2020-2021 Palmer Vegetable Variety trials

Vegetable cultivar trials were conducted in the summers of 2020 and 2021 at the UAF Alaska Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station (AFES) and Matanuska Experiment Farm and Extension Center (MEFEC) (61.5° N, 149.24° W). 2020 was the first year variety trials were held at MEFEC and there was insufficient data on some crops, so those results have been included in the 2021 report.

The goal of the trials is to help local gardeners and farmers choose varieties that perform well in Southcentral Alaska. The soil at the farm is Knik silt-loam with a pH of 7. Plot sizes are small and different results are likely on a larger scale and in different soil types and fertility.

Weather

In 2020, the Palmer growing season started with relatively warm temperatures in May that continued into June, July and August. Precipitation was not particularly great throughout the growing season, with the most precipitation occurring in July. The warm temperatures in May, June, July and August allowed crops that thrive in warmer temperatures to do a little better than expected. In comparison to 2020, the 2021 Palmer growing season started with a cooler May. The cool temperatures continued in June, July and August, with August and September having larger amounts of precipitation. The cooler weather in 2021 seemed to slow germination rates and warm-weather crops did not perform as well in 2021 as they did in 2020.

Experimental Design

In 2020, beans, beets and carrots were grown in replicated trials in a randomized complete block design (RCBD). Fennel, spinach and winter squash were grown in randomized unreplicated or screening trials.

In 2021, the same experimental design was employed, with the addition of Brussels sprouts and celery, which were grown unreplicated.

For the full results of the trials, see Glenna Gannon's full report at afesresearch.uaf.edu/publications. Search for keyword "Palmer."

2020 Vegetable Variety Trials

The results of the 2020 Vegetable Variety Trials are in

In Fairbanks, there were 118 frost-free days (between May 18 and Sept. 11), and although the season started off warm, temperatures for most of the summer were generally cool with greater than average precipitation.

Beans, corn and carrots were grown in replicated trials, while beets, fennel, spinach and winter squash were grown in preliminary trials. Here are the results (greatly simplified) for each crop, according to Glenna Gannon, assistant professor of Sustainable Food Systems.

Beans

Despite the amount of rain in summer 2020, beans performed similarly to previous years. The highest yielding variety was Bountiful, followed by Contender, Rocdor and Provider. In taste tests, Jumbo, Rocdor and Contender fared best.

Carrots

Carrots in general did not fare well in 2020, either due to the wetness of the season or the soil in their new trial location. Half the harvested carrots were deemed unmarketable due to size or legginess. With that in mind, two varieties: Hercules and Eskimo outperformed the others in marketable yield. Napoli, Romance and Bolero scored highest for taste.

Corn

Corn is generally considered a warm-weather crop, however the 118 frost-free days in 2020 was enough time for all the trialed varieties to produce mature ears when planted in IRT plastic mulch. The wet, cool weather delayed maturity by about a week. Some varieties were started indoors, others were direct-seeded under plastic at the same time the others were transplanted outside. Many of the direct-seeded varieties also produced mature ears. More trials are expected on the viability of direct-seeding.

For the full results of these trials and others, see: Gannon's report.

20 years of peonies: A budding industry blooms

In 2001, Pat Holloway planted the first test plot of peonies in Georgeson Botanical Garden. Holloway, at the time a horticulture professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, was studying whether it was possible to raise peonies for the commercial market in Alaska’s harsh climate.

The peony project was nothing new, said Holloway, now a professor emeritus. It started as a 10-year research project at the Agricultural and Forestry and Experiment Station.

“It’s the same thing we’ve been doing for years, and had been doing since the early 1900s in Alaska with just trying things and seeing if they work,” she said. “And this one happened to explode.”

Twenty years later, Holloway’s peony experiment has grown into one of Alaska’s major agricultural commodities and one of the state’s few home-grown exports. More than 135 peony farmers from Fort Yukon to Homer are expected to export about 300,000 peony blossoms this year, with a retail price of about $5 per bloom.

Holloway’s peony experiment started with a chance remark at a conference in the late 1990s. During her talk, she listed some of the flowers that bloom in Alaska, including peonies, colorful, showy blooms that are popular with brides. Afterward, an Oregon flower grower told her “You have something no one else in the world has. You have peonies blooming in July.”

