Dr. Wendy Klooster

I’ve always loved plants, being outside, and learning new things.

Establishment of organic blueberry container production system for long-term evaluation of cost viability

Collaborating with Dr. Tim McDermott (Franklin County Extension Educator) 

Goal: The objective of our project is to establish a crop of container-production blueberry plants at Waterman Agriculture and Natural Resources Laboratory on the Ohio State University campus in Columbus, OH. This will be the first stage of a multi-year research program on blueberry production in Ohio, which represents a new cultural practice for produce growers and marketers. Throughout the study, we will be using two different peat moss and pine bark potting mixes: one that is commercially available at a relatively higher cost (Pro-mix), and a budget version that can be mixed on-site using readily-available pine bark and peat moss components. Long-term objectives include comparing yield per production method per year and evaluating the potential for blueberry production at a large scale in Ohio. Container blueberry production can be a high value crop that would make use of urban environments that may include heavy metal contaminated, non-remediated soils, land-bank property or prior construction sites. Many central and north central Ohio soil types are also too alkaline for in ground blueberry production and would benefit from this project data.

After my bachelors, I took a year off for teaching environmental education (this confirmed my love of teaching but not necessarily working with kids) - so I went to grad school knowing I wanted to become a college professor one day.

None currently

The Cultivate Conference is my favorite. Although, it is held here in Columbus each year, it's an international horticulture conference that provides a great holistic view of the industry. There is great info for all levels from those just getting into horticulture to those looking for cutting edge plant science.

I’m excited about how our department has grown over the past few years and look forward to collaborating with different people on courses and research projects.

I love to be outdoors: camping, hiking, and cycling! I also enjoy reading, traveling, and spending time with my spouse & our 2 cats.