2017 ASHS Annual Conference
Reflections on Nearly Sixty Years of Changes for the Textbook “Plant Propagation: Principles and Practices”
Reflections on Nearly Sixty Years of Changes for the Textbook “Plant Propagation: Principles and Practices”
Tuesday, September 19, 2017: 2:30 PM
King's 2 (Hilton Waikoloa Village)
The first edition of “Plant Propagation: Principles and Practices” was published in 1959. Dr. Hudson Hartmann envisioned writing a comprehensive plant propagation text in 1955 and invited his colleague Dr. Dale Kester at the University of California, Davis to be his co-author. Hudson and Dale taught or co-taught plant propagation together at UC Davis from 1945 until 1987 and both were active members of the International Plant Propagators' Society, formed in 1951. Together, they co-authored five editions of their foundational textbook that has become the standard reference for teaching plant propagation at most colleges and universities. In 1990, Dr. Fred Davies, Jr. from the Texas A & M University joined as a third author for the 5th edition and in 1997 Dr. Robert Geneve from the University of Kentucky became the fourth author for the 6th edition. In recognition of the contributions of the initial authors, the textbook was renamed “Hartmann and Kester’s Plant Propagation: Principles and Practices” for the 7th edition published in 2002. As the textbook marked its 50th anniversary in 2011, the 8th edition was printed with full color figures throughout the chapters. For the newly revised 9th edition, Dr. Sandra Wilson from the University of Florida has become the fifth author for the textbook. With this current edition, we hope that we have continued the tradition and original intent expressed by Hudson Hartmann and Dale Kester in the preface of the first edition that “This book provides a source of information concerning the fundamental principles involved in plant propagation and serves as a manual that describes useful techniques for propagating plants”.