Holloway did some research and discovered that peonies were available around the globe most of the year, but not during July, August and September. The global flower market is huge, and Holloway thought that if Alaska peonies could be grown successfully, they could fill that gap.

“Maybe we could build it up as something that was an export market,” Holloway said. “If we could get an export, then the whole world is our oyster.”

She trialed several varieties of peonies, wrote up the results and posted them online. Her first inkling that there might be commercial interest came when she got a call on a Saturday afternoon from a flower broker in England who had read her research and was excited to find peonies blooming in late summer. He ordered 100,000 stems, to be delivered immediately to a plane heading for London.

“So I’m sitting in my office on a Saturday all by myself just about dying laughing,” she said. She told him that she only had about 30 plants. Later that summer, a visit from a New Zealand couple who grow peonies reinforced the idea that she was on the right track. The couple were wowed by the size and quality of the flowers in the experimental plots and assured Holloway that Alaska peonies would find a ready summer market.

Ron and Marji Illingworth, who own North Pole Peonies, were commercial peony pioneers. They planted 25 peonies, five each of five varieties in 2004. Three did well, one was mediocre and the fifth didn’t survive, Ron Illingworth said. They focused on what worked and in 2010 started growing peonies full-time. This year, his farm’s harvest will total about 40,000 stems, he said. The market for Alaska peonies is constantly expanding.

“Right now in addition to just about any place in the Lower 48, we sell to Canada, we sell to England. We are selling in the Southeast Asia market,” Illingworth said. “It’s something that has great opportunity worldwide as well as domestic.”

Peonies are perfect example of how AFES research led directly to a commercial product.

“If Pat hadn’t had that experience and actually did something with it, and said ‘I need to talk to people,’ this industry would have never started,” Illingworth said.

Spring wheat, grain trials are underway

                                                           The Fairbanks plot. Photo courtesy of Mingchu Zhang

The small grain plots in Palmer and Fairbanks have been successfully seeded with the help of Alan Tonne, Erin Carr, Kieran Gleason and Sergio, a summer student, according to Mingchu Zhang, professor of agronomy. He notes that the germination in the field plots looks good.

When the plot was prepared in May, a few sandhill cranes were still hanging around, but had moved on by the time the plots were seeded. To be safe, Sergio stayed in the field with the F350 Ford truck in case some birds arrived. Alan and Kieran planned to seed some barley in the far field close to irrigation to attract the birds away from the research plots, a proactive approach to safeguard the research plots.

The major purposes of the research in both Palmer and Fairbanks are 1) to select a spring wheat that can be grown in Alaska; 2) to evaluate feed barley that can be used for malting; 3) to select a canola that can be used as a rotational crop and a sunflower that can be used as an alternative crop in Alaska for uses such as bird seed. 

The spring wheat program is a vital part of food security in Alaska. Working with Washington State University's Mount Vernon station, Alaska's Ingal variety was crossed with a Canadian variety to overcome Ingal's shattering issue at maturity while being able to reach maturity in Interior Alaska's short growing season.

To find a six-row feed barley that can also be used as a malting variety, several barley varieties from Sweden and Mount Vernon station were collected with the help of Dr. Steve Jones of WSU's Mount Vernon station. If the selection is successful, Alaska farmers can grow barley to supply the local beer industry. 

In addition, canola varieties are being looked at as a rotational crop in Alaska, which will help with soil health. 

May to see retirements of two AFES researchers

Two longtime faculty with UAF and the Alaska Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station will retire in May — Josh Greenberg and Greg Finstad.

Josh Greenberg

Greenberg is a natural resource economist who has been teaching and researching resource topics for 31 years at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He earned a master’s degree in resource economics at UAF and returned to the university in 1990 after earning a doctorate in agricultural economics at Washington State University. An associate professor, he has taught resource economics, environmental decision making, sustainability and global sustainability, natural resource policy and agricultural concepts.

His research has been equally diverse. Recent projects have evaluated business plans for reindeer meat industry, the feasibility of raising musk ox for qiviut under different scenarios, the effect an industrial road to the Ambler Mining District might have on subsistence communities and the impact of individual fishing quotas on the Alaska sablefish industry. 

Greenberg has specialized in fisheries. His dissertation was a bioeconomic model that looked at the effect of management decisions on the king crab fishery. He studied the demand and allocation of Alaska and Canada snow crab; extending the federal crop insurance program to commercial fisheries; changes in fishery regulations affecting the red king crab; walleye pollock, halibut, tanner and snow crabs and salmon fisheries; and the economics of subsistence bowhead whaling.

Greenberg retires May 8 and plans to move to the Branford, Connecticut, where he and his wife, Andrea, have many siblings, nieces and nephews. They grew up in the area.

 He has mixed feelings about the move. “I really love it up here,” he said. “The university has been a great place.” 

He has enjoyed teaching students and camping, fishing and gardening in Alaska. At the same time, he looks forward to being closer to family, good seafood and New York City.

Josh Greenberg served on the UAF Faculty Senate and most recently chaired the university’s Master Planning Committee.

Greg Finstad has worked on developing a red meat industry in Alaska for 38 years as the head of the university’s Reindeer Research Program. A research associate professor of range ecology, Finstad researched the best combinations of feed and forage, range management and how the reindeer diet and slaughter methods affect the quality of meat. 

Greg Finstad

His research was conveyed through workshops, consultations and the High Latitude Range Management certificate course that he developed and helped teach through the Northwest Campus in Nome.

Challenges to reindeer production in rural Alaska include a lack of slaughter facilities that would allow producers to process reindeer according to state and federal standards. Finstad worked with tribal entities that own herds on the Seward Peninsula and St. Paul and St. Lawrence islands to demonstrate hygienic field slaughter methods. 

He remains optimistic about the development of a reindeer industry and its potential. His research and work by Josh Greenberg, who developed business plans for reindeer enterprises, built a foundation that reindeer operations could use in the future. 

“Everything is there for a group of people to take it on and run with it,” he said. 

After his May 10 retirement, Finstad and his wife, Bev, plan to stay in Fairbanks. A son and a daughter live here, along with three granddaughters, ages 12, 10 and 8.

His said his decision to retire was made in part based on his experience with COVID-19 in the earliest days of the pandemic. He contracted COVID during a trip Outside to attend his father’s funeral, and he nearly died from it. He is what they call a long hauler, someone who continues to feel symptoms of COVID after recovering from the acute phase. He is easily fatigued and has lower energy levels.

He used to use his hard-driving energy to get projects done at night. Now, he jokes, “I am a mere mortal.” 

As a mere mortal, he still has many plans. He and his wife are building a cabin on the Wood River, which flows into the Tanana between Fairbanks and Nenana. He also plans to help his daughter build a house in Fairbanks. He bought a new boat for Valdez and they also hope to travel.  

Good luck to both of these researchers.

OneTree Alaska distributes birch-tapping kits for season

Liam Quirk and his dad, Bill, drill in a birch tree near
Fairbanks to install a tap. Photo by Marlo Saenz

Birch sap will start flowing soon and, starting today, OneTree Alaska will distribute 200 birch tapping kits to Interior residents who are interested in learning about birch tapping. 

 

This year, the kits will cost $40 and participants will have the opportunity to participate in a citizen science activity. The kits come with instructions, gear and a recipe or two. OneTree lead Jan Dawe said One Tree will produce home tapping kits for “all who want to work with their trees, experience the icy fresh taste of sap and try their hand at making birch syrup at home.”

 

Participants may observe, record and submit their daily sap flow data to OneTree. Dawe said the goal is understanding how sap is moving across the Tanana Valley Watershed and how climate change may be impacting early spring events in the annual life cycle of birch. Those who participate will receive a 4-ounce jar of birch syrup.  She would also like to collect data from individuals who received the kits last year and plan to participate again. 

 

Individuals may pick up kits at the OneTree Studio in the Lola Tilly Commons from 4-6 p.m. today, by appointment and will continue each day as supplies last. Contact OneTree at onetreealaska@gmail.com. The entrance is on the side facing Patty Gym. Contact OneTree if you want to arrange a weekend pickup.

