Massey Horticultural Units
The Massey Horticultural Units are Massey University's purpose-built facilities to facilitate teaching and research in plant science and production.
The Units are located on Massey's Manawatū campus near Palmerston North.
Facilities, equipment and land
It has a protected growing environment suite of
- 25 glasshouses
- Six 'walk in' Controlled Temperature Rooms
- Three growth cabinets with the ability to control temperature, day length and relative humidity
- One shadehouse and standing out areas.
The glasshouses are temperature controlled to maintain users minimum heating requirements with cooling provided by fresh air venting via fans or passive louvres.
Alongside this is our seven-hectare orchard and open ground area for teaching and research in outdoor fruit and vegetable crops.
Types of plantings
The current plantings of perennial crops consist of ½ hectare of green and gold kiwifruit and 0.75 hectares of apples and pears.
There are vegetable trials conducted each year with traditional Maori Taewa, Hue (gourds), kumara, Kaanga (corn) and kamo kamo.
Wish to use the facilities?
As well as our students using these facilities for their learning and research, we work closely with industry who use our the Massey Horticultural Units for research and development. If you wish to find out more about our facilities and how we can help, please get in touch with us.