Ornamental crops are the number one agricultural
commodity in New Jersey accounting for 43% of total farm receipts,
amounting to almost $368 million in 2003. The ornamental horticulture
industry in Atlantic County includes the areas of Christmas tree,
cut flower and bedding plant production, landscape and nursery crops,
turfgrass management, and the landscaping construction and maintenance
industry. In Atlantic County, we cut nearly 13,000 Christmas trees
for sale in 2002. For use in greenhouse, nursery and floriculture
production we have 1700 field acres plus 1 million square feet under
glass.
 Since
July 2003, Jenny Carleo has been the Program Associate handling commercial
ornamentals. Jenny’s background includes the areas
of lily breeding, landscaping, organic vegetable growing, commercial
fruit and produce farming, greenhouse transplant production, horticulture
lab instruction, agricultural research, NYC Greenmarket, nursery
center and pick-your-own markets. She is a member of South Jersey
Landscape Association (SJLA), the New Jersey Christmas Tree Growers’ Association
(NJCTGA) and the Agricultural Agents Association of New Jersey (AAANJ).
RCRE offers a number of services for all ornamental crop growers.
If you farm or landscape in Atlantic County, New Jersey you can contact
Jenny with any problems or questions you may have on producing or
selling your ornamental crop. She can also do in-house plant diagnostics
or you can send a sample to the Rutgers Plant Diagnostic
Lab, see link below.
 Current Programs:
White Pine Weevil
The White Pine Weevil is becoming a difficult pest to manage for
Christmas tree growers. We are working on finding a solution to
this problem using IPM techniques and field trials of potential chemical
controls. To see an article on the early developments of the research
Click Here. Adobe
Acrobat Reader is req. (CLICK HERE for
a free copy of the reader.)
Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP)
This restoration program is sponsored by the United States Department
of Agriculture (USDA) and their sub-department, the Natural Resources
Conservation Service (NRCS). RCR&E- AC’s Agriculture and
4-H departments have received a grant for use in restoring vacant
lots in Atlantic City. Over the next 5 years we will be partnering
with Atlantic City’s Special Improvement District (ACSID) to
renovate 3-4 vacant lots per year. Each piece of barren ground will
be ecologically restored and transformed into an educational public
garden using primarily native plants. The lots will eventually become
small parks with the intention of being a welcoming environment to
the local people, plants and native wildlife of Atlantic City.
 You may also want to visit our pages on:
Links
below to connect to other useful sites.
Douglas Fir Needle Midge Links
These links contain credible
information and fantastic images of the DFNM.
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