Every year, the student Horticulture Club in the Department of Agronomy & Horticulture at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln plans three field trips. Two are generally short two-day trips; one is a longer 5-day Spring Break trip. Their goal is to explore as many different horticulture opportunities as possible.
In 2020, the club worked hard raising money only to have their trip canceled due to the pandemic. The following years resulted in trips to nearby Western Nebraska and Colorado only. So when Spring Break 2023 appeared on the horizon, the club officers voted to go BIG – and Hawaiʻi was it!
“As a faculty member with an Extension appointment, I knew we would be able to see many horticultural opportunities by reaching out to CTAHR Extension,” says Terri James. “Jari Sugano was great to work with and lined up fantastic examples in both the urban and research settings.”
The students came away with a better understanding of much different growing zones than their own zones, Terri explains, yet having similar issues such as lack of rain on the leeward side of Oʻahu’s mountain range having a rain shadow effect. Nebraskans also have that effect on the western side of their state due to the Rocky Mountain range.
“My main goal with these trips is to have students see that, although they learn horticulture in one location, by understanding the basics, they can apply their knowledge to any geographical location,” she notes. “Thank you CTAHR for hosting us. We had a fantastic time. I look forward to our next visit. And, if you are in Nebraska, please let us return the favor.”
Jari adds, “This was a group effort. Thanks to Christine Hanakawa of the Dept. of Family and Consumer Sciences; Alberto Ricordi, Jensen Uyeda, Ted Radovich, Tina Lau, Eric Collier, and Ken Leonhardt of the Dept. of Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences; James Kam of the Dept. of Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences; GoFarm Hawaiʻi; and Richard Fisher and Pono Chung of Oʻahu County Extension.”