-orders are being taken right now!

Contact Mason Newark at mjn68@cornell.edu to place your pre-order now.

Live view of the poinsettias via the Dept. of Horticulture greenhouse cam.

Feeding an Empire State – Feature focusing on local foods movement in New York: “Most new farms today are starting small and marketing local,” says Anu Rangarajan, a senior extension associate in the Department of Horticulture and director of the Cornell Small Farms Program. “We need to develop the infrastructure to provide more assistance to these farmers to tap into marketing, distribution, and processing systems and help them identify and produce the right type and right quality of foods for local markets.”

Wine Microbiology students evaluate grapes in the CALS Teaching Winery.

Aspiring Vintners Move into New Teaching Winery – Short report on new teaching winery at Cornell Orchards: “The $900,000, 1,800-square-foot winery, attached to the Cornell Orchards, acts as the Ithaca hub for CALS’ new viticulture and enology undergraduate major, which enrolls roughly 30 students and draws on more than 50 faculty members from the horticulture, food science technology, plant pathology, and applied economics and management departments.

Mann’s Rooftop Garden Named for Dean Susan Henry – Working with students in Peter Trowbridge’s landscape architecture class, John Dyson ’65, past chair of the CALS Advisory Council, and Janet McCue, former director of Mann Library, oversaw the beautification of the space—once an unsightly concrete expanse. The garden will be maintained by Nina Bassuk, professor of horticulture, and her students.

New Apple Selections Are Fast-Tracked at 30 NY Orchards – Thirty New York orchard owners are growing new apple selections developed at CALS’ Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva to test whether the apples could be a commercial success.

This is the second online botanical illustration course developed by Eames-Sheavly, a Kaplan Family Distinguished Faculty Fellow. It joins Botanical Illustration I: Basic Drawing Techniques in the growing stable of distance learning courses offered by the Department of Horticulture, which also includes online courses in organic gardening and plant propagation.

Both of the six-week botanical illustration courses will be offered this winter. Cost is $500 and enrollment is limited to 20 students.

“The new watercolor course is designed to encourage your discovery of plants as the subject of art and to express your interest in the plant world by introducing color to your botanical illustration repertoire,” says Eames-Sheavly.

The majority of her previous participants were new to online courses, she adds. But most quickly got the hang of sharing ideas with fellow participants in the forum and interacting with the instructor. “It’s common for students to be nervous about taking an online course at first. But they’re well-supported and feeling confident by the end.”

For more information, visit the Department of Horticulture’s Distance Learning site.

The New York Beginning Farmer Project also offers Beginning Farmer 101 online courses. The next one, Markets and Profits: Making Money Selling What You Grow, starts Jan. 8.

Bill Thompson

From Jenny Rothenberg:

After 31 years of hard work and dedication, it’s time to take a permanent vacation! Please join us as we celebrate and offer Bill Thompson best wishes in his retirement.

Wednesday, December 9th
1 pm – 3 pm
KPL Greenhouses, Tower Road

Refreshments will be provided, just bring a smile and some good stories!

We are working on preparing a scrapbook for Bill to keep. We would like everyone to write a little something to or about Bill. Please send us your contributions as soon as possible, and we will place them in the book for you. If you prefer to write your own in the book, just let us know and we will find a time for you to do so.

Any donation towards gifts is greatly appreciated. A card will be available for everyone to sign. We are attempting to keep details of the party a secret, so please do not call 255-5494. Contact Kim Goodwin by cell phone or email (kg10@cornell.edu, 227-5890) with any questions, donations, and contributions.

We look forward to seeing you there!

New wineries are sprouting up around the state, investments are growing, and visits by tourists and wine lovers have increased by more than 20 percent since 2003, despite record gasoline prices in 2008.

A survey of 169 wineries conducted by the National Agricultural Statistics Service, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, found that the state wine industry not only has weathered the recession but also has exploded in size.

Read the whole article.