 

 UAF climate scientist Rick Thoman has forecast that sap will begin flowing the third week of April and the median forecast date for green-up is May 13, five days later than average.

 

The OneTree program is affiliated with the University of Alaska Fairbanks Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station. The program provides forest education to students, and conducts research on birch sap processing methods and on the conditions that lead to when sap flow begins and peaks. 

 

 

 

Tree ring research provides clues to reconstruct climate

A doctoral student who used facilities at the Fairbanks Experiment Farm to study driftwood logs used in ancient houses in northwest Alaska presented her research at the 21st World Wood Day Virtual Symposium March 21-23.

Archeological timbers were found at
several sites in Northwest Alaska.

Emeritus Professor Glenn Juday said Juliette Taïeb completed tree ring work in 2018 using his lab and wood-handling facilities at the experiment farm.

Her presentation was titled "Climatic value of Thule architectural wood remains from northwestern Alaska (AD 850-1650): a dendroarchaeological approach,"  which she co-authored with Juday and other members of her doctoral committee. Taïeb is studying at the University of Paris Pantheon Sorbonne.

The tree ring research involved the study of driftwood logs used in ancient houses at several sites on the northwest coast of Alaska and the Seward Peninsula area, including old Kotzebue.

Juday described highlights of the research. “We have successfully cross-dated dozens of archeological timbers that now have dramatically improved the sample numbers of ring width chronologies that are available to reconstruct climate from 1000 AD to 1650s AD. Previously only one or two trees contributed to the reconstruction of a few of the early centuries, making the reconstructions weak or suspect. Juliette also extended the cross-dated tree ring chronology back to AD 812, over one additional century from what was available previously.”

She will join Juday and another committee member, Claire Alix, for a joint presentation at the annual meeting of the Society of American Archeology (online) April 15-17.

 

 

Researchers and producers to meet for Harvest Wrap-up

The annual Delta Harvest Wrap-up will take place by Zoom from 6-8:30 p.m. March 11.

The gathering provides an opportunity for agricultural producers to hear about current research and talk about the past season and research needs. Participants must register for the Wrap-up to receive a registration link. Register here.

This year's topics include cereal crops and cover crops, malting barley and wheat breeding selections, understanding pure live seed requirements, the cleavers weed, wild buckwheat challenges and program updates from the USDA Farm Service agency.

The UAF Cooperative Extension Service hosts the event. For more information, contact Phil Kaspari at pnkaspari@alaska.edu or 907-895-4215.

   

 

Glenn Juday on KUAC's Northern Soundings tonight

Northern Soundings program on KUAC FM will feature Emeritus Professor Glenn Juday tonight at 7.

The forest ecologist will talk with host Robert Hannon about his forestry research and the early indications of climate change. Juday retired from UAF in 2014, but he continues his research.

The promo from KUAC says, "Some scientists are content to collect data and publish papers. That isn’t UAF professor emeritus Glenn Patrick Juday. His early forestry research suggested big climatic changes were underway, and his sense of social justice spurred him to share his knowledge with policymakers and the public. Tune in to Northern Soundings tonight at 7 on KUAC FM, KUAC online and KUAC TV 9.6.

The program includes conversations with writers, artists, scientists, historians, and the people who live in the North.

If you missed it, the conversation was drawn from a Down Memory Lane event recording.

Juday and UAF graduate students make forest
measurements.

 

 

 

Long-range plan developed for Experiment Farm

The U.S. Department of Agriculture developed a federal experiment station in Fairbanks in 1906,  years before the territory founded a university there. 

Since its beginnings, the Fairbanks Experiment Farm's primary mission has been to develop reliable, research-based information for farmers and gardeners. Its agricultural and forestry research and educational outreach continue. A long-range plan for the farm, which includes the Georgeson Botanical Garden, has been developed and posted on the Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station website. 

The plan includes an introduction from the chancellor and describes the farm’s history and its current research and outreach. It outlines the farm’s challenges, opportunities and possibilities for its future, which include increased collaborations for research, teaching and outreach, including farmer education programs. The plan also describes long-range objectives and recommended short-, mid- and long-term actions. 

