Introduction to Horticulture

By: Johnny M. Jessup Agriculture Teacher/FFA Advisor

Horticulture
Word first used in 1600s Comes from two Latin words

Hortus Garden Cultura Cultivation

Horticulture means cultivated garden or culture of garden plants

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.

Plant Sciences

Applied plant sciences are based on the purpose for which the plants are grown.

Agronomy Forestry Horticulture

Agronomy

The science and practice of growing field crops such as cotton, wheat, tobacco, corn and soybeans.

Forestry

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

Horticulture

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

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)

Branches of Horticulture

Olericulture

The growing and study of vegetables. The growing and study of fruits and nuts. The growing and study of grapes or vines. The growing and study of flowers.

Pomology

Viticulture

Floriculture

Branches of Horticulture

Greenhouse Management

The growing and study of plants in greenhouses. 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.

Turfgrass Management

Branches of Horticulture

Nursery Management

The growing and study of trees and shrubs that are produced primarily for landscape purposes. The growing and study of trees. Known as silviculture in forestry. Synonymous with urban forestry.

Arboriculture

Branches of Horticulture

Landscape Horticulture

The application of design and horticultural principles to placement and care of plants in the landscape. The application of design and horticultural principles to placement and care of plants in indoor environments.

Interiorscaping

Branches of Horticulture

Horticultural Therapy

The use of horticultural plants and methods as therapeutic tools with disabled and disadvantaged people.

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. Chemistry, biochemistry, physics, mathematics, and genetics.

Also uses other sciences such as.

So, horticulture is obviously a science.

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.

Horticulture: Science or Art?

Art forms in horticulture

Grafting Floral Design Landscape Design

Horticulture is an applied science and an art form.

History of Horticulture

Garden of Eden

Romanticized garden of paradise. Ultimate goal throughout history.

History of Horticulture

Prehistoric people were primarily.

Hunters and gatherers. Collected seeds, fruits, and nuts.

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?

History of Horticulture
When were plants first cultivated?

Neolithic Age (7000 10000 years ago) First farmers were women!!!!

History of Horticulture

By 3000 B.C. in Egypt

Land preparation Irrigation Pruning

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.

History of Horticulture
Hanging Gardens of Babylon Built by Nebuchadnezzar. One of 7 Wonders of the Ancient World

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?

History of Horticulture

Meanwhile, back in America

The Pre-Incas were cultivating maize (corn)

History of Horticulture

Other Indian crops included

Potatoes Sweet potatoes Peppers Squash Tomatoes Cocoa

History of Horticulture

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

History of Horticulture

Theophrastus

1st scientific horticulturist Student of Plato and Aristotle Wrote the books History of Plants and

The Causes of Plants.

History of Horticulture

History of Plants

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

The Causes of Plants

History of Horticulture

Dioscorides

Early Christian Era Wrote about the medicinal uses of plants Proposed ideas about the relationship of plants

History of Horticulture

Middle Ages

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

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.

History of Horticulture

Linnaeus (1707-1778)

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.

History of Horticulture

As the Renaissance evolved

Creation of formal Gardens

Versailles Belvedere in Vienna

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.

Horticulture in America

When the Europeans arrived they brought seeds, cuttings, and plants.

Orchards were established Oranges Wheat Cabbage

Crops brought to America

Horticulture in America

Early horticulturists in America

John Bartram George Washington Thomas Jefferson John Chapman

aka. Johnny Appleseed

Horticulture in America

New life in horticulture

Morrill Act of 1862. Established land-grant universities. Encouraged the growth of agricultural knowledge.

Horticulture in America
Liberty Hyde Bailey (1858-1954) 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.

Horticulture in America
Established the 1st horticulture department Prodigious Writer

Hortus

Taxonomic index of horticultural plants. Cultural and taxonomic information of plants.

Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Horticulture in America

Established the Bailey Hortorium.

things of the garden

Established the (ASHS) American Society of Horticulture Science in 1903.

Modern Day Horticulture

New Cultivars Plant-Water Relationships Temperature Light Plant Nutrition

The Rhizosphere Integrated Pest Management Plant Growth Regulators Mechanization Post Harvest Factors

Lets Review!

Designed by:

Johnny M. Jessup, FFA Advisor

Hobbton High School