Garden-Based Learning Program

This internship will provide the opportunity for a Cornell University student(s) with a demonstrated interest in garden-based learning to engage in an intensive experience over the course of two consecutive fall and spring semesters (Fall 2010 and Spring 2011). The student will work with the Cornell Garden-Based Learning Program to carry out activities with Kids Growing Food, a project of the NYS Ag in the Classroom Program.

Read full description.

Questions? Contact Marcia Eames-Sheavly, ME14@cornell.edu

Dilmun Hill student organic farm.

November 12 article in the Cornell Daily Sun: Part-Time Farmers: Dilmun Hill Student Farm:

“‘I got the opportunity to manage a market garden and engage in all of the other components of a running a farm,’ said Davis Archer ‘11, a natural resources major. ‘In this way, Dilmun Hill is a really unique and outstanding opportunity for experiential learning and personal growth.’”

Read the whole story.

New York Marcellus Shale Natural Gas Education Summit: Challenges and Opportunities, Monday, November 30, 2009

Cornell Cooperative Extension, in collaboration with a number of local and statewide partners, will host a Marcellus Shale Natural Gas Summit at the Owego Treadway Inn, in Owego, NY, on Monday, November 30 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Local government officials, landowner coalition representatives, citizens seeking more information, industry representatives, environmental advocates, emergency responders, researchers and educators are encouraged to attend.

Cornell faculty and educators will join with other professionals to address such educational workshop topics as the Geology of the Shale; Municipalities and the Marcellus Shale; Environmental, Water and Regulatory Issues; Local Government Preparation; Workforce Development and Small Business Application; Landowner management; Legal Issues; Water and Wells; Community Development; Taxation, Revenues, and Property Valuation; State and National Energy Plans.

The summit is open to the public; registration fee is $40. Summit information, including a media release, sponsorship information and a registration link, may be found at gasleasing.cce.cornell.edu .

A dilute alcohol solution limits paperwhite growth and keeps them from flopping over.

It’s that time of year:

Thousands of flower-bulb lovers will ‘force’ paperwhites inside so they can enjoy their blooms during the darkest days of the year. And thanks to an undergrad research project carried by Erin Finan (’05) under the supervision of Bill Miller, many of those bulb-forcers won’t have to stake, tie, or otherwise support the usually floppy paperwhites.

It all started when Leslie Land from the New York Times asked Bill if the folk wisdom was true that adding liquor to water used to grow forced bulbs would keep them shorter and less likely to fall over.

Land picks up the story in her January 12, 2006 Gardening Q&A column:

“When addressed in this space last February, the gin tip elicited cautious support from Bill Miller, the director of the Flower Bulb Research Program at Cornell University. He said he could imagine how alcohol (ethanol) might promote short, sturdy stems if you added just the right amount, because it could interfere with water uptake. Flowers would not be affected but less water pressure on the stem cells would result in less cell-stretching, so stems would be shorter. But he said he doubted there could be a universal formula. ‘I can guarantee you nobody’s studied this,’ he added.

“Now someone has. With the help of one of his horticulture students, Erin Finan, Dr. Miller started running experiments. In brief, what they discovered is that stems will end up roughly a third shorter than normal if you take the following steps.

“Start your bulbs in plain water. When roots have formed and the green shoot is 1 to 2 inches long, pour off the water and replace with a solution of 4 to 6 percent alcohol. If you are using 80 proof liquor (40 percent alcohol), that works out to one part gin (or the like) to 7 parts water.

“Rubbing alcohol (either 70 or 100 percent isopropyl alcohol) can be substituted; just remember to dilute it more. Keep the beer and wine for yourself; their sugars damage plants.”

Since 2005, the results of Erin’s simple experiment have been featured in scores of magazine articles, gardening columns, newscasts and blogs around the globe, including Parade Magazine, der Spiegel, CNN, MSNBC, and NPR’s Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me:

From leggy to compact, paperwhites from Erin's experiment.

