Landscape
And
Nursery
Dialog
Mary Ann Rose
Commercial Landscape
& Nursery Specialist
The Ohio State UniversityOctober, 1997
The OSU Irrigation Water Quality Project: A Learning Opportunity for Growers and Educational Organizations Alike
Keywords: water quality, water testing, nursery, new research, irrigation
M imi has loaned me her column this month to tell you about an exciting project being carried on at The Ohio State University with help from the ONLA. If you've been curious about your water supply or if you've been ignoring it as long as it's wet and plentiful, we are offering an opportunity to learn more about your water quality and how it can affect the nutrition and quality of nursery plant material.
* * * * * *
Although you can see through it, water is a pretty complex part of a nursery operation. In the early 1980s, OSU professor John Peterson analyzed water samples from around 200 Ohio growers. His study mainly focused on greenhouses and went beyond the borders of our state. Today, we are proposing a study of Ohio irrigation water supplies which focuses on Ohio nursery growers only. Last winter, the ONLA graciously agreed to support this project.
The Project
The first part of this project focuses on how nurseries are managing their water. The objective is to assess needs, and look for problems, shortcomings and trouble spots that are commonly experienced in the state. Also we'd like to see what types of information might be helpful to nursery owners and managers. Later this month we will be sending a questionnaire to a randomly selected group of nurseries.
The survey results will indeed be informative, but for a complete picture of the nursery industry's irrigation water quality, we will need water samples. Starting this coming spring, the second part of this project will invite nursery producers to submit three irrigation water samples for analysis ö one in spring, one in summer and one in fall. There will be a minimal cost to help defray the cost of mailing -- about $10 or $15. But what a bargain for three rounds of more than $50.00 worth of water testing!
All samples will be tested for elemental content, pH, electrical conductivity, alkalinity and sodium absorption ratio. Complete results will be released to the corresponding nursery (and only to that nursery). The testing is open to any Ohio nursery, but there will be a limit to the number of participants.
The Goal
So, you might ask, WATER we planning to do with all this data. Besides informing growers about their water supplies, we hope to inform groups serving the green industry in Ohio how to better meet grower needs. By combining the management survey and the water sampling project, we can pinpoint your needs for information, new products or further research on water management topics. Using this information, universities, companies and educational organizations can better prepare growers with strategies, products and information to manage or avoid our state's common water quality problems.
One immediate result of this project will be a comprehensive manual on water management that can be used for training or as a valuable reference for nursery owners or managers. If you have some input on how this manual might be made most useful and helpful, please give me or Mimi a call. We'd be interested in hearing your comments on any of these projects.
We Need Your Help
Here's where you ö the growers -- can help. With enough responses, these two studies can have powerful results that will help the entire state industry -- but only if we get enough responses.
Many times, a survey arrives at someone's desk and is abandoned at the bottom of a pile of paperwork (or even in the trash can). If you are one of the few nurseries to receive the management survey this month, please take a few minutes to complete this survey. It is not lengthy, but it will take some knowledge of the operation to complete. The survey may be a good time to take a moment to consider your nursery's water use and water policies. Individual responses will be kept anonymous.
One note on the surveys·. We're using the Ohio Department of Agriculture nursery producers list. For some larger operations, the contact on the envelope may not be the person most qualified to complete this survey. Pass it on to whoever works closest with water supplies and irrigation.
More details on the water sampling will be provided in upcoming issues of the Buckeye. The first samples will be collected in the spring of 1998. We hope you will take advantage of this opportunity to get your feet wet in water quality management!
- Cassandra Sheaffer, Extension graduate assistant and Water Quality project leader, The Ohio State University (614) 292-3852
