My first few days on the farm have been great! At the start of my internship we toured the farm's greenhouse space and helped set up the support for the hydroponic system that the other intern, Josh, will be using for his project this semester. I decided that for my internship project I wanted to do a seed trial comparing conventional vs organic seed. I got the idea to explore this concept through my experience with my family's vegetable garden last spring. We had two types of corn, one was organic and the other was traditional seed. The organic corn was completely eaten up by some type of borer, only one or two stalks made it to harvest. I was curious if it was because the organic seed was more susceptible to pests than conventional seeds. There is a slight increase in price for organic seed and I wanted to know if there were any benefits to using organic over conventional seeds. To test this I chose 6 different crops and ordered both types of seeds to plant and observe. In my observations I am looking at germination rates, rooting quality, growth habit, pest pressure, and taste when possible. Since my seeds will not be in for another month, I got the chance to learn the wonderful art of weeding, something that is always needed on the farm. Our first weeding task was to clear out some space in the field plots so that we could plant some greens. We worked our way down the rows, weeding and occasionally finding a worm or insect along the way. Everything that we pulled went into the piles to compost over the next few months. To wrap up the week we cut back the potted hibiscus plants so that they will hopefully come back in spring. We then planted out snapdragon seedlings in the pots and planters. Lastly, I had the pleasure of getting to know Nepeta the cat. She lives on the farm and loves to hang out with us while we work. She has the prettiest blue eyes, hopefully one of these days she will let me get a good picture of them. Just hoping she does not crush the snapdragons as the planters are her favorite place to lay!
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AuthorHi! My name is Gabrielle Melchor and I am a senior undergraduate student in the horticulture science department. After graduation, I hope to pursue a career in nursery management and production or urban green space development. If you have any questions about my internship or would just like to talk plants, you can find me at the Howdy Farm. Gig 'em! Archives
April 2019
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The Howdy Farm at Texas A&M University | Gabrielle's Blog |