Mike Schnelle

Extension Activities

Mike has interests and varying levels of expertise in temperate, subtropical and tropical plants, especially those that can serve as ornamental plant materials. Schnelle has experience with both native and adapted non-native species, terrestrial to semi-aquatic in nature. He also has interest in edible plants both for food value but also those that can be married with ornamental purposes/attributes making them edible landscape candidates.

Holding a 100% Extension appointment, Mike works with the Oklahoma greenhouse and nursery industries including the Oklahoma Nursery and Landscape Association (www.oknla.org). Mike also, as time permits, interacts with landscape architects, urban foresters, arborists, landscapers and a myriad of other green-industry professionals. Schnelle assists with consumer horticulture programs via fact sheets, statewide master gardener training sessions as well as providing lectures to a variety of ornamental plant enthusiasts as time permits. His assistance consists of telephone consultations, formation of fact sheets and circulars, on-site visitations and numerous Extension-based conferences throughout the year (both his own events as well as speaking at others' conferences).He has specifically chaired/co-chaired, moderated and lectured at many workshops and conferences including but not limited to:

Native Plant Materials, Water Quality in the Nursery, Arboriculture in Oklahoma, Socio-Horticulture, Hunger and Horticulture, Plant Materials for the Green Industry Professional and End Consumer, Annuals and Perennials for Oklahoma, Landscaping for Oklahoma, Specialty Cut Flowers, IPM in the Commercial Landscape, Greenhouse IPM, Oklahoma Greenhouse Growers Short Course, Nursery Crops and Propagation, Global Horticulture, Current Challenges in Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Native American Horticulture, and lastly, Asian Horticulture. Many of his workshops materialized due to his close working relationships with the Oklahoma Green Industry, various ornamental operations throughout the U.S. and abroad, as well as cooperation with many universities especially OSU-OKC, Kansas State University, Stephen F. Austin University, Colorado State University, University of Arkansas, University of Florida, and Texas A&M.

Mike Schnelle and his teams have been fortunate to win numerous awards since 1992.  Schnelle has also been individually recognized with Charles N. Shepardson Graduate Student Teaching Award, Colorado State University in 1989; John E. Hutchinson Young Extension Professional by Southern Region-American Society for Horticultural Science (SR-ASHS), 1995; Achievement Award by National Asociation of County Agricultural Agents, 1997; Outstanding State Extension Specialist from Oklahoma Association of Extension Agriculture Educators (OAEAA), 1998; Communications Award by OAEAA, 1999; The President's Volunteer Service Award, 2008; Oklahoma Nurseryman of the Year awarded by the Oklahoma Nursery and Landscape Association (ONLA), 2008; Gamma Sigma Delta Extension Educator Award, 2012; Henry M. Covington Extension Award from SR-ASHS, 2018; Oklahoma Green Industry Professional of the Year from the ONLA, 2025.    

Schnelle has served on a number of statewide boards including the Oklahoma Greenhouse Growers' Association, Oklahoma Nursery and Landscape Association, Oklahoma Urban and Community Forestry Council, Cimarron Correctional Vo-Tech Facility Advisory Board, etc. Because Mike works closely with Extension Educators in all 77 counties upon request, he has served on their state organization (Oklahoma Association of Agricultural Extension Educators) as junior and senior director, twice, as well as being active with the group in other capacities. Regarding OSU, Stillwater, Schnelle has served on a number of campus-wide committees including OSU Beautification, Academic Standards and Policies as well as the Inclusion Excellence Advisory Board. Regarding the Ferguson College of Agriculture, Schnelle has served on Agriculture Faculty Council and the division's Reappointment, Promotion and Tenure committee. In Mike's home department, he has served as Extension Coordinator, but also on committees including but not limited to Awards and Recognition, Reappointment, Promotion and Tenure, H. Grant Vest Lecture Series, departmental representative for the American cancer Society's Relay for Life, as well as other assignments.  Mike has been an active membr of the American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS) since 1986 and has presented his research and extensdion efforts, regularly, while at OSU.  Similarly, he also is active in the Southern Region-ASHS.   Schnelle will serve as Vice President for Extension of the America Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS) for the 2026-2028 term. 

Mike also has an interest in horticulture abroad. In 2003, he was one of two U.S. faculty members invited to lecture about U.S. native plant materials at the Japanese Nurseryman's Association's annual summer meeting in Tokyo. Mike lectured and consulted regarding water quality at the University of Chihuahua, Mexico in 2004. He also served as a faculty mentor for visiting Mexican scientists from Durango, Mexico in 2004-2005. In 2006, Schnelle worked in Baku, Azerbaijan with the Oklahoma National Guard and visited with several colleges and universities regarding potential collaborative projects with the U.S. Schnelle taught a greenhouse production short course in Atrek, Turkmenistan in 2007 as well as working on a tree (Juniperus phoenicea) decline issue in Tripoli, Libya also in 2007. Mike taught an IPM production short course in Nepal (Sidhuwa region), in 2008 as well as lecturing on current projects at OSU while visiting Chiang Mai University, Thailand that same year. Schnelle worked with farmers and Bavico Company in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia in 2010 discussing viable U.S. plant materials for these countries. Schnelle also had an opportunity to discuss U.S. plant materials with commercial nursery and greenhouse producers in Cairo, Egypt in 2011. Mike was invited to lecture and consult at Katanga Methodist University, Democratic Republic of Congo, in 2012. In 2014 he presented at OSU, Stillwater as a request by visiting scientists and students from the University of Chihuahua, Mexico. Schnelle has done several other miscellaneous projects reaching out to horticulture personnel in Tel Aviv, Israel in 2019 and Jardin Tau Kiani Botanical Garden in Hanga Roa, Easter Island, Chile that same year. Mike has served on the faculty of School of Global Studies and Partnerships since 2012. He is also a Fulbright Specialist Candidate since 2014. Schnelle also serves on a number of Master of International Agriculture Program (MIAP) graduate committees.  Mike also has served on various graduate student committees within his home department.

Research Interests:

Invasive plants
Drought-tolerant ornamentals

Rain gardens
Marginally cold-hardy ornamentals
Rose Rosette Disease
Landscape and Greenhouse IPM
Native plants for ornamental purposes

Adapted nonnative species for ornamental purposes
Hunger and Horticulture
Horticultural Therapy
International Horticulture
Edible ornamentals

Syrup production from indigenous trees