PLSCI 5350 - [Sustainable Orchard Management]

Spring. Not offered: 2024-2025. Next offered: 2025-2026. 3 credits. Student option grading.

Offered in even-numbered years only. Co-meets with PLSCI 3350.

G. Peck.

The science of tree-fruit production with an emphasis on the agroecology and physiology of regionally important species. Topics include: site selection; orchard design; clonal rootstock and variety selection; nursery production and grafting, tree pruning and training; flowering and pollination; crop load management; water, nutrient, and soil management; fruit ripening, maturity, and storage; marketing and profitability; integrated pest management; orchard mechanization; and sustainable production practices. Students will synthesize and apply knowledge from a broad range of life sciences within the context of perennial crop agroecosystems. Orchard field trips and lab sessions will provide practical, hands-on experience. This course is designed for students interested in commercial tree-fruit production and/or pomology research, hobby fruit growers, and professional IPM consultants.

Outcome 1: Make critical decisions required for profitable orchard management.

Outcome 2: Find and evaluate essential information resources about tree-fruit orchards.

Outcome 3: Integrate key ecological, physiological, environmental, and economic issues in sustainable orchard systems.

Outcome 4: Select the optimal systems for orchard management.

Outcome 5: Successfully plant, prune, and train fruit trees.

Outcome 6: Harvest, store, and market fruit efficiently.

Outcome 7: Synthesize course material into IPM and Commodity Report fact sheets that address sustainable orchard management.

Outcome 8: Produce a 15-20 page term paper based on a review and interpretation of current literature.

Outcome 9: Apply knowledge of fruit physiology to mentor undergraduate colleagues by reviewing and providing a critical assessment of undergraduate term paper drafts.