Forestry and Horticulture Facilities

The School of Forestry and Horticulture has several facilities and natural areas available for use in classes, research, and recreation.

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Last Updated: Sep 05, 2024, 03:46 PM

The School of Forestry and Horticulture believes in hands-on learning that transforms academic knowledge into real-world skills. Our facilities, such as the SIU Horticulture Research Center and Touch of Nature Environmental Center, serve as living laboratories where students and researchers explore environmental challenges, conservation strategies, and sustainable practices.

Learn More About Our Facilities

Tree Improvement Center

The Tree Improvement Center is part of the University Farms system and is located approximately four miles west of the main campus. It includes forty acres dedicated to hardwood research demonstration.

Ongoing activities encompass a wide array of areas, including walnut breeding and cultivar evaluation; disease susceptibility studies, white ash flowering and grafting; pruning and thinning demonstration; and stand management strategies.

Resources: To learn more about some of the interesting things going on at the Tree Improvement Center, follow the links below:

Mailing address:

Tree Improvement Center
Department of Forestry
Mailcode 4411
Southern Illinois University
Carbondale, Illinois 62901
Phone: (618) 453-3341
Fax: (618) 453-7475

Experimental Forest

The Experimental Forest is made up of thousands of acres of forested land, owned by Southern Illinois University Carbondale. It is made available to students and faculty for scientific research and hands-on teaching and learning opportunities.

A number of diverse experiments are conducted at the Experimental Forest. These range from building experimental horse trails and a test facility with custom instrumentation to study trail erosion and minimizing user impact on trails and the surrounding environment to figuring out new techniques in the effective management of recreational areas, natural areas and productive forested land. 

The experimental forest includes portions of forested land in: 

  • Touch of Nature Environmental Center
  • Thompson Woods, immediately adjacent to campus
  • The rugged, non-agricultural land section of University Farms 
  • Various other tracts of forested land (many received as Estate gifts for agricultural research) throughout Southern Illinois

The forest becomes a living lab for students, helping them conduct practical field exercises and learn about the natural management of forested resources.

The Experimental Forest serves as a vital, indispensable resource, helping students and faculty alike pursue a variety of tier-one research that is collaborative in nature and breaks new ground.

Sustainability Center

At the Sustainability Center we believe that everything we need for our survival and well-being depends, either directly or indirectly, on our natural environment.

Located approximately two miles southwest of the main campus, the Center houses the following:

  • Sustainable Vegetable Farm
  • Paper Recycling Plant
  • Vermicomposting Center

The facilities jointly improve our community by:

  • Producing food grown by organic methods
  • Recycling food and paper waste
  • Reducing organic waste going into landfills
  • Providing students and faculty plenty of research opportunities

Horticulture Center

The Horticulture Center is part of the University Farms system and is located approximately three miles west of the main campus. Used extensively for both research and teaching, the Horticulture Center includes space for small and large plot horticultural crop research in addition to some crop production acreage. Ongoing research activities encompass a wide array of areas, including turf grass production and management; vegetable breeding and production; tree fruit and small production; viticulture; and soil physics and fertility.

Research infrastructure includes extensive apple and peach orchards, research and demonstration vineyard, and dedicated areas for turf grass activities.

Personnel: Contact Info:

For additional information about the Horticulture Center, please contact:

Mailing address:

Horticulture Center
Mailcode 4415
Southern Illinois University
Carbondale, Illinois 62901
Phone: (618) 453-1150, or (618) 453-2496
Fax: (618) 453-7457

Orchards

Personnel:

Mailing Address:

Horticulture Center [Orchards]
Mailcode 4415
Southern Illinois University
Carbondale, Illinois 62901
Phone: (618) 453-1150 or (618) 453-2496
Fax: (618) 453-7457

Greenhouses (Research)

The Research Greenhouses are part of the University Farms system and are located approximately three miles west of the main campus. Used extensively for both research and teaching, the Research Greenhouses provide facilities and support for production of agronomic, horticultural, ornamental and forest plants. In addition to two separate greenhouse complexes, facilities include several cold frame and poly house structure for plant overwintering.

Personnel:

Resources:
The Research Greenhouses consist of 16,000 square feet of growing space for researchers and graduate students. Within this growing space are water baths to control root zone temperatures, mist benches for plant propagation and areas with controlled temperature and lighting to maximize growth and/or induce flowering.

