Experiment Station > Research Centers

Ornamental Horticulture Research Center

Mobile, Mobile County, Ala.
Land Area: 18 acres
Soils: Bama sandy loam. Research is conducted in containers with potting media.

The Ornamental Horticulture Research Center in Mobile is located in an area of Alabama where commercial nurseries abound, and that’s an ideal site for an applied-research facility dedicated primarily to supporting the commercial container-nursery industry. Research at the OHRC focuses on helping producers identify and address pest, disease and other production problems early on. At 17 acres, the OHRC is the smallest among the Alabama Ag Experiment Station’s outlying units.

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Research Emphasis Areas

Nursery production

• Use of night-interrupted light for perennial plant production
• Alternative media (various forestry products) as a supplement or replacement for pine bark in woody ornamental production
• Controlled release fertilizer evaluations
• Evaluation of containers for root control

Disease and insect pest management

• Spray trials to control diseases such as powdery mildew and Phytophthora root rot
• Practices to manage web blight in contain-grown azaleas
• Evaluation of biorational (OMRI–Organic Materials Review Institute) fungicides

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History

The Spring Hill Ornamental Horticulture Substation (now the Ornamental Horticulture Research Center) can trace its beginnings to 1928 when an Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station entomologist was sent to Mobile to help Satsuma producers combat citrus pests. Work at the substation was gradually expanded to include azalea and camellia insects.

In 1945 Auburn severed its ties to the unit, but six years later in response to a severe freeze in 1950 and to grower needs, Alabama legislation funded restaffing of the field station.

Disease and insect control for ornamentals has been the major thrust for research at the station, but other aspects of nursery production have also been studied through the years.

At 18 acres, the OHRC is the smallest among the Alabama Ag Experiment Station’s outlying units. The substation was originally established on four acres near Mobile. In 1930 the city of Mobile deeded seven acres to Auburn University and in 1965 seven additional acres were deeded from Mobile to the station.

History adapted from the following publications: 

Kerr, N.A. 1985.  A History of the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station: 1883-1983. Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station, Auburn, Alabama.

Yeager, J. and G. Stevenson. 2000. Inside Ag Hill: The People and Events That Shaped Auburn’s Agricultural History from 1872 through 1999. Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station,  Auburn, Alabama.

Last Updated: October 13, 2011