Here’s the original paper (or view printer-friendly .pdf file):

Pickling your Paperwhites

Using Alcohol to Reduce Growth of Paperwhite Narcissus

William B. Miller
Professor of Horticulture
Director of the Flowerbulb Research Program
Cornell University

The paperwhite narcissus is a popular bulb for indoor forcing in the winter months. Unlike most other daffodils, paperwhites (Narcissus tazetta) do not require a cold period. They are simply planted in pots with soil, or even more commonly, in dishes or bowls with gravel, marbles or other decorative material. With a little water, they rapidly form roots, grow leaves and shoots. The white, fragrant flowers usually open up within 2-3 weeks of planting.

A common problem with paperwhites, however, is that they often grow too tall and flop over. Recent research conducted by the Flowerbulb Research Program at Cornell University has found a simple and effective way to reduce stem and leaf growth of paperwhites. The “secret” is using dilute solutions of alcohol. Properly used, the result is paperwhites that are 1/3 to 1/2 shorter, with equal sized flowers that last as long as normal.

What to do:

We suggest planting your paperwhite bulbs in stones, gravel, marbles, glass beads, etc. as usual. Add water as you normally would, then wait about 1 week until roots are growing, and the shoot is green and growing about 1-2″ above the top of the bulb. At this point, pour off the water and replace it with a solution of 4 to 6% alcohol, made from just about any “hard” liquor. You can do the calculations to figure the dilution, but, as an example, to get a 5% solution from a 40% distilled spirit (e.g., gin, vodka, whiskey, rum, tequila), you add 1 part of the booze to 7 parts of water. This is an 8-fold dilution yielding 5% alcohol.

Then, simply use this solution, instead of water, for further irrigation (watering) of your bulbs. It’s as simple as that. The result will be a plant that is 1/3 shorter, but with flowers just as large, fragrant, and long-lasting as usual. But, the plant will be nicely proportioned and won’t need support stakes, wires, or other gizmos to keep it upright. You will see results within just a few days. You can have some fun by doing a simple experiment having one bowl of bulbs given normal water and the other given the alcohol. You will see a dramatic difference, as shown in the picture. This could be a neat activity to occupy kids during the upcoming holiday season!

A few other thoughts:

• Do not use beer or wine, as the sugars in them will cause major problems with the plants
• As with humans, paperwhites can also suffer alcohol overdoses! We suggest 4-6% alcohol as a normal and safe range. If plants are given much more than 10% alcohol, growth problems will start, and 25% alcohol is dramatically toxic. So, moderation is the key!
• It is not strictly necessary pour off the water after the plants are rooted (as we suggest above). You can just as well add your 5% alcohol without pouring the water off. The result, though, will be a lower than optimal alcohol concentration around the roots, and, ultimately, growth will not be reduced as much as you expect. The reason to pour off the water is to simply maximize the alcohol level around the roots.
• Basically, the higher the alcohol concentration (within reason), the shorter the plants. So it is not critical whether you use 4, 5, or 6% alcohol. Just stay well below 10%, where growth problems become noticeable.
• If you do not have alcohol for consumption in your household, rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol) works just as well. Since this is usually 70% alcohol when purchased, a dilution of 1 part rubbing alcohol to 10 or 11 parts water is appropriate.
• Why does this happen? We are currently working on this, but we feel it is simply “water stress,” where the alcohol makes it more difficult for the plant to absorb water. The plant suffers a slight lack of water, enough to reduce leaf and stem growth, but not enough to affect flower size or flower longevity.
• I thank Erin Finan (Cornell ’05, horticulture undergrad) who worked on this as a senior project, and to Leslie Land of the New York Times who first posed the question “Does gin affect paperwhites?” to me in early 2005. Jan Doornbosch of International Bulb Co. in New Jersey graciously supplied bulbs, and Group 1 of the Royal Dutch Wholesalers’ Association for Flowerbulbs and Nursery Stock, Hillegom, The Netherlands, provided financial support for this work.

The effect of alcohol on growth of ‘Ziva’ paperwhite narcissus. Left: Untreated plant, growing in pebbles with water. Right: Plant in pebbles, grown with 5% alcohol instead of water.