The project took more than a year to complete and was developed by a committee led by Katie DiCristina, the manager of the Georgeson Botanical Garden. Other members were Alan Tonne, Mingchu Zhang, Heidi Rader, Glenna Gannon and Debbie Carter from the Institute of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Extension (IANRE) and Karl Petterson and Jennifer Campbell from UAF Facilities Services. Milan Shipka, the acting director of IANRE, provided guidance.

This is a companion to the long-range plan for the Matanuska Experiment Farm and Extension Center, also on the AFES website. Milan Shipka said, "It is my hope that these plans will be used to guide changes and developments at both facilities for the coming decade or so." 

Bob Van Veldhuizen harvests wheat at the farm.

2020 Vegetable Variety Trial Success Story

This blog post was originally published on December 21, 2020, there is still time to give your thoughts on the survey below. Also, check out one of our success stories recently posted here on Variety Trials. In addition here are some reports from past trials. You can also view a few videos on the 2020 Squash Variety Trials and the 2020 Bean Variety Trials on our YouTube page. 

 

Finding vegetable variety trials that grow well in Alaska has been a goal of experiment stations from their earliest days. With Alaska's changing climate, different varieties may do well now that haven't before. New varieties are also introduced and need to be tested.

 

Glenna Gannon, who coordinates the variety trials at the UAF Fairbanks and Matanuska experiment farms, wants to know what varieties or vegetables you would like to have tested during the 2021 season. Each variety is tested for plant vigor, bolting sensitivity, uniformity, pest and disease resistance and taste.

 

If you have suggestions, please fill out this survey from the Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station. Contact Glenna Gannon at gmgannon@alaska.edu if you have questions.

The gardening potential of the Far North

By Ned Rozell

More than 100 years ago, a man traveled north on a mission most people thought was ridiculous — to see if crops would grow in the frozen wasteland known as the Territory of Alaska.

Charles C. Georgeson
Photo by E.W. Merrill

That man, Charles C. Georgeson, was a special agent in charge of the U.S. government’s agricultural experiment stations. The secretary of agriculture charged Georgeson with the task of finding out if crops and farm animals could survive in the mysterious land acquired just 31 years earlier from the Russians.

When he landed at Sitka, Georgeson set in motion agricultural studies that are still carried on today at the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station. 

that crops could indeed survive in the Far North, some better than others. 

Georgeson quickly helped establish other experimental stations: a Kodiak station in 1898, one at Rampart on the Yukon River in 1900, and another at Copper Center in 1903. The final two stations were at Fairbanks, which opened in 1906; Matanuska, which was established nine years later; and the Palmer Research Center, in 1948

Federal interest in Alaska agriculture waned during World War I and the Great Depression. By 1932, the agricultural stations at Sitka, Kenai, Rampart, Kodiak and Copper Center had all closed despite some success (For example: Grain and potatoes did well at Rampart; the Sitka hybrid strawberry is among the hardiest of all breeds; and cattle and sheep thrived at the Kodiak station until the eruption of Novarupta volcano in 1912 coated the pastures with up to 18 inches of ash).

Charles Georgeson stands next
to an apple tree in Sitka.
Photo by E.W. Merrill

The Fairbanks and Matanuska stations have endured. Horticulturists and  animal breeders today carry on the same type of experiments Georgeson did more than 100 years ago, finding species of plants and animals capable of adapting to the Far North’s extremes in day length and temperature.

From crossbreeding studies came first the Sitka hybrid strawberry, developed by Georgeson in 1905. Agriculture and Forestry Experiment Station researchers have bred a few dozen other varieties that thrive in the north, including the Alaska frostless potato (1970, in the Matanuska Valley), Yukon chief corn (1974, in Fairbanks), and the Toklat strawberry (1976, in Fairbanks). 

Today, Alaska-grown crops and animals account for less than 10 percent of what Alaskans consume. But the potential for more is here. Crops and animals do well in some areas of Alaska, such as the Tanana and Matanuska valleys. Someday it may not be cheaper to import foods from outside Alaska. Maybe then Georgeson’s dream of Alaska as an agricultural state will be realized. 

Since the late 1970s, the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Geophysical Institute has provided this column free in cooperation with the UAF research community. Ned Rozell is a science writer for the Geophysical Institute. A version of this column appeared in 1998.