News Stories - Page 186

This clump of Romano Dutch iris was planted almost 20 years ago in Savannah. CAES News
Dutch iris competes for garden attention
The Dutch iris is relatively trouble-free and should bloom in May and June. Most references suggest a cold hardiness of zones 6 through 9, but gardeners tout a return in zone 5 when a protective layer of mulch has been added. They need plenty of sun to bloom their best, though a little afternoon shade would be tolerated.
Carol Robacker (left) and Melanie Harrison, both scientists based on the University of Georgia campus in Griffin, Georgia, worked together on a project that resulted in three new little bluestem grasses. Robacker is a horticulturist with the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and Harrison is a scientist with the USDA Plant Genetic Resources Conservation Unit. CAES News
Native prairie grasses bred as colorful landscape plants, wildlife habitats
Landscapers can soon add a bit of Georgia’s historical Piedmont and native prairies to their designs thanks to the creation of three new little bluestem perennial grasses, released through a University of Georgia and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) partnership.
Judges in the preliminary round of the University of Georgia's Flavor of Georgia Food Product Development Contest have chosen 33 products from around Georgia to compete in the final round of the competition. CAES News
Thirty-three finalists selected for UGA's Flavor of Georgia contest
Judges have selected 33 products to compete in the final round of the University of Georgia’s 2017 Flavor of Georgia Food Product Contest in Atlanta on March 21.
Based on the UGA Tifton Campus, Ron Gitaitis researches bacterial diseases on Vidalia onions, and he was the first scientist to discover three species of onion bacteria. He has published numerous reports and journal articles, and has mentored scientists at UGA and other institutions throughout his career. Many of his discoveries shaped production practices in the Vidalia region. CAES News
UGA Professor Ron Gitaitis named to Vidalia Onion Hall of Fame
Ron Gitaitis, a plant pathologist with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, was inducted into the Vidalia Onion Hall of Fame by the Vidalia Onion Committee at the committee’s annual awards banquet, held on Feb. 4 at the Vidalia Community Center in Vidalia, Georgia.
Joe West (third from left), assistant dean of the UGA Tifton Campus, shakes hands with Tom Stallings, owner of Funston Gin in Funston, Georgia. Stallings donated cotton-harvesting equipment to UGA's C.M. Stripling Irrigation Research Park (SIRP), which West oversees. Also pictured are SIRP employees (left to right) Ivey Griner, Superintendent Calvin Perry and B.J. Washington. CAES News
South Georgia cotton gin donates equipment to UGA's C.M. Stripling Irrigation Research Park
A south Georgia cotton gin is helping the University of Georgia’s C.M. Stripling Irrigation Research Park (SIRP) harvest cotton more efficiently thanks to their donation of a cotton module builder and cotton boll buggy.
'Ice Follies' daffodils return faithfully each year to the Coastal Georgia Botanical Gardens in Savannah, Georgia. CAES News
Narcissus: The official trumpets of spring bring incredible joy
With the arrival of the narcissus, the first hint of spring is trumpeting, so to speak, in the South.
Members of the research team prepare to test multispectral, hyperspectral and thermal cameras that will record data on plant characteristics last summer at the Iron Horse Plant Sciences Farm near Athens. The tractor used for preliminary testing will be replaced by all-terrain robots and unmanned aerial vehicles during the growing season this spring and summer. CAES News
Crop scientists and engineers team up to help improve crops with robotic technology
It may be a while before robots and drones are as common as tractors and combine harvesters on farms, but high-tech tools may soon play a major role in helping feed the world’s rapidly growing population.
Healthy peanuts compared to peanuts infected with white mold disease. CAES News
Warm winter temperatures spark fears of potential plant diseases
A La Nina weather pattern is providing warmer winter temperatures for Georgia residents, sparking farmers’ concerns about potential plant diseases at the start of production season in early spring.
University of Georgia horticulture professor Donglin Zhang worked with a team of American and Chinese scientists in fall 2016 to help identify tea varieties that might work well in the American South. Zhang and his colleagues visited tea fields in China as part of a research trip sponsored by the USDA and the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture. CAES News
UGA ornamental plant breeder aims to bring a new brew to the U.S. – locally grown tea
Sweet tea may be the “house wine” of the American South, but very, very few of the tea leaves used in the thousands of gallons of tea Southerners drink every year is grown nearby.