State 4-H Horticulture Contest & Plant Sciences Event
May 31, 2008 at UC Davis

2008 State 4-H Field Day Information Packet (Word) (PDF)

Register on-line by May 21, 2008 at http://ca4h.org/wrp/spd/plants/

Take part in the State 4-H Horticulture Contest offered to all 4-H members during the State 4-H Field Day on May 31, 2008 at UC Davis, Olson Hall 1128 & 1130. Plant science activities provide opportunities and potentially motivate youth to increase their knowledge of horticultural plants, and horticultural/plant science techniques and knowledge, greatly expands their ability to identify various plants and allows for interaction with other youth interested in plant science.

Those 4-H members with presentations are also eligible to participate in horticulture activities. Indicate on the registration form if the presentation has a topic of plants, plant nutrition, or other plant-specific topic.

Contest and National Qualifier

The Contest is organized into three parts: Judging; Identification; and Written. The highest scoring senior-age youth are eligible to be part of the California State 4-H Horticulture team (3-4 members) to represent California in the National Junior Horticultural Association convention on October 10-13 in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Senior-age youth (in addition to team members) are also eligible to attend the convention and participate in demonstration, speech, and a number of other contests at the convention. For those 4-H members with an interest in doing independent research before the contest, the study manual may be downloaded at http://www.njha.org/projects.html

Horticulture Event Coordinator: Lora Carey at gardenprincessjmg@yahoo.com or (408) 723-7977.

State 4-H Plant Sciences Committee

Contact Steven Worker at smworker@ucdavis.edu to be added to the email list for this committee.

Committee Coordinators
Lora Carey, gardenprincessjmg@yahoo.com
Alex Culp, krazy_kitten@datahunter.com

Committee Members
Dan Hogan
Noah Elhardt
Daniel Berke
Robin Hogan

Resource Advisors
Richard Engel
John Roncoroni
John Kabashima
Michael Rethwisch

2007 State 4-H Horticulture Contest

Senior - CA Team members
Jeffrey Moore, Ventura County
Daniel Berke, Yolo County
Alyssa Taylor, Riverside County
Jordan Hanson, Siskiyou County

Intermediate - Gold Winners
Joey Gadd, Santa Clara County
Michael Balaguy, Placer County

Junior - Gold Winners
Marisa Martin, Tulare County
Kalie Haynes, Santa Clara County
Ashlee Halopoff, Tulare County
Erika Burton, San Diego County
Nico Mac Dougall, San Luis Obispo County
Rachel Taylor, Riverside County

California 4-Hers Earn Awards at 2006 National Horticulture Competition

Melissa Moore (Ventura Co.) earned numerous individual national awards, placing second in the open class division of the horticulture identification and knowledge contest, as well as third overall. She was also named grand national winner for her horticultural essay entitled "Sustain Horticulture: Propagate Plants" and for her experimental horticulture project which examined the effects of various plant growth regulators and time from cutting until treatment application on rooting of butterfly bush.

Melissa and Ashley Trammell (San Bernardino Co.) both earned outstanding awards in digital imagery. Melissa received this recognition for her sequential digital imagery entry entitled "Bud to Blossom", while Ashley received an outstanding award for her entry entitled "Romantic Moments" in the heavily edited category. Ashley, Melissa and Brenda earned good awards for their entries in the unedited category, while Yvonne earned a worthy award. In the slightly edited imagery category, Ashley received a good award, and Melissa a worthy award.

California 4-Hers also won individual awards in speech divisions. Alex Culp earned a national winner in the 15-18 year old division for extemporaneous speech, and Brenda Bass earned a national award in the performing arts category.

Alex, Brenda, Melissa and Lauren were the members of California's Horticultural Connections team, a competitive game which is part college bowl and part game-show. California's team won their first two rounds of competition, being defeated in the semifinals by eventual champion Wisconsin.

