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Smart sprayer demo set for August 14

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A team of researchers is developing a Smart Sprayer, which will be demonstrated at 10 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 14 at Hans Nelson and Sons Nursery, 31020 S.E. Waybill Road, Boring, Oregon. The sprayer, which is still being tested, uses a laser to detect the height, width and volume of the plants in a row. With […]

OSU names new head of horticulture department

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Bill Braunworth is the new head of the Department of Horticulture at OSU. (Photo courtesy of OSU.) Bill Braunworth has been named head of the Department of Horticulture at Oregon State University (OSU), according to an OSU press release. Braunworth earned a doctorate in horticulture from OSU in 1986, and since 1992 has led OSU’s […]

Oregon gets a B- in invasive species management

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Oregon, as a whole, could be doing better in its fight against invasive species. That’s the verdict from the Oregon Invasive Species Council (OISC), which gave the state a B-minus on its annual Invasive Species Report Card (PDF). That’s down a full letter grade from 2012, when the state received an A-minus. The main difference? […]

May Digger arrives in mailboxes

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The May issue of Digger has been mailed to subscribers, and the cover story this month is on plants with a stunning silvery look (PDF). From agaves to Japanese painted ferns, plants with silver hues not only make a striking impression in the landscape, their color also often represents survival tactics such as drought tolerance […]

New version of intelligent sprayer arrives in Oregon

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USDA engineering technician Adam Clark drives the intelligent sprayer down a row of Japanese maples at Hans Nelson and Son Nursery Inc. in Boring, Ore. The machine detects where plant material is located and only sprays solution where it is needed. From where we sit, the intelligent sprayer being researched by the USDA Agricultural Research […]

Oregon: The State of Perfection 2013 is now online!

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When it comes to nurseries, Oregon is The State of Perfection. That’s why the January issue of Digger is dedicated to five of Oregon’s outstanding wholesale nurseries. The issue contains five profile articles demonstrating the quality and diversity offered by the state’s growers: Fall Creek Farm & Nursery, Lowell, Ore.; Brentano’s Tree Farm, St. Paul, […]

Oktoberpest lineup announced

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Oregon State University and the North Willamette Research and Extension Center (NWREC) have announced the lineup for this year’s Oktoberpest series of pest management workshops. A workshop on beneficial insects will be taught in English on Oct. 4 and Spanish on Oct. 11. That will be followed by a workshop on reducing the risk of […]

OSU ag dean leaving for DC post

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Sonny Ramaswamy, the Dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences at Oregon State University, is leaving. President Obama has appointed him as the new director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). NIFA replaced the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service (CSREES) in 2009 and oversees all federally-funded agricultural research. Ramaswamy arrived […]

New USDA zone map released

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture has released its first new climate zone map in more than new decades. The new 2012 map, downloadable here (various other versions here), replaces the previous map published in 1990. According to USA Today, the new map is much more localized — in fact, it’s accurate down to one-half mile. […]