1. Introduction to Horticulture

2. Horticulture Word first used in 1600’s Comes from two Latin words
Hortus “Garden”
Cultura “Cultivation”
Horticulture means “cultivated garden” or “culture of garden plants”

3. Life Sciences
Biology is the branch of science that deals with both plant and animal organisms and life processes.
Zoology is the part of biology that deals with animals.
Botany is the part of biology that deals with plants.

4. Plant Sciences
Applied plant sciences are based on the purpose for which the plants are grown.
Agronomy
Forestry
Horticulture
What do these terms mean??

5. Agronomy
The science and practice of growing field crops such as cotton, wheat, tobacco, corn and soybeans.
Can be used for food, fuel, and fibers

6. Forestry
The science and practice of growing, managing and harvesting trees for building materials and other products.

7. Horticulture
The science and practice of growing, processing and marketing fruits, vegetables, and ornamental plants.

8. Introductory Horticulture
Horticulture differs from agronomy and forestry because…..
Requires more intensive management and higher labor inputs than other branches.
Horticulture offers a higher gross return per unit area per unit time.
Ex.- Greenhouse grower ($20.00 per ft2/yr)

9. Branches of Horticulture
Olericulture
The growing and study of vegetables.
Pomology
The growing and study of fruits and nuts.
Viticulture
The growing and study of grapes or vines.
Floriculture
The growing and study of flowers.

10. Branches of Horticulture
Greenhouse Management
The growing and study of plants in greenhouses.
Turfgrass Management
The growing and study of turfgrasses. This includes home, municipal, and commercial lawns; sports turf maintenance; highway rights-of-way; and seed and sod production.

11. Branches of Horticulture
Nursery Management
The growing and study of trees and shrubs that are produced primarily for landscape purposes.
Arboriculture
The growing and study of trees.
Known as silviculture in forestry.
Synonymous with urban forestry.

12. Branches of Horticulture
Landscape Horticulture
The application of design and horticultural principles to placement and care of plants in the landscape.
Interiorscaping
The application of design and horticultural principles to placement and care of plants in indoor environments.

13. Branches of Horticulture
Horticultural Therapy
The use of horticultural plants and methods as therapeutic tools with disabled and disadvantaged people.

14. Horticulture: Science or Art?
Known as applied botany because….
Takes principles of botany such as morphology, anatomy, and physiology and applies them to the growing of crops.
Also uses other sciences such as….
Chemistry, biochemistry, physics, mathematics, and genetics.
So, horticulture is obviously a science.

15. Horticulture: Science or Art?
But horticulture is also a art form.
Where practical experience is helpful.
Example: A person may know the science of cultivating plants, but be unsuccessful due to a lack of a “green thumb.”

16. Horticulture: Science or Art?
Art forms in horticulture
Grafting
Floral Design
Landscape Design
Horticulture is an applied science and an art form.

17. History of Horticulture
“Garden of Eden”
Romanticized garden of paradise.
Ultimate goal throughout history.

18. History of Horticulture
Prehistoric people were primarily….
Hunters and gatherers.
Collected seeds, fruits, and nuts.

19. History of Horticulture
Primitive people began to study plants.
Is it edible?
Does eating it modify well-being?
Does it taste good?
Can it used to keep me warm? As fuel? As clothing?
Is it useful to combat pain? Disease?

20. History of Horticulture
When were plants first cultivated?
Neolithic Age (7000 – years ago)
First farmers were women!!!!

21. History of Horticulture
By 3000 B.C. in Egypt
Land preparation
Irrigation
Pruning

22. History of Horticulture
Meanwhile in Mesopotamia, Babylonia, and Assyria…..
Irrigation canals lined with burnt brick and sealed with asphalt joints.
This system kept 10,000 square miles under cultivation…..
Which fed 15,000,000 people
Cultivated roses, figs, dates, grapes, and olives.

23. History of Horticulture
Hanging Gardens of Babylon
One of 7 Wonders of the Ancient World

24. History of Horticulture
Eventually people began asking questions such as…..
How do they grow?
How do they reproduce?
How are they constructed?
How are they nourished?
How are they related to one another?
How are traits passed from one generation to the next?

25. History of Horticulture
Meanwhile, back in America……
The Pre-Incas were cultivating maize (corn)

26. History of Horticulture
Other Indian crops included……
Potatoes
Sweet potatoes
Peppers
Squash
Tomatoes
Cocoa

27. History of Horticulture
The use of plant products eventually led to physicians, pharmacists, and scientists.

28. History of Horticulture
Theophrastus BC
1st scientific horticulturist
Student of Plato and Aristotle
Wrote the books History of Plants and The Causes of Plants.

29. History of Horticulture
History of Plants
Morphology of roots, flowers, and leaves.
Anatomical features such as bark, pith, fibers, and vessels.
The Causes of Plants
Relationship of weather, soils, and agricultural practices.
Importance of seeds
Value of grafting
Tastes and flagrances of plants
Death of plants

30. History of Horticulture
Dioscorides
40-90 AD
Early Christian Era
Wrote about the medicinal uses of plants
Proposed ideas about the relationship of plants

31. History of Horticulture
Middle Ages
Little advancement in horticulture
Arabs (established botanical gardens)
Scientific advances of Greeks and Romans were preserved in monasteries.

32. History of Horticulture
Renaissance
Rebirth of energetic attention to scientific discovery.
Taxonomy, morphology, and anatomy branches of botany began to grow.
More and more plants were discovered due to exploration which required a system of classification.

33. History of Horticulture
Linnaeus ( )
Swedish botanist.
Developed binomial classification scheme for plants.
Based on their sexual or flowering parts.
Basis for all classification systems today.
Built upon the work of the Greeks, especially Dioscorides.

34. History of Horticulture
As the Renaissance evolved……
Creation of formal Gardens
Versailles
Belvedere in Vienna

35. History of Horticulture
Improvements in fruit, nut, and vegetable production.
Influx of new plants from “the colonies”.
Some of these plants became mainstays of European diets.

36. Horticulture in America
When the Europeans arrived they brought seeds, cuttings, and plants.
Orchards were established
Crops brought to America
Oranges
Wheat
Cabbage

37. Horticulture in America
Early horticulturists in America
John Bartram ( )
George Washington
Thomas Jefferson
John Chapman
aka. Johnny Appleseed

38. Horticulture in America
New life in horticulture
Morrill Act of 1862.
Established land-grant universities.
Encouraged the growth of agricultural knowledge.

39. Horticulture in America
Liberty Hyde Bailey ( )
“Father of American Horticulture”
Educated at Michigan Agricultural College
Present Day Michigan State University
Studied at Harvard under Asa Gray
Then was a professor at Michigan Agricultural College and at Cornell University.

40. Horticulture in America
Established the 1st horticulture department
Prodigious Writer
Hortus
Taxonomic index of horticultural plants.
Cyclopedia of Horticulture
Cultural and taxonomic information of plants.

41. Horticulture in America
Established the Bailey Hortorium.
“things of the garden”
Established the (ASHS) American Society of Horticulture Science in 1903.

42. Modern Day Horticulture
New Cultivars
Plant-Water Relationships
Temperature
Light
Plant Nutrition
The Rhizosphere
Integrated Pest Management
Plant Growth Regulators
Mechanization
Post Harvest Factors