Speciality Crops

A specialty crop planting consisting of 25 species of medicinal and culinary herbs and essential oil crops was established in 1998 at the Western Agricultural Research Center (WARC) in Corvallis, Montana.  Crops included anise, calendula, biennial and annual caraway, Clary sage, coriander, German chamomile, 'Omega' flax, parsley, sage, summer savory, sweet basil, sweet fennel, thyme, dill, coffee chicory, feverfew, lavender, lemon balm, peppermint, plantain psyllium, skullcap, valerian, and yarrow. Information on all of the above crops will be provided on this site.

Crop adaptation studies were conducted over a three-year period from 1998 through 2000.  Yield and, in some cases, quality was evaluated.  Research  involving dill, feverfew, valerian, German chamomile, and echinacea was also conducted at the Northwestern Agricultural Research Center at Kalispell, MT. 

The exceptionally long and warm 1998 growing season provided an opportunity to observe these species under excellent conditions for crop maturation, while the 1999 and 2000 seasons were much shorter (Tables 1 and 2).  Complete weather data for Corvallis may be found at the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation AGRIMET site.  The soil is a Burnt Fork Sandy Loam, pH 7.2.  All crops were grown under sprinkler irrigation.

Results:

Table 1.  Average minimum and maximum temperatures at the Western Agricultural Research Center, Corvallis, MT, 1998-2000

Table 2.  Growing season characteristics at the Western Agricultural Research Center, Corvallis, MT, 1998-2000

This research was conducted with support from the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station and the Growth Through Agriculture Program of the Montana Department of Agriculture.

Return to regular view	Text-only	Updated: 07/07/2008