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Impact on Research

The ability to grow plants under precise conditions and controlled stress makes Purdue HLA competitive for grant funding. For example, several National Science Foundation projects use our facilities. The impact of our research will be realized around the world and—in the case of advanced life support for space exploration—perhaps beyond. Click on the Research bar to the left to learn more about our diverse areas of discovery.

Impact on Teaching

Several classes in our department use the plant growth facility for laboratory sessions. Fundamentals of Horticulture (HORT 101) has over 250 students per year, most of them non-science majors. Each year, sixty students in Plant Propagation (HORT 201) use greenhouse space, the tissue culture lab, and walk-in cooler shelves to optimize their production of seedlings and plantlets. The sixty students in Plant Physiology (HORT 301) combine their scientific imaginations with our growth chambers and greenhouses to design and conduct plant stress-tolerance experiments. A plant collection greenhouse and walk-in cooler is dedicated to support Flower Arranging and Indoor Plant Care course (HORT 360), which instructs 220 students each year, many of who are non-science majors. Among many projects, the thirty students in Horticulture Technology (HORT 401) build hydroponics systems using the facility’s provided compressed air and purified water. HORT 590, Controlled Environment Agriculture, is a small class of 5-8 students who study cutting-edge techniques and technology of plant science research. They get in-depth, behind the scenes tours of the greenhouse, growth rooms, mechanical room and growth chambers from the facility manager, with demonstrations of the computer control capabilities of each. Many students enroll each year in an independent study in horticulture (HORT 491) to work in close collaboration with a faculty instructor. Horticulture Club members enroll in this class to grow flowering crops for display at the annual Horticulture Show, using most of our 3400 sq. ft. polyhouse for their production area. The departments of Entomology and Forestry & Natural Resources use our facility for undergraduate teaching as well, including access to our insect scouting data we collect in the greenhouses weekly.

Teaching also comes in the venue of part-time employment for HLA majors. Each year, 3-6 students help in the greenhouse by caring for plants and maintaining and cleaning equipment and work areas. More specialized training, such as computer programming and conducting experiments is available to summer interns. We have enjoyed the partnership of corporations such as Bioworks, Inc to support our internship program.

Our vision for future teaching opportunities is to give students unprecedented use of and access to greenhouse technology. We hope to upgrade our Priva environment-control computers to allow for new teaching experiments. For example, water stress could be measured with soil moisture probes. Then irrigation valves could be triggered on at certain levels of soil dryness in a controlled manner, so that water stress treatments could be compared side-by-side in the same greenhouse. Also, leaf temperature could be measured with an infra-red sensor, then irrigation, shading or temperature controls adjusted from this data and compared to adjustments made from air temperature. Additionally, these new computers could be installed with PDAs or with interfaces inside the teaching areas, so that students would have access to data graphs and programming menus for that specific greenhouse. This hands-on capability will be an excellent match to computer access our landscape architecture students currently benefit from.

Impact on Outreach

Our plant growth facility continues to be an excellent return on investment for Indiana by serving small businesses, organizations and its citizens. Extension specialists triage sick plants from Indiana greenhouses and nurseries in our greenhouses. Professional growers come annually to attend National Poinsettia Trials, Herbicide Action Course and other learning opportunities. The Indiana Flower Growers Association, Indiana Nurserymen’s Association, and the Association of Education & Research Greenhouse Curators have held conference activities here. Some Indiana businesses such as Weaver Popcorn, Walnut Creek Herb Farm, Dow AgroSciences and Controlled Pharming Ventures have received specific problem-solving from our facility staff.

The facility helps makes Purdue University look good to the business community. Articles on our facility, particularly the computer control of the environments, have appeared in trade magazines. The facility manager has appeared on television interviews including Inside Indiana Business. We are a favorite location for on-camera interviews of our researchers and administrators by providing a “living backdrop.”

Organizations conduct workshops and are given tours at events such as 4-H Plant Science Workshop and the 4-H Youth Round Up. Each year, over 30 tours are given of the facility to schools and adult groups. Half of these tours are given by Master Gardener volunteers, who are trained as tour docents for the general public, especially local schools. Watching these tours, it’s hard to tell whose having the most fun—tourists or docents! We are also very proud of our partnership with Greater Lafayette Area Special Services’ PACES program, a school to adult life transition program for young adults with low incidence disabilities. These students come two times per week during the school year with their supervisors to learn vocational skills in a community setting, in this case cleaning our trays and pots so that we can discard less plastic. We have also established a partnership with the Indiana State Police, who donate equipment to us confiscated from drug raids. This saves us money and saves the police their storage space, time, and energy of having to destroy the equipment.

Sometimes we benefit individuals one at a time, such as with a summer greenhouse intern from Honduras involved in Purdue’s In-service Training for Zamoranos program; other times by the thousands, when the public flocks to our buildings for the 75-years-and-counting Annual Horticulture Show to see displays and purchase plants the student Horticulture Club have grown. We see many happy children with their first plant at this spring event, only matched by the smiles we see each December when we donate and deliver hundreds of poinsettias from our research trials to the Indiana Veterans Home located in our community.

History

The Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture moved into new greenhouses in March 1998. At least a decade of planning and committee meetings preceded the construction, with a committee formed in 1985 and the first detailed memorandum dated December 17, 1986 by then Department Head, Bruno Moser. The state legislature approved funding of $7.2 million for the facility to pay for razing the old greenhouses, site preparation, and construction of greenhouses, growth rooms, tissue culture lab and headhouse. The funding was part of the $32 million spending package for the Food Science complex, constructed just west of the Horticulture Building. The old greenhouse range, some of it built in 1915, was razed and the site graded so ramps would not be needed between the headhouse and greenhouses as in the old facility.

Looking forward, a planning committee has been formed to design and seek funding for a conservatory greenhouse. This will be a crowning jewel for our facility and a public attraction for promoting horticulture.

Quick Facts

• Horticulture Greenhouse was built in 1998 for a cost of $7.2 million
• Considered one of the finest research greenhouses in the country. Other universities that have visited or borrowed blueprints: Rutgers, Univ of Illinois, Cornell, Wisconsin Univ, Virginia Tech, Indiana Univ
• 2.5 full time employees and 3-7 hourly students (most Hort majors)
• S&E annual budget $50,000
• Usage: 20% teaching/80% research
• Classes:
  Fundamentals of Horticulture HORT 101
  Plant Propagation HORT 201
  Plant Physiology HORT 301
  Horticulture Production Technology HORT 401
  Residential Horticulture and Flower Arranging HORT 360
  
• Research examples:
  Floral scent production
  Crop stress resistance
  Flowering plant production
  Mint and tomato improvement
  Phytoremediation of contaminated sites
  New food crops
  NASA food production for space-based colonies
  
• Dozens of public tours annually
• HORT SHOW each spring for over 75 years
• High school and middle school age volunteers from Greater Lafayette Area Special Service (GLASS) PACES program get vocational training doing simple greenhouse tasks