Vegetable Grafting Training for Agricultural Professionals

Vegetable Grafting Training for Agricultural Professionals

Summary

The proposed tour on grafted vegetables (tomato, watermelon and pepper) took place in August. Over 65 participating agricultural professionals attended the tour. In addition, about 125 extension specialists from 1890 Land Grant Universities visited grafted tomato and watermelon trials/demonstrations in both high tunnels and open fields. Six additional vegetable grafting workshops were conducted to over 186 vegetable growers and master gardeners. A poster on vegetable grafting was presented at the annual American Society for Horticultural Science conference in September. This program reached over 812 participants in 2011, including 484 agricultural professionals.

Objectives/Performance Targets

The 2011 objective of the project was to offer a tour on Vegetable Grafting, showing grafted tomatoes and watermelons.

Accomplishments/Milestones

(1)Six Vegetable Grafting workshops were offered either by the Program Coordinator (PC) or trainees who received training in 2010. A total of 186 farmers/Master Gardeners learned vegetable grafting techniques. Among them, 17 were educators.
(2)A vegetable grafting tour was offered to 65 educators attending the Vegetable IPM in-service education on August 24. Most of these educators participated in the vegetable training in 2010. The tour took place on the Lincoln University Carver Farm, where the PC conducted grafted tomato, watermelon and pepper trials and demonstrations in both high tunnels and open field. The presentation on “Vegetable Grafting as a Means of Integrated Pest Management” was delivered to all participating educators at the in-service education.
(3)Another vegetable grafting tour was offered to 125 educators who were attending the 1890 Association of Extension Administrators conference. These educators are extension specialists from 1890 Land Grant Universities in the United States.
(4)A special research topic class was offered to two students from the Department of Agriculture, Lincoln University. Both students learned all aspects of tomato and watermelon grafting through an 8-week period.
(5)A poster on “Vegetable Grafting for Horticulture Professionals” was presented at the 2011 American Society of Horticultural Sciences Conference in September.
(6)Footage for creating a high definition DVD on vegetable grafting was completed. Final editing of this DVD was initiated in late 2011.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

The vegetable grafting technique has been continuously accepted by educators, farmers and master gardeners all over the state of Missouri. The concept of grafting tomatoes for high tunnel tomatoes has been well received among extension educators and vegetable farmers. High tunnel growers were encouraged by the benefits associated with grafted tomatoes.

Collaborators: