South Region
Alabama Research Units

AREAS OF RESEARCH

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

DISEASE AND INSECT PEST MANAGEMENT

• Spray trials for leaf spot diseases
• Boxwood anthracnose control and etiology
• Water temperature manipulation for hydroponic lettuce production
• Etiology of Loropetalum gall disease

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.

AREAS OF RESEARCH

• Beef Cattle – Herd Management

• Cotton – Integrated Pest Management

• Peanuts – Disease Management

• Corn – Agronomic and Disease Management

• Soybean – Integrated Pest Management

• Pecan – Variety evaluation and disease management

• Variety Evaluations – Corn, Cotton, Peanut, Soybeans, Citrus, Small Fruit and Small Grains

HISTORY

The Gulf Coast Research and Extension Center (formerly known as the Gulf Coast Substation) began operating in 1930 at Fairhope, Ala. Research on seed potatoes obtained from the Midwest served as the primary focus for the substation researchers during the early years. Efforts to increase the phosphorus content of newly cleared acreage also received attention.

Research on other horticultural crops, agronomic field and forage crops and dairy and beef cattle was implemented later. A lagoon waste management and wastewater recycling system in connection with the dairy unit was added in the late 1970s.

The Gulf Coast Substation was one of the first five substations established in Alabama by the legislature to create research facilities in five main areas of the State: Tennessee Valley, Sand Mountain, Black Belt, Wiregrass and Gulf Coast. Three of the five went into operation in 1929: The Tennessee Valley Substation at Belle Mina, the Sand Mountain Substation at Crossville and the Wiregrass Substation at Headland. The remaining two, the Black Belt Substation at Marion Junction and the Gulf Coast Substation at Fairhope, began operating in 1930.

AREAS OF RESEARCH

• BIOBASED PRODUCTS AND PROCESSING – Growing bioenergy crops.

• ORNAMENTAL HORTICULTURE/NURSERY CROPS  – Crape myrtle breeding program; evaluation of nitrogen rates and timing of fungicide treatments on shrub roses, hydrangea and crape myrtles; disease control studies; variety evaluations.

• VARIETY EVALUATIONS – Corn, small grain, soybeans.

• VEGETABLES, FRUITS AND BERRIES – Nematode control; variety evaluations on tomatoes, peppers, squash, leaf lettuce, leafy greens and southern peas.

HISTORY

The Brewton Agricultural Research Unit (formerly known as the Brewton Experiment Field) was established by 1930 and administered by the Department of Agronomy and Soils until the mid-1960s. The unit began as a small field primarily for soil fertility research for agronomic crops on this particular soil type (Benndale fine sandy loam). During the last 25 years, the unit has become more involved with horticultural research with research on small fruits, vegetables, flowering annuals, woody ornamentals and some agronomic crops.

Brewton Experiment Field was one of ten experiment fields established and in operation by 1930 on tracts ranging from 33 to 60 acres in size. Of these ten, three remain in service today: Brewton Experiment Field, Monroeville Experiment Field and Prattville Experiment Field.

AREAS OF RESEARCH

• PEANUTS – A twenty-one year old ongoing crop rotation study centered around peanuts.

• CATTLE – Grassfed beef research utilizing multiple forage species.

• VARIETY EVALUATIONS – Field and forage crops, including peanuts, cotton, corn, small grain.

HISTORY

The Wiregrass Substation (now known as the Wiregrass Research and Extension Center) was founded in 1929 at Headland, Ala. Early work concentrated on cotton and corn, the traditional crops of the region, but the peanut crop soon began to absorb most of the research work at the station.

After WWII farmers in the southeastern portion of Alabama steadily turned toward the cultivation of peanut as it became the primary cash crop in the region. AAES researchers used the Wiregrass land to address a host of problems associated with peanut production, including mechanical harvesting studies that reduced labor requirements for successful cultivation from 30 hours to only four hours per acre.

During the 1950s and 1960s areas of peanut research included mechanization, insect and disease control, storage and marketing. An extensive peanut storage project was conducted to provide information for farmers, peanut handlers, and warehousemen on maintaining peanut quality during storage. Also during these decades work was conducted on mechanizing cotton harvest.

A study in the 1980s found that the seeding rate for peanuts could be reduced without a significant reduction in yield or net returns.

The foundation peanut seed organization is currently handled at Wiregrass.

The Wiregrass Substation was one of the first five substations established in Alabama by the legislature to create research facilities in five main areas of the State: Tennessee Valley, Sand Mountain, Black Belt, Wiregrass and Gulf Coast. Three of the five went into operation in 1929: The Tennessee Valley Substation at Belle Mina, the Sand Mountain Substation at Crossville, and the Wiregrass Substation at Headland. The remaining two, the Black Belt Substation at Marion Junction and the Gulf Coast Substation at Fairhope, began operating in 1930.