For first time in 20 years, horticulture center near Wichita will open to public
For more than 50 years, a field south of Haysville has been used to find the best varieties of trees, turfgrass, shrubs, fruits and vegetables to grow in Kansas and areas with similar climates. Since 2019, researchers at the John C. Pair Horticultural Research Center have also been growing test varieties of industrial hemp to see if it holds promise as a future cash crop for Kansas farmers.
It’s the kind of work that has an impact on nurseries, garden centers, farmers, golf courses, athletic fields and your own backyard, yet it often goes unnoticed by passersby of the 120 acres of land — half of which is used for research — at 95th South and Hydraulic. The station is one of four off-campus research sites for the Manhattan-based Kansas State University’s College of Agriculture.
On Saturday, the public will get a rare opportunity to see the research center named for the horticulture researcher who started the operation in 1970.
In its first open house since 2002, the center will be open for a behind-the-scenes look from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tours of various research trial plots will be available and easily accessible by a tram ride that will take visitors around the research center. There will also be information booths and kids activities.
During the open house, the research station will be highlighting 10 trials in particular, with some that are just starting and others that have run their course. Most trees, for example, are studied for about 10 to 15 years.
One of the more recent trials has been industrial hemp.
“We are the home base for the industrial hemp research” in Kansas, said Jason Griffin, who became the center’s second permanent director 20 years ago.
The 2018 U.S. farm bill legalized the growing and commercialization of industrial hemp as an agricultural product. Industrial hemp, a close relative of marijuana but with lower levels of the intoxicating THC substance, has many commercial uses, including being a fiber source that can be turned into fabric, paper and biodegradable plastics. Research like that being done at the Pair Research Center will help inform farming practices before Kansas farmers jump into growing the crop.
“It’s so new so we’re looking at things like varieties, production practices and water utilization,” Griffin said. “It’s like looking at how to grow corn in the 1600s.”
Only the outdoor field of the center’s industrial hemp trials will be accessible to the public on Saturday. Its studies of industrial hemp grown in a greenhouse for CBD purposes will be off-limits since opening the greenhouse doors could introduce insects and other pests that would affect the research.
Near the industrial hemp, visitors will find the turfgrass research section, where three varieties of zoysia and Bermuda grass are being studied. Earlier this week, the center hosted a turfgrass industry day for growers and users of turfgrass, such as golf course and athletic directors, to talk about their research.
“If you buy sod for your yard, that’s the result of research done in the fields here,” said Matthew McKernon, a horticulture agent with the Sedgwick County Extension Education Center.
As a result of its continuing research into sweet potatoes, the center now supplies thousands of slips, or starts, of organic sweet potatoes to growers in 26 states, including Kansas. Since new varieties continue to be created, the center has been studying sweet potato varieties and production for 40 years. This year, the center is studying four varieties covering about five acres.
“This year we’ve had a robust sweet potato production. Kansas is a decent place for growing sweet potatoes. While we hate this hot weather, they love it,” Griffin said.
The center’s research into trees and shrubs also makes an impact.
“From the knowledge (of the trials), garden centers know what to carry,” McKernon said.
Landscapers and homeowners also can reap the results of the research and avoid costly experiments about what may or may not grow in south-central Kansas. The Sedgwick County Extension Education Center makes available lists of those best varieties on its website and at its center at 21st and Ridge.
“Every tree here is planted for a specific reason,” Griffin noted. “It may look like a random selection of trees but they are purposeful.”
Those purposes can range from finding more disease-resistance Scotch pines, for example, to trees that can bear the Kansas heat and droughts, if necessary.
Among the various tree research plots, visitors will be able to see two stages of research: the center’s elm research plot, which is in its final year, and its red maple tree research plot, which is in its first year.
In the elm tree plot, the center was looking at which elms could be both resistant to the Dutch elm disease pathogen that wiped out millions and still look nice enough to add to one’s landscaping.
“There are several elms that are resistance but they are ugly,” Griffin said.
In the newer red maple tree plot, the center is looking at 13 varieties as part of a collaborative project with Iowa State University. Four trees of each variety have been planted. On a recent morning tour, Griffin pointed out several weren’t faring too well.
“They are not liking the heat and drought.”
For the center, the success stories of two particular sugar maples are a source of pride.
Pair, the original director, found an isolated strain of a sugar maple growing in Caddo County, Oklahoma, and brought it to the Haysville field to study. The result of his research is the Autumn Splendor Maple, which is considered one of the best maples for the southern Plains because of its heat and drought tolerance. Like its name suggests, the fall foliage color is a glossy red. A second similarly tolerant sugar maple tree Pair discovered and researched bears his name: the John Pair Caddo Sugar Maple Tree.
K-State has three other off-campus research sites: two in the Manhattan area and one in Olathe. The Pair Center got its start with a 40-acre donation of land from the Wichita Area Development Corp., according to McKernon. Farmers Ray and Dottie Reed donated the other 80 acres. Because of limited financial and staffing resources, the center only utilizes about half of the 120 acres for research and leases the remainder to a local farmer.
The center was renamed in honor of Pair for his contributions in 1998.
John C. Pair Horticultural Center open house
What: a rare opportunity to visit the local Kansas State University research station doing trials in trees, shrubs, turfgrass, vegetables and industrial hemp
When: 7 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 7
Where: 1901 E. 95th St. S., Haysville
Admission: Free
More information: facebook.com/events/534707698251745
