Minutes of the Horticulture PIT Team Meeting, May 24, 2004
Meeting started at 10:10 A.M. EDT
Introductions took place on both ends of the District by Polycom. Carrie Stevenson and Theresa Friday are new agents in the system, and this was their first PIT meeting.
Soil Test Lab problems: David Marshall led the discussion, and the first item was the UF Soil Testing Lab procedures and terminology for reporting results to the homeowners. The general consensus was that the Lab reports are fairly technical for the use of average, or even above average homeowners, and many trained Master Gardeners are confused by the terminology. Even the sample submission sheets are confusing. Two agents spoke about the difficulty of speaking with homeowners about the results from the Lab, and sometimes the Lab sending the reports directly to the Homeowner, and them receiving it before the Extension Office and Agent does, causing awkward situations.
Keith Mickler from UGA spoke about the explanation sheet given to homeowners by the UGA Lab, and that the interpretations are given in clear text, giving recommendations in terms of commonly available fertilizer grades. The Extension Agents in Georgia usually get a few calls regarding interpreting sample results, but not the volume our urban county extension agents receive. The forms were faxed to the Milton site, and we reviewed them for suggestions to the UF lab. There was also some discussion about the interpretations given to commercial horticultural growers, and the Extension Agents are called on frequently to assist the growers on results, and how to use them also, as they, too, have problems interpreting the results.
The general consensus was that a group of agents from the Team here to approach other Green Teams around the state to see if they have the same problems we have with the Lab recommendations. Then, as a group representing all hort agents from around the state, we can approach the lab about a better line of terminology and interpretations to use, particularly for homeowner samples. Beth Bolles and Larry Williams offered to assist David Marshall and Charles Brasher in this endeavor.
IPM Florida: The IPM Team, led by Dr. Norm Leppla. Present were Barbara Larson, Dan Sonke, Esther Dunn, and Marion Douglas, all Graduate Students.
First, Esther Dunn spoke about the IPM Tool Kit and the use of it in Master Gardener and youth educational programs. She gave us the website, http://ipm.ifas.ufl.edu/ and the instruction to click on the Master Gardener link. This program encourages the maximum use of cultural practices and healthy soil when growing plants. She also spoke about the Landscape IPM training (interactive CD) that will be on a distance education class or program later in the year.
Dan Sonke gave a Power Point presentation re the IPM Florida Online Pesticide databases, namely the CDMS (Chemical Data Management System) that is being funded sometime next FY and would be available to Extension Agents to use. This program is a step above the free service offered by the cdms.net website, and hopefully, will be funded and used by agents soon. The website is https://premier.cdms.net/webapls/ and we would be issued a password by IPM. Dan Mullins was one agent in the district who had been given a free test, and he said that a few chemicals are still not on the database, example-Olympics. We were told that this is a commercial product, and is not intended to replace IFAS pesticide recommendations.
Pesticide Recommendation Issues: Dr. Norm Leppla also spoke about the regionalization of chemical and pesticide recommendations. Charles Brasher said that he uses the UGA recommendations for both homeowner and commercial customers. Larry Williams, David Marshall, and Beth Bolles spoke about the problems of the unavailability of up-to-date homeowner recommendations available to homeowners and Master Gardeners. Beth Bolles has compiled a list of Brand name/chemical name products which would be handy, and offered to send them to other agents requesting them, or better yet, post them on the horttips website, if appropriate. They spoke about Eileen Buss’s update of 2 guides on Ornamental and Turf recommendations.. We as agents will continue to use IFAS recommendations as/when available. It would be good to have the major sales outlet brand name products on a list, in a central area. The new Plant Pathologist, Phil Harmon, is updating the info on turf management. Brian Unruh has updated the turf website, turf.ifas.ufl.edu, and there is a “Residential Turf” section you can open up to get info from, according to Larry Williams.
Website issues: Some discussion about the hit counters on our websites. Barbara Larson, Dan Sonke, and David Marshall discussed this with the group. IFAS IT can provide much more detailed info than the webcounters on the pages provide. There is also a program called “webstats” that would help us to keep our links current by spotting inactive ones. Each website of IFAS must be registered now. Teresa Friday brought up the possibility of using video on line to demonstrate the common techniques of pruning, seed, and/or transplants. There were other uses of on line video brought out by Dan Sonke, Esther Dunn (talking about Lance Osborne’s) work. We need to update the horttips website, it was agreed, and each individual agent can proceed at any time. Homeowners may like the county websites, but commercial customers will also use the state or regionally supported websites. We need to provide links to them on our county at horttips websites.
LUNCH Break for the Quincy group-15 minutes.
Pesticide CEU and Other Regional Trainings: We also discussed what is needed, or planned already, in the way of Pesticide CEU training. Most agreed that this should be regionalized, and do what is needed on a 6-8 county basis, max. What about a specialist road show in the areas or ornamentals and turf-yes- we need to coordinate on that to use the specialists better, and conserve travel. Some already planned seminars are the Green Industry Update in November, the Wildflower Road Show(seed production). Dr. Sharma spoke about a Water Quality/Retention pond conference that would be scheduled. There is a Tri-State Horticulture Meeting on August 20 in Milton. Water quality could be added to that program. Reminder—Turfgrass Field Day on June 16 in Jay.
Leadership of this committee and next meeting date: The position of co-chairs was passed on to Stan Rosenthal and Larry Williams. The next meeting is scheduled for November 10, 10:00 A.M. until 2:00 P.M, same place as now-Quincy & Milton, done by Polycom.
Present at Quincy:
Agents/PA’s: Specialists:
David Marshall, Moderator, Leon County Jeff Norcini, Env. Hort, NFREC
Stan Rosenthal, Leon County Jyotsna Sharma, Env. Hort, NFREC
Janet Psikogios, Bay County
Alex Bolques, Gadsden County
Keith Mickler, Grady County, Georgia, and
Charles Brasher, Jackson County, Recorder
Present at Milton: No specialists at Milton
Dan Mullins, Moderator, Santa Rosa County
Carrie Stevenson, FYN, Escambia County
Beth Bolles, Escambia County
Teresa Friday, Residential Hort, Santa Rosa County
Larry Williams, Okaloosa County
Sheila Dunning, FYN, Okaloosa/Walton
Minutes submitted by Charles Brasher.