Pure Seed Testing- Week 10

My last week in the Willamette Valley! I spent the week soaking up time with all of the friends I had made! 

Not pictured, but I spent lots of time this week in the office filing seed tests!

I double-cut these bluegrass plots with the 1.25" reel mower and was amazed by how beautiful it looked in the heat of summer! 

I did more weighing out this week. In this picture, I am weighing out bluegrass progenies to be sent to North Carolina and used in the Oregon turf plots. 

I also had to say goodbye to my cabin and the amazing landlords that I had this summer! This tiny cabin will be missed!

I was also able to be able to go white water rafting on the Deschutes River with my Oregon family!! We had a blast, and it was a great way to spend my last full day. 

 

Pure Seed Testing- Week 9

 

This week, I got to spend some time with a few coworkers, as well as Crystal and Mark, on their boat! We took the boat up the river to downtown Portland and saw many cool things along the way!

At the end of the week, I trained one of my coworkers on using the lightbox and Turf Analyzer! 

This week began with lots of weighing out seed for shipment and internal use. In this picture, I was weighing out a synthetic blend of perennial ryegrass seed from a circle. 

I took a picture of this specific plot of perennial ryegrass because of how pretty it was! It is a European variety that recovered from traffic excellently. 

Pure Seed Testing- Week 8

This week I took lots of drought DIA images! In the picture, you can see part of the A-List trials I took pictures of. I also took drought images of the TWCA Rainout shelter. 

I spent more time mowing this week. Above, you can see me on the John Deere reel mower for the 0.5" turf plots. 

This week, I began working on weighing! This picture is of some mill checks that I weighed out of Kentucky Bluegrass seed yield trials. Tese mill checks were sent to our testing lab. 

In this picture you can see me weighing bluegrass hybrid seed after it had been hand-thrashed. This seed was individually weighed and recorded in a spreadsheet. 

I got to visit one of the greenhouses with the marketing team and saw the beautiful Powder Blue fine fescue starts!

I spent some time writing thank-you letters to sponsors of the Bill Rose Foundation and worked on social media posts for the marketing team. 

 

Pure Seed Testing- Week 7

Spent some time in the office filing tests!

As you can see below, I spend lots of time taking pictures of plots with a lightbox. Uploading the pictures and using Turf Analyzer to create the data is the other part of the task. 

I learned how to weigh out seed for various purposes this week. The seed seen here is being weighed and sent to the lab for a millcheck. 

Surprise! I spent more time mowing this week. Here I can be seen driving one of the reel mowers back to the shed. 

Above is the lightbox that is used to take pictures. On this particular day, I was taking pictures in the A-List drought trial. 

I did the last of the trafficking this week (although this is an old picture). I trafficked the progeny portion of the low-mow perennial ryegrass turf plots. 

 

Pure Seed Testing- Week 6

This week was short due to the holiday weekend and my dad coming to visit me. We took a trip to Seattle to see the Harley-Davidson store on the pier!

 

Mowed a lot this week! Mowed 0.5", 1.25", and 2.5" plots on the farm. 

Took pictures of circles to be entered into their respective spreadsheets. 

Pure Seed Testing- Week 5

Post Field Day, I spent the majority of my time mowing. I was able to learn how to use a reel mower at 1.25" and 0.5", along with a zero-turn for the plots with higher heights of cut. 

I was also able to spend some time counting spikelets on perennial ryegrass seed heads for data purposes. 

Early in the week, I spent some time measuring perennial ryegrass clones and entering the data. In this picture, you can see the mountains behind the clone nursery!

Pure Seed Testing Week 4- Field Day!

This week, we did lots of preparation for Field Day, including hanging flags for all countries represented and placing turf plot signs, which can be seen below. 

During Field Day, I got to join the tour and hear from several guest speakers on different aspects of the industry. In the above picture, a sales representative is speaking about the different varieties of Perennial Ryegrass that we offer. 

In this picture, Kelly Lynch can be seen speaking about TWCA and our Rain-Out shelter. 

Dr. Richardson was able to come to Field Day and speak about the impacts of shade on different types of grasses. 

This week, I had the pleasure of spending time with six post-graduate students who were invited to Field Day by the Bill Rose Foundation. In the above picture, you can see a pallet of grass seed coming off of the palletizer during one of the stops of the tour I took with the students. 

 

Pure Seed Testing- Week 3

Continued to traffic the low-mow ryegrass plots daily, to prepare for Field Day. Above, you can see 

    the difference in the trafficked and untrafficked halves of the plot of a European variety of perennial ryegrass. Below is a picture of the low-maintenance perennial ryegrass that I have been trafficking. The drought stress is beginning to be seen here

This week began harvest 2025. We began harvesting Kentucky Bluegrass Seed Yield Trials and crosses. Once the plots are cut, the seed heads are placed in a burlap bag and hung in a greenhouse to dry

Picked up a client from the airport on Tuesday and joined him on his tour of the farm. While on the tour, I learned more about this particular plot of fine fescue, which was recently named Powder Blue. It is being bred and trialed at Pure Seed

 

Pure Seed Testing- Week 2

Used the above camera box to take pictures of individual plots in the TWCA rain-out shelter, as well as plots of perennial ryegrass, Kentucky bluegrass, and tall fescue before they were droughted. I then used Turf Analyzer to populate green cover percentages for TWCA certification

Placed turf plot signs to prepare for an important client visit and had a conversation with Crystal on the current state of the grass seed market 

Spent time this week measuring Fine and Tall Fescue clone rows. These measurements were averaged per row to give the breeders information about the experimental varieties 

 

Trafficked the Parks and Recreation perennial ryegrass plot two more times this week. The traffic pattern is becoming more prominent, though the turf is still green 

Pure Seed and Pure Seed Testing- Week 1

During the first week of my internship, I performed various tasks around the farm and office. I spent time with Georgia, the Inventory and Data Collection Manager, labelling individual varieties of grass that the breeders wanted to keep. This can be seen in the picture to the left and bottom right. 

After we labelled the desired plants, members of the crew moved them from these nurseries into "circles," which are comprised of the desired varieties that they want to let cross-pollinate to create new varieties. We then mapped and labelled these circles. 

The picture on the left showcases a nursery field of varieties being trialed. In the middle of the picture, you can see plants that have been rogued, because they did not meet the standards of the breeders. 

I also spent time doing some painting and cleaning of the various places on the farm to prepare for a client visit and Field Day. 

On the left is a picture of one of the seed storage warehouses that I was given a tour of. 

I spent several hours at the main office learning all about international shipping and logistics of the seed business, and spent some time filing pest & disease tests, which can be seen on the right. 

On the left is a picture of one of the coolest things I learned this week. I was taught how to traffic a field. I used this traffic machine to simulate 3 hours of game play on the Perennial Ryegrass plots in the picture. This is a 3-year-old stand of turf and is simulating a Parks and Recreation level playing field. The traffic machine is run in a serpentine pattern and used to test how the turf stands up to use. 
 

My Exploration of the Columbia River Gorge + Silver Falls State Park

 The tour I took through the Columbia River Gorge included several waterfalls, the Vista House, a family farm, and Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood. It was a beautiful highlight of some of the sights Oregon has to offer. 

                                

Silver Falls State Park was another beautiful gem hidden in the hills of Marion County, OR. It held a 7-mile trail packed with waterfalls and scenic views. 

My time spent exploring Oregon was a wonderful precursor to starting my internship. I look forward to doing more sightseeing throughout the summer!