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Penn State PLANET Team Places 11th in 2012 PLANET Student Career Days
Amy Hinkle had her first entrepreneurial encounter with flowers when she was 11 years old, selling them at her local farmers market in Columbus, Ohio. When she was 9 years old, her family started selling goods from their produce farm at that market. Hinkle noticed that only one other person there sold flowers -- and he could not keep up with the demand. By the time she graduated from high school, her family's stand was selling about 20 different kinds of field-grown annuals. Hinkle, a senior horticulture major with a business production focus, came to Penn State because of its strong agriculture program, and because it was far away from her home.
It may seem early, but now is the time to pick the tomato varieties you want to grow in your garden this summer, according to an expert in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences. You may have noticed that your seed catalogs showed up earlier than ever this winter, noted Steve Bogash, Penn State Extension horticulture educator based in Franklin County. "With the rapid growth in vegetable gardening, demand promises to be higher than ever," he said. "If there are specific varieties of vegetables that you truly want for the coming season, you may want to get your orders in early."
High tunnels offer an inexpensive way to extend the production season for vegetables and small fruits. They also might help eradicate a "food desert" in the southeast corner of the Keystone State, if a collaboration between Penn State Extension and community partners in Philadelphia is successful.
With the arrival of apple-harvest season, researchers and extension educators in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences have teamed with counterparts from across the country to establish a new online resource about growing apples and apple production.
Listeriosis outbreaks like the current one traced to Colorado cantaloupes are extremely rare, according to a farm food-safety expert in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences. But Luke LaBorde, associate professor of food science, worries that melons present a heightened risk for spreading food-borne illnesses.
Choosing which college to attend can be a difficult decision for high school students, but Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences is trying to make it a little easier with its Open House and High School Senior Day, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 10, at the University Park campus.
Now that communities across the state have dried out and are repairing damages from Tropical Storm Lee, a gardening expert in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences reminds backyard gardeners that fruits and vegetables are not safe to consume if they have been partially or completely submerged in flood water or have come in contact with contaminated water.
Reacting to sagging populations of bees and other pollinators, members of Gov. Tom Corbett's staff recently sought and received Penn State Extension certification for the gardens at the Governor's Residence as "pollinator friendly."
Despite widely published reports, many people are unaware that bees -- both managed colonies of honeybees and wild bees alike -- are in trouble due to Colony Collapse Disorder and other environmental factors.
Many homeowners live in envy of those neighbors who seem able to turn a few trees, flowers and even rocks into an inviting outdoor scene. But you, too, can do it by following a few basic guidelines, according to a horticulturist in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.
Penn State staff and researchers have battled aggressively for years the two primary diseases threatening the landmark American elm stand on the University Park campus. A recent resurgence in one of those diseases -- Dutch elm disease, an old nemesis -- has forced the University to remove 16 elms this summer.
The Arboretum at Penn State is a peaceful place with lily pads floating on flat-water ponds; delicate flowers flanking curved walkways; and young leaves stretching out from the branches of graceful trees. But the arrival of 300 fourth-graders on April 29 changed the mood from serene to spirited.