Michael Rethwisch, UCCE Farm Advisor with Riverside County who served as California coach project advisor, noted that the fifth place finish for the 4-H team "reflected the hard work and effort put forth by the team members in their preparations for the contest. Every correct answer was important as California edged out Illinois by just two points (of 1,320) for 5th place". The 2007 NJHA convention will be held October 5-8 in Ft. Wayne, Indiana.

2006 State 4-H Horticulture Contest
San Bernardino, Mendocino and San Luis Obispo County 4-Hers Win at 2006 State 4-H Horticulture Contest

The 2006 California State 4-H Horticulture Contest was held Saturday May 27 on the UC-Davis campus part of the 2006 State 4-H Field Day. This contest consisted of identifying 100 horticultural specimens, a 100 question test over horticultural knowledge, and judging four classes of plants/ products. Participation was very good, with 58 participants from 23 counties.

Youth from San Luis Obispo, Mendocino and San Bernardino Counties were high point individuals in the junior, intermediate and senior divisions respectively. Nico MacDougall of San Luis Obispo County received the gold medal in the junior division, while Katie Hillery (Orange Co.) and Joey Gadd (Santa Clara Co.) also received gold seals for their high scores. Rachel Telander (San Joachin Co) earned the only blue seal awarded in this age division.

The closest competition occured in the intermediate division. Lindsay Maurer of Mendocino County earned the gold medal, scoring only two (of 1,000 possible) points higher than Daniel Hawley of Placer County. Daniel, Robin Hogan (San Mateo Co.) and Joey Scarapino (Santa Clara Co.) each earned gold seals. Earning blue seals in the intermediate age division were Allison Wilder (Inyo Co.), John Westburg (Stanislaus Co.), Camber Corron (Butte Co.), Megan Daniel (Alameda Co.) and Bob Carey (Santa Clara Co.).

The senior division winner was Lauren Christensen of San Bernardino County, who received the gold medal. Receiving blue seals were Yvonne Rogers (Monterey Co.), Alex Culp (Orange Co.), Brenda Bass (Ventura Co.), Ashley Trammell (San Bernardino Co.) and Tyler Lutz (San Joachin Co.). Lauren, Yvonne, Alex and Brenda were the four high point senior individuals, earning the right to represent California in the National 4-H Horticulture Contest to be held Oct. 6-9 in Omaha, NE.

2005 California 4-H Member Wins National 4-H Horticulture Contest

Allison Moore of Ventura County made history by being the first California 4-H member to win the National 4-H Horticulture Contest in the approximately 70 years of this event. Allison teamed with her sister Melissa (7th place) and Ashley Trammell from San Bernadino County (27th place) to lead California team to a second place finish, the highest ever for a California 4-H team, and trailing only the first place 4-H team from Maryland. Teams from Nebraska, Kansas and Indiana completed the top five teams.

All three girls also received national recognition in several other events during the National Junior Horticultural Association (NJHA) convention held Oct. 7-10 at Aurora, OH. Allison received national recognition for her extemporaneous speech, essay and environmental awareness project, and was the grand award winner for her experimental horticulture project and report. Melissa Moore was named grand national winner in the prepared speech contest, and judge's choice for first place for her digital photography sequence entry about tomato development entitled "from Blossom to Bounty".

California entries swept the national awards in the slightly edited division of digital photography. Melissa Moore's entry entitled "Beautiful Blackberries" was named grand national winner for this division, followed by Briana Sallows and Ashley Trammell, both of San Bernadino County. Briana also received national recognition for her heavily edited digital image entry, and Lora Carey of Santa Clara County received the judge's choice as grand national winner in the unedited digital photography division for her entry entitled "California Native Pollinator on Lavender".

Melissa, Allison and Briana teamed with Elizabeth Carey of Santa Clara County to place second in the Horticultural Connections contest, being edged out by Wisconsin on the final question in the championship round. Briana and Elizabeth also earned national awards in other events at the convention, with Briana receiving a standing ovation from the judges as well as the grand award for her performing arts entry consisting of poetry recitation and ballet, as well a national award for her prepared speech. Elizabeth received national recognition for her efforts during 2005 as a youth coordinator for California.

