Many gardeners have a limited amount of expertise in diagnosing and identifying problems on plants whether it is an insect, disease, or cultural problem. These gardeners tend to reach out to farm stores and nurseries where the business is motivated to sell products such as fertilizers and pesticides. Many times, the recommendations are not needed and it’s a waste of money and can be damaging to the environment.

The Washington County Extension Horticulture program provides services to residents such as soil sample recommendations, educational classes, diagnostic services, and site visits so that no matter the gardening problem it is solved with sound scientific advice.

In the past year, the Washington County Horticulture program has provided the following: educational programming to over 600 attendees, phone consultations to over 400, text and social media consultations to more than 300, site visits totaling 175, and over 100 pest identifications. These services impact financial savings and contribute to the health of our local environment.