Stormie Key
Assistant Plant Growth Facility Manager/ Billing Manager
979-862-4791
Mission Statement
Plant Growth Facility has supported plant science and biotechnology research at Texas A&M for thirty years. It is one of the only service providers for plant sample preparation and growth to all laboratories in AgriLife Research, COALs and some private sectors.
- These are state-of-the-art greenhouses and growth chambers that have been approved for transgenic research.
- Four – 5000 SQ. FT. Greenhouses, Eight – 1000 SQ. FT. Greenhouses, for a total of 28,000 SQ. FT. with state-of-the-art controls and supplemental lighting.
- 51 Environmentally Controlled Growth Chambers and Growth Rooms, Consisting of: three – Arabidopsis 36 SQ. FT. Chambers, twelve – 36 SQ. FT. Chambers, temperature capabilities of 4-40 degrees Celsius, two – 36 SQ. FT. Chambers 0-40 degrees Celsius, five – 18 SQ. FT. Chambers 4-40 degrees Celsius, three – CO2 controlled chambers 316 cubic feet 10-40 degrees Celsius, five – 375 cubic feet chambers 15-35 degrees Celsius, eighteen – 111 cubic feet Chambers 10-40 degrees Celsius, three – Environmentally controlled growth rooms 900 SQ. FT.
- In 2017, the facility added 19 new environmentally controlled chambers (three of which are CO2 regulated).
- Employees are on call 24 hours a day to provide optimum service/plant sample preparation/pest controls.
Services Provided
- The Plant Growth Facility is responsible for scheduling, programming, maintaining, and monitoring the greenhouses, growth chambers and growth rooms. There are two consumable closets and provide specialized ordering for clients.
- On a weekly basis there are cleaning of the greenhouses, monitoring of water and water quality, and inventorying and purchasing of supplies, including the supply of fertilizers for all researchers.
- PGF personnel do insect and disease monitoring and are responsible for all chemicals and applying control measures to meet USDA rules and regulations.
- There are autoclaving capabilities in each building and a recycling program for soil and plant material.
- Employees conduct annual desterilizing of the facilities.
- For all the newly installed chambers from 2017, the facility is responsible for scheduling, programming, maintaining, and monitoring the growth chambers. We are responsible for the cleaning of the growth chambers, monitoring of water and water quality, and inventorying and purchasing of supplies, including supplying fertilizers for all researchers. Also, we do insect and disease monitoring and are responsible for all chemicals and applying these control measures when needed with our equipment.
PGF Users
- There are 14 different Departments/Institutes/Centers of Agrilife using the Plant Growth Facility consisting of 63 PI’s. Along with one USDA user and two Private Sector users (Stoller Chemical and Advanta).
- New chamber users