Illinois State Horticultural Society Field Day
June 3, 2013 Tours of a local, family-run orchard and pumpkin patch and of the University of Illinois Fruit Research and Education Center will be part of this year’s Illinois State Horticultural Society Horticulture Field Day on Thursday, June 13.
The event, which is sponsored by the Illinois State Horticultural Society, University of Illinois, and the Illinois Specialty Growers Association will feature walking and wagon tours in the morning at Curtis Orchard and Pumpkin Patch in Champaign. Members of the Curtis family will present on the history and current operation of the 80-acre farm.
The morning tours will include presentations on the following topics from University of Illinois speakers:
• horticulture, Mosbah Kushad, associate professor of crop sciences
• entomology, Richard Weinzierl, professor of crop sciences
• plant pathology, Mohammad Babadoost, professor of crop sciences
• weed sciences, Elizabeth Wahle, Extension horticulture educator
Topics and speakers for the research center tours include insect, disease, and weed management in orchards as well as high tunnel vegetable production.
Registration begins at Curtis Orchard at 8 a.m., with tours starting at 8:30 a.m. A lunch will be served at the orchard at noon. Afternoon tours begin at the research center at 2 p.m. The research center is located at 2711 S. Race St., Urbana, near the intersection of Windsor Road and Race Street.
The cost is $25 per person or $30 at the door, which includes lunch. To register and for more information, call 309-530-7678 or send an email to ilsthortsoc@yahoo.com.
For information about presentations, contact Babadoost by email at babadoos@illinois.edu.