Location:

623 Rowden Road
Carbondale, Illinois

Contact Info:

For additional information about the Research Greenhouses, please contact:

Mailing Address:

Research Greenhouses
Mailcode 4415
Southern Illinois University
Carbondale, Illinois 62901
Phone: (618) 453-2793, or (618) 453-2496
Fax: (618) 453-7457

Vineyard

Personnel:

Mailing address:

Horticulture Center [Vineyards]
Mailcode 4415
Southern Illinois University
Carbondale, Illinois 62901
Phone: (618) 453-1150 or (618) 453-2496
Fax: (618) 453-7457

Student Sustainable Farm

The Student Sustainable Farm is located two miles southwest of the main campus, at the Vermicomposting Center at 3373 Pleasant Hill Rd. The student farm is presently six acres with 2.5 acres in vegetable production. The farm offers students the opportunity to run a small farm to develop the planning, production, food handling and marketing skills needed to find employment in the exploding sustainable/organic food industry.

Supported by the SIU Carbondale Green Fund and by University Housing through their dining hall program, the SIU Student Sustainable Farm started out small in 2010 and has slowly expanded to now include six acres of field and two polytunnels. With 2.5 acres in vegetables, we are looking to expand into small grains, dried beans and cover crops.

Organic methods are primarily employed to grow a variety of vegetables and supply them to the Dining Halls at SIU. The farm grows and supplies potatoes, onions, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, peppers, melons, cucumbers, Asian greens and salad mix in the fall semester. In spring, a polytunnel is used to grow cold season vegetables such as lettuce, salad mix spinach and Asian greens. Produce is sold to the public at farm stands on campus and at community farmers markets though out the year. We also offer a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) from June – Oct. Please contact Meredith Stamberger for more information (siussf@siu.edu).

The farm provides many exciting research and work-study opportunities. Past projects have included the use of vermicompost in vegetable production, the difference of nitrogen isotopes in organic vs. conventional greenhouse tomato production, consumer acceptance of and nutritional differences between Asian greens cultivars, the use of beneficial rhizobacteria in organic strawberry production and the benefits of fall planted cover crops.

Paper Recycling Project

Our Paper Recycling Project serves a dual purpose- recycling paper and reducing costs for bedding for our animals. Our Collegiate Future Farmers of America (FFA) organization received a $3,000 Living to Serve: Environmental Grant from the national FFA in September 2012 to launch this project.

The grant helped fund repair and maintenance of the shredder at the Vermicomposting Center and the purchase of supplies including trash bags, gloves and goggles. Volunteers collect discarded paper from the College of Agriculture and take it to the center for shredding. From there, it goes to University Farms where it is mixed about half and half with other bedding materials to provide comfortable, environmentally friendly bedding for our animals at a greatly reduced cost.

In just the first few months of operation, the project converted about 2,000 gallons of paper shreds into safe, economical bedding, and that’s just the beginning for this ongoing project.

For more information, contact Karen Midden.

Vermicomposting Center

The Vermicomposting Center is home to millions of red wiggler earthworms and was set up primarily to process food waste from the dining halls on campus.

Used extensively for research, teaching and education, the facility is part of the University Farms system and is located approximately two miles southwest of the main campus.

The worms (Scientific name: Eisenia Fetida) produce a mineral-rich compost after feasting on approximately 12,800 pounds of vegetable waste generated each year from one of the University's dining halls (Lentz Hall). The vermicompost is then used to grow transplants and as a fertility amendment for vegetable crops.

A joint effort between the University's Plant and Service Operations and research faculty in the College of Agricultural Sciences, the facility offers tours to interested student groups and classes.

Funded by a $150,000 grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity in 2006, the Vermicomposting Center drastically reduces organic waste going into landfills. 

The goal is not just production of food, but also research and recycling of food waste within the university.

Personnel:
  • Walters, Alan
Resources:
Location:

3373 W. Peasant Hill Road
Carbondale, Illinois

Contact Info:

For additional information about the Vermicomposting Center, please contact:

Mailing address:

Vermicomposting Center
Mailcode 4415
Southern Illinois University
Carbondale, Illinois 62901
Phone: (618) 453-2496
Fax: (608) 453-7457