Texas A&M horticulture field day set for Oct. 2 near Somerville
Annual event opens facility to public with tours, tastings and research
The Texas A&M Department of Horticultural Sciences will host its annual field day from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Oct. 2, giving the public a close look at active research underway at the Texas A&M Horticulture Teaching, Research and Extension Center, known as Hort-TREC.
The field day is open to the public, including horticulture industry professionals and Texas Master Gardeners. Registration is $35 and available online through https://tx.ag/2026HortFieldDay. Cost includes a barbecue lunch, a wine and fruit tasting, and door prizes.
The facility is located at 3199 County Road 269 E. near Somerville, roughly 10 miles west of the Texas A&M University campus. It includes 22,000 square feet of greenhouse space and more than 130 acres of research field plots.
Guided tours spotlight horticulture research
The annual event is organized by Tim Hartmann, Ph.D., Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service statewide fruit specialist and assistant professor, Department of Horticultural Sciences, Bryan-College Station.
Attendees can take guided tours of the greenhouse and nursery facility, fruit research plots, and the Texas A&M AgriLife research vineyard and pecan orchard, offering a firsthand look at how the center’s growing space and field plots are being managed.
Tours will cover research on pecans, peaches, apricots, wine and table grapes, muscadines, pears, Asian persimmons, kiwifruit, pineapple guava, figs, blackberries, potatoes, peppers, melons, bald cypress, prairie coneflower, hibiscus, moringa and other ornamental crops.
“The field day is a great opportunity for fruit, landscape and gardening enthusiasts, and industry professionals to visit our facility to engage with our experts and see the science we’re applying every day,” said Amit Dhingra, Ph.D., professor and head of the Department of Horticultural Sciences. “We’re looking forward to meeting the people we serve and sharing our work.”
For more information about the event, email Hartmann at [email protected].
