Missouri State University
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At the Missouri State Fruit Experiment Station

Staff milestones

Posted on by Marilyn Odneal

The State Fruit Experiment Station staff went to the Missouri State Staff Appreciation Banquet today. Milestones reached by our staff members included Jack Atchison’s 10 years of service, John Avery’s 25 years of service, Marilyn Odneal’s 30 years of service and Joe Wright’s retirement in 2011. Dr. Frank Einhellig and President Clif Smart honored the staff members. Thanks to Susanne Howard for taking photos of us at the banquet.

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Liming the vineyards

Posted on by Marilyn Odneal

Our new, narrow Stoltzfus vineyard lime spreader works great according to Randy Stout and Jeremy Emery. We are applying lime in the dormant season hoping that the freezing and thawing of the soil will work the time in. Our soil sample analysis results showed that our vineyards were tending toward the acid side and we are liming to raise the pH.

Loading lime in the spreader
Loading lime in the spreader
The application swath is about 40 feet wide
The application swath is about 40 feet wide
The swaths are overlapped
The swaths are overlapped
The lime is being applied to the Norton in the North Vineyard
The lime is being applied to the Norton in the North Vineyard

 

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Home winemaking workshop

Posted on by Marilyn Odneal
Todd Frye at Ozark Home Brewery
Todd Frye of Ozark Home Brewery is a presenter at the home winemaking workshop

Our home winemaking workshop was held yesterday. Forty-three people participated in th eall day workshop that included lectures and demonstrations in the morning and early afternoon followed by at tour of the winery distillery; a wine flaws display including examples of cort taint, high sulfite content, oxidation and bitartrate crystals; and ending with a tasting of MSU wines. Dr. Karl Wilker of the Mountain Grove Cellars and Mr. Todd Frye of the Ozark Home Brewery presented the home winemaking information. Marilyn Odneal presented information on Missouri grapes for home winemaking. Carrie Crews gave a lunch time presentation on the VESTA online grape and wine program and C. J. Odneal led the tour of the winery/distillery. There was discussion by a fellow from Licking, Missouri on establishing a home winemaking club in the area. If anyone in south central Missouri is interested in this, please email winemaking@centurytel.net to get more information.

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Pruning the West Catawbas

Posted on by Marilyn Odneal
This morning the field crew is continuing pruning Catawba grapevines. We have pruned some Norton as well. Both Norton and Catawba are cold hardy varieties that we can prune earlier in the domrant season. We wait until later to prune the more winter tender varieties so we might be able to assess possible winter injury that may have occurred and leave extra buds.
Catawba pruning
Jack, Ryan and Derek prune the West Catawba leaving about 40 buds per plant in this vineyard. They left more buds in the Research Catawba since the vines were larger.

 

 

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Last red maple showing

Posted on by Marilyn Odneal

The October Glory red maple is still putting on its fall show even after the other red maples have lost their leaves. Our red maple row from south to north consists of the following cultivars; Brandywine, Autumn Flame, Armstrong, Somerset, October Glory, Red Sunset, Sun Valley, and Autumn Blaze.  All of the cultivars were planted in 1999 and were donated to our horticulture garden by Mike Shade of the Botany Shop in Joplin.

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All dressed up for the Banquet

Posted on by Marilyn Odneal

The 73rd William H. Darr School of Agriculture Scholarship and Awards Banquet was held yesterday. I took a photo of Aarthi Talla and Hui Ge, both working in the Grape Genomics Program at Mountain Grove, just before they left Mountain Grove for Springfield. They both looked great. Hui and the people available at the station couldn’t figure out how to tie a tie, so hopefully someone at the banquet figured it out!

Hui (left) and Aarthi (right) ready to go to the Ag. Awards Banquet in Springfield
Hui (left) and Aarthi (right) ready to go to the Ag. Awards Banquet in Springfield
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