Growing Potatoes in the Alaska Garden

Potatoes are a great crop for Alaska gardens because they are easy to grow and have a high yield per square foot. This publication includes tips on planting, growing, harvesting and storing potatoes as well as suggestions for cooking and preparing them.Steve Seefeldt, Extension Faculty, Agriculture and Horticulture. Originally prepared by Jeff Smeenk, Extension Horticulture Specialist, Bill Campbell, Agronomist, Plant Material Center, and September V. Martin, Research Assistant

Growing Potatoes in the Alaska Garden

Potatoes are a great crop for Alaska gardens because they are easy to grow and have a high yield per square foot. This publication includes tips on planting, growing, harvesting and storing potatoes as well as suggestions for cooking and preparing them.Steve Seefeldt, Extension Faculty, Agriculture and Horticulture. Originally prepared by Jeff Smeenk, Extension Horticulture Specialist, Bill Campbell, Agronomist, Plant Material Center, and September V. Martin, Research Assistant

Soil Sampling

This publication gives step-by-step instructions for sampling soil on your property. It gives the why, where and how of sampling, along with information necessary for having a sample analyzed.For more information, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service office or Jeff Smeenk at 907-746-9470 or [email protected]. This publication is a major revision by Jeff Smeenk of Soil Sampling, written by Wayne Vandre in April 1987. Reviewed by Jodie Anderson, Instructor, High Latitude Agriculture, School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks; Stephen Brown, Extension Faculty, Agriculture and Horticulture; and Gary Michaelson, Research Associate, Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, University of Alaska Fairbanks

Mycorrhizae in the Alaska Landscape

This publication explains how mycorrhiza, an important relationship between plant roots and certain types of fungi, can improve the plant's growth and provide protection from certain root diseases.For more information, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service office or Jeff Smeenk, Extension Horticulture Specialist, Agriculture and Horticulture, at 907-746-9470 or [email protected]. Reviewed by Stephen Brown and Robert Gorman, Extension Faculty, Agriculture and Horticulture, and Jodie Anderson, Instructor, School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Science

MP 2010-04

The Allis Chalmers ‘G’ tractors have long been favorites with market gardeners because the model combines excellent toolbar visibility, overall maneuverability, and good fuel economy in a relatively simple mechanical design. Unfortunately, the tractor’s small size and unique style make it a prime target for tractor collectors. This means that buying repair parts for the model ‘G’s can be expensive, since the suppliers cater to the hobbyist-restoration market rather than those using the machines on working farms. Conversion of the tractor to electric power eliminates the excessive costs involved in repairing the engine with original parts. The farmer who originally converted a conventional Allis Chalmers ‘G’ to a solar-powered cultivating tractor received partial funding through a Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Grant. He was very happy with the re-powered tractor and developed a website describing both the process of conversion and the resulting tractor (www.flyingbeet.com). The conversion of an Allis Chalmers ‘G’ to an electric (and ultimately solar-powered) cultivating tractor provides several benefits for the University of Alaska’s Matanuska Experiment Farm: ▷▷ 1) The Agricultural Experiment Station plays a leadership role in developing sustainable farming practices appropriate for Alaska, and using a tractor that does not operate on limited fossil fuels provides a working example of sustainable agricultural practices. ▷▷ 2) Among other duties, the tractor is used to cultivate inside 30’ x 96’ high tunnels where carbon monoxide would be a hazard to the operator. ▷▷ 3) The price of the conversion kit was only slightly more expensive than a replacement gasoline engine, and repair of the electric engine is considerably cheaper than repair of the gasoline engine

Hoop Houses in Rural Alaska: Twenty Questions and Answers to Get You Started

This publication addresses the most common questions people have when considering whether to build a hoop house. There is information on the sizes and shapes of hoop houses, the cost of building and/or shipping a hoop house, ease of construction, sunlight and heat requirements, advice on what kind of production to expect, and much more.For more information, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service office or Jeff Smeenk, Extension Horticulture Specialist, Agriculture and Horticulture, at 907-746-9470 or [email protected]. This publication was reviewed by Stephen Brown, Extension Faculty, Heidi Rader, Tribes Extension Educator, and Kendra Calhoun, Extension Instructor

MR-guided adaptive radiotherapy for bladder cancer

Radiotherapy has an important role in the curative and palliative treatment settings for bladder cancer. As a target for radiotherapy the bladder presents a number of technical challenges. These include poor tumor visualization and the variability in bladder size and position both between and during treatment delivery. Evidence favors the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as an important means of tumor visualization and local staging. The availability of hybrid systems incorporating both MRI scanning capabilities with the linear accelerator (MR-Linac) offers opportunity for in-room and real-time MRI scanning with ability of plan adaption at each fraction while the patient is on the treatment couch. This has a number of potential advantages for bladder cancer patients. In this article, we examine the technical challenges of bladder radiotherapy and explore how magnetic resonance (MR) guided radiotherapy (MRgRT) could be leveraged with the aim of improving bladder cancer patient outcomes. However, before routine clinical implementation robust evidence base to establish whether MRgRT translates into improved patient outcomes should be ascertained