COVER STORY
Virginia Tech Hampton Roads Agricultural Research & Extension Center (AREC) Update
W
ell, what a year so far! Like everyone, we’ve had our challenges at the AREC due to the pandemic, but we’ve been able to keep calm and carry on; just in a different way. When you stop and think about it, isn’t that what we in the green industry do all the time? You could also look at it as improvise, adapt, overcome (think Clint Eastwood and the Marines in the movie Heartbreak Ridge), or if that doesn’t work for you, then what about adaptive management business models? Regardless, it’s what we do – new unique landscape to maintain, new design or build problem to solve, new crops to produce, pests to combat, work force shortage, supply and demand trends, regulations, and on and on. Every year, every season brings new challenges even in the world of academia. And while there may be moments of panic, overall we keep calm, network, learn, change, and move forward. So, here’s what’s going on at the AREC. As of October, our building is still closed to the public, with no firm re-opening date in sight. The essential personnel only order was lifted and all faculty, staff, and graduate students are back to work at the AREC though many still work partly from home. Masks, distancing, and sanitizing are in full use. A table to accept plant and pest samples and dispense soil test kits has been set up on the porch outside the back door. Faculty have increased their responses to requests for assistance by phone, e-mail, and through virtual meetings, while still making very limited site visits. Please contact us if you need us!
12 • VNLA News • Spring 2021
You may know that 10 of our 70 acres is open to the public through 28 different educational demonstration gardens. We are truly fortunate to benefit from our partnership with Virginia Cooperative Extension where over 100 Master Gardener volunteers work and teach in the gardens. When things shut down in March, most of our gardens went without love and care for almost 5 months. We are slowly but surely recovering. Volunteers were allowed to continue working in the Annual Trial Garden area because it had vegetables. Over 1,000 pounds of produce was harvested from that garden and donated to the local food bank this summer. Our gardens remained open to the public, and boy did people come and let us know how thankful they were. Visitors included walkers, bird watchers, photographers, dog walkers, graduation celebrations, family picnics, baby announcements, and at least one wedding.
Specific faculty and program updates include: • Jeffrey Derr (weed science) is investigating alternatives to glyphosate (Roundup & others), including organic control options. His team continues to evaluate controls for troublesome weeds in the green industry, including yellow nutsedge, kyllinga, bermudagrass, doveweed, Virginia buttonweed, dallisgrass, and others.
• Laurie Fox (urban stormwater & sustainable landscaping) and the Tidewater Arboretum team of volunteers received an $8,000 Virginia Trees for Clean Water grant from the Virginia Department of Forestry. New signage and more than 50 trees will be planted at the AREC this fall. The trees will be used for educational programs, to replace trees lost in recent storms, and to increase the property canopy coverage to reduce stormwater runoff.
