My First 1O Days as an Undergraduate Research Assistant (Week 1 & 2)

 (05/06/2025 - 05/17/2025)

Under the Texas A&M University Horticulture Teaching Research & Extension Center (HorTREC), the Applied Fruit Research Program led by Dr. Tim P. Hartmann is where I have started my internship as a student worker. I will be documenting my experiences and the things I learn at this job under the supervision of Alden Hotz. 

The program focuses mainly on Fig, Apricot, Pineapple Guava, Golden Kiwifruit, Persimmon, and Peach. However, there are other fruits being grown in the orchards such as Blueberry, Blackberry, Strawberry, Apple, Pear, and Jujube that are regularly maintained. 

The Program has two main locations that are maintained/kept for research; the greenhouse and outdoor nursery on the TAMU campus, and the HorTREC location where fruit trees and shrubs are kept at an outdoor nursery, shaded nursery, over-wintering house, and orchard fields (which include the high tunnel, variety trial, persimmon fields, fig and feijoa rows, and the teaching row)

HorTREC Outdoor Nursery

Campus Outdoor Nursery

Apricot & Kiwifruit Fields (High Tunnel)

Peach Fields

During my first week, I spent most of my time assisting with grafting of apple and pear selections, de-budding of rootstock of grafted apples, and prepping of MP-29 rootstock. 

05/07/2025 - Grafted 5 of each Apple selections and Pear selections using a mechanical Omega Grafting machine. 

05/09/2025 - Observed field chip budding, T-budding, and cleft grafting on nemaguard peach, as well as inlay bark grafting on nemaguard peach. Afterwards, we went out to the peach fields to take data on 26 peach rows of different selections. Data included size, general color and blush, firmness, abundance, etc. Samples were taken from each selection. 

My second week was spent assisting with V-trellising of apricots, taking inventory on fig varieties, spraying herbicide, performing Brix test on sampled peaches, and watering the nursery. 

05/14/2025 - Assisted with V-trellising system of apricot trees. Bamboo is used to make a sturdy V shape that the limbs of the tree are bended and tied to, in order to train the tree to form a V shape canopy. This shape can have many benefits including: harvest efficiency, light penetration, yield potential, and improved tree health. 

05/16/2025 - Performed Brix test on peach samples taken from the field. The Brix test uses a refractometer to measure peach sugar content and ripeness. The diameter of the peach was also taken from these samples. 

At the end of each day, all the nursery plants both at HorTREC and on Campus are watered. With the rising heat of the summer, most of the plants benefit from being watered over twice. For the moment, I am in charge of watering the outdoor nursery on campus, and go over all of the plants twice to make sure they are properly infiltrated. From what I've observed, a good way to test if a plant needs water or has enough is to lift the pot. If it feels light, watering is best. Once the container feels heavy it is fine to leave it alone. 

See you next week🌳