Jeffrey Bolin of Riverside County and Noah Elhardt of Ventura County also represented California, with Jeffrey receiving national recognition for his experimental horticulture project. Noah and Lora Carey served as national officers of NJHA during the 2005 year.

Michael Rethwisch, Farm Advisor from Riverside County who served as coach for this year's team, noted that the California delegation placed second overall in the state sweepstakes, which was a reflection of the effort, dedication, and caliber of the individals who represented California in 2005. The 2006 National Junior Horticultural Association convention will be held October 6-10 in Omaha, Nebraska.

If you have questions, please contact Michael Rethwisch at (760) 921-7884 (mdrethwisch@ucdavis.edu).

CALIFORNIA YOUTH WIN 2004 NATIONAL HORTICULTURE AWARDS

Team for National
Matthew Smith, Imperial County
Michaela Bryant, Orange County
Elizabeth Carey, Santa Clara County

1st Place Individual: Lora Carey, Santa Clara County
2nd Place Individual: Briana Sallows, San Bernardino County
3rd Place Individual: Matthew Smith, Imperial County

California 4-H members in various contests at the convention were Briana Sallows (San Bernadino Co.), Lora and Elizabeth Carey (Santa Clara Co.), Matthew Smith (Imperial Co.), and Michaela Bryant (Orange Co.). Noah Elhardt, a Junior Master Gardener from Ventura County, and David Ramos of Blythe, rounded out the California youth delegation at the 2004 convention.

California youth were a dominant force in the speech contests. Matthew was the grand national winner in the illustrated talk division with his presentation entitled "Herbs". Briana received the grand national award for her prepared speech entitled "A Rose is a Rose", tying for the top award with Anna Timmerman from Michigan. Noah was the grand national winner in the senior (age 19-22) division of the extemporaneous speech contest. Michaela Bryant also participated in the 15-18 age division of this contest. There were no California entries in the demonstration contests in 2004.

Briana earned five grand national awards in all, garnering individual top spots for her environmental awareness and experimental horticulture project reports in addition to her speech. She earned her other two grand national awards in team competition as a member of the California 15-18 year old open class team for the Horticulture Contest as well as the Horticultural Connections team.

Lora Carey led the California open class team to its national championship in the 15-18 year old division by placing second in the division and finishing just 1 point (440 possible) out of first place in the division. The contest consisted of three main areas: identification, judging, and a written test. The extremely challenging identification portion of the contest consisted of identifying 100 horticultural plants from a leaf, seed, flower, piece of bark, twig, etc.

This is the first time that a team from California has ever won a division of the Horticulture Contest. Joining Lora on the team was Briana (6th place individual), and David Ramos (11th place). Teams from Ohio and Wisconsin were second and third respectively. Team coach was Michael Rethwisch of Blythe, Farm Advisor with the University of California Cooperative Extension. Noah Elhardt also made history in this event, by being the first California individual to win a division, placing first in the senior (age 19-22) open division.

The California 4-H team also did very well, placing 8th in the National 4-H Horticulture Contest. The team was led by Michaela Bryant, who placed 22nd in the 4-H division. Michaela was joined by Matthew Smith and Elizabeth Carey. This is thought to be the first time that California has ever competed in the 4-H division of this contest.

Michaela, Lora, and Briana joined Noah to comprise the winning team in the Horticultural Connections Contest, an event that is a cross between a game show, horticultural knowledge, and a college bowl. The California team won four rounds of single elimination to win the championship over a team from New York in the finals.

Lora and Briana received national recognition for their essays, as both were named national award winners for their 2004 entries. Michaela Bryant also represented California in this event.

Two of the California youth were selected through interviews to serve as national officers of the National Junior Horticultural Association (NJHA). Lora Carey was selected at national vice-president and Noah Elhardt was selected as Western Regional director.

The 2005 NJHA convention will be held Oct. 7-10 in the Cleveland, OH, area. More information about NJHA and contests/events can be found at www.njha.org.