Carol Miles

Biography

Areas of Interest

• High value vegetable crops: edamame, wasabi, pea shoots, icebox watermelon, sweetpotatoes, melons, tea, niche-market dry beans, grafted watermelon, bulb fennel, hard cider; soil-biodegradable plastic mulch

Educational Background

• PhD, Vegetable Crops, Cornell University
• MS, Vegetable Crops, Cornell University
• BS, Bio-Agricultural Sciences, Colorado State University

Work Experience

• Professor, Department of Horticulture, Washington State University
• Director, WSU Mount Vernon Northwestern Washington Research and Extension Center
• Vegetable Extension Specialist, Department of Horticulture, Washington State University
• Agricultural Systems Specialist, Washington State University Vancouver Research and Extension Unit
• Agricultural Systems Area Agent, Lewis County Cooperative Extension, Washington State University
• Researcher, Department of Plant Breeding, Cornell University
• Consultant, Helen Keller International, Fairhaven, Connecticut
• Consultant, Academy for Educational Development, Washington, D.C.
• Peace Corps Agricultural Education Volunteer and Trainer, Cameroon, Africa

Honors or Awards

• ASHS Fellow, 2024.
• ASHS Extension Materials Award: Establishing a Cider Apple Orchard for Mechanized Management. Factsheet. 2020.
• National Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences Western Region Communications Educational Curriculum Package3rd Place Award: Pulse on Health. 2019.
• ASHS Extension Materials Award: Edamame. Factsheet. 2018.
• ASHS Extension Materials Award: Apple anthracnose canker integrated management for commercial growers. Leaflet. 2018.
• USDA NIFA Partnership Innovative Projects and Programs Team Award, 2013.
• Washington State University College of Agriculture, Human and Natural Resource Sciences Interdisciplinary Team Award, 2012.
• USDA/CSREES Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) Professional Development Program. Outstanding leadership, dedication and meritorious efforts, Washington State. 2008.

Program Personnel

• Ed Scheenstra, Research Technician
• Adam Elcan – Research Assistant
• Madeline Zwergel – Agricultural Research Technologist

Selected Publications

Research – most recent

• Wadl, P. A., Rutter, W. B., Jackson, D. M., Schulz, L., Shrestha, S., & Miles, C. (2025). USDA ‘Cascade’: A Multiple Pest–Resistant, Rose-skinned, Creamy Yellow-fleshed Sweetpotato. HortScience, 60(10):1772–1774. https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTSCI18853-25
• Brawner S., Kendall A., Kalcsits L., and Miles C. 2025. Over-the-row mechanical harvest of cider apples (Malus Domestica Borkh.). Horticulturae 11(9): 1123. https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae11091123.
• Brawner S., Kendall A., Kalcsits L., and Miles C. 2025. Cider apple (Malus domestica Borkh.) cultivars respond differently to summer mechanical hedging. HortTechnology 35(5):824-830. https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTTECH05714-25.
• Shrestha, S., and Miles, C. 2025. Timing and shoot section influence success of tea-cutting propagation in a temperate climate. Horticulturae 11(6):645.
• Kowenstrot, A.M., Cornwall, A., Warburton, M.L., Uhdre, R., and Miles, C. 2025. Assessment of rhubarb varieties grown in Alaska for commercial suitability and conservation. HortScience 60(8):1333-1240.
• Shcherbatyuk, N., Weiss, B., Yu, Y., Gull, N., Williams, A., DeVetter, L.W., and Miles, C. 2025. Frequently asked questions about soil-biodegradable plastic mulches. HortTechnology 35(4):470-480.
• Sarpong, K.A., F.A. Adesina, L.W. DeVetter, K. Zhang, K. DeWhitt, K.R. Englund, and C.A. Miles. 2024. Recycling agricultural plastic mulch: Limitations and opportunities in the United States. Circular Agricultural Systems. 4: e005 doi:
• Shrestha, S., DeVetter, L. W., Miles, C., Mejia-Muñoz, J., Krone, P., Bolda, M., & Ghimire, S. 2023. Building agricultural knowledge of soil-biodegradable plastic mulch. HortTechnology, 33(5): 455-463. https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTTECH05248-23
• Shrestha, S., C. Mattupalli, and C. Miles. 2022. Effect of grafting compatibility on fruit yield and quality of cantaloupe in a Mediterranean-type climate. Horticulturae 8, 888. https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae8100888
• Kendall, A., T.R. Alexander, G.T. LaHue, and C.A. Miles. 2022. Summer mechanical hedging to prune eight cider apple cultivars. HortTechnology. 32:313-320. https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTTECH04990-21
• Devi, P., L. DeVetter, M. Kraft, S. Shrestha and C. Miles. 2022 Micrographic view of graft union formation between watermelon scion and squash rootstock. Front. Plant Sci. 13: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.878289
• Shrestha, S. and C. Miles. 2022. Plastic mulch and in-row spacing effects on sweetpotato yield in northwest Washington. HortTechnology. 32:241-251. https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTTECH04992-21
• Griffin-LaHue, D., S. Ghimire, Y. Yu, E. Scheenstra, C. Miles, and M. Flury. In-field degradation of soil-biodegradable plastic mulch films in a Mediterranean climate. Science of the Total Environment. 806(1):150238. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150238
• Devi, P., L.W. DeVetter, S. Lukas, and C. Miles. Exogenous treatments to enhance splice-grafted watermelon survival. Horticulturae 7(7):197. https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae7070197

Extension – most recent

• King, J., C. Miles and L. DeVetter. 2023. Minor and uncommon fruits for maritime climate gardens. Washington State University Extension publication FS383E, 15p. https://pubs.extension.wsu.edu/minor-and-uncommon-fruits-for-maritime-climate-gardens
• Miles, C. and C. Daniels. 2019. Growing wasabi in the Pacific Northwest. Washington State University Extension publication PNW 605, 16p.
• Alexander, T., E. Scheenstra, J. King, S. Musacchi, and C. Miles. 2019. Establishing a cider apple orchard for mechanized management. Washington State University Extension publication EM117E, 23p.
• Buajaila, F. and C. Miles. 2019. Petiole sap nitrate-N quick test for determining nitrogen status of tomato. Washington State University Extension publication FS319E, 8p.
• Smith, D., L.A. Riddle, K.A. Nickerson, S. Kerr, and Miles. 2018. Pulse on health: Garden-based pulse nutrition and biology grade 4 curriculum. Washington State University Extension publication EC009.
• Kubota, C., C. Miles and X. Zhao. (eds.). 2018. Grafting Manual: How to produce grafted vegetable plants. http://www.vegetablegrafting.org/resources/grafting-manual/.

Websites

• Vegetable Research and Extension
• WSU CiderWeb
• Plastic Mulches