Recent Posts
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Extension folks use the term “home orchard” quite loosely—generally, we are talking about anyone who is not producing fruit on a commercial scale. Per that definition, you might have one or two trees, or you could have several acres of them, and still fall into a “home orchard” producer category. One of the most common…
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In the past week or two, we’ve had several clients call our office with questions about mysterious odors in their water. These clients have all been on well systems and have had questions about the source of the odor and water safety for general use in cooking, cleaning, and so on. In these cases, a…
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I had a client this week ask why he doesn’t get better nut quality from his pecan tree. Unfortunately, if you have older tree varieties and aren’t really managing them, you may never get the quality and quantity of pecans that you might hope for. With that said, I wanted to discuss some of how…
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Spring is typically a busy time of year for the Extension office, particularly in my main role as Agriculture and Natural Resources Agent. Between client inquiries, soil and water tests, educational programs, site visits, and training, we stay busy. Since our long-time 4-H leader Jodi Coon left us in early 2020, I have also been…
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Each year, I get a number of calls asking for identification of common garden insects. Unwelcome pests reduce yields and lower the quality of harvested fruits and vegetables. Insects may cause damage through boring, sucking, or chewing plant parts such as roots, foliage, or fruits and vegetables themselves. In addition to plant damage, insects are…
Posted in: Insects and Pests -
This week, I had a client send me a photo of their yard. There were 5-10 holes in the lawn characterized by large crescents of dirt around the entrances. While we’ve talked about some other digging pests in the past such as armadillos, this damage was most likely done by Geomys pinetis, better known as…
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If you’ve been reading my column for some time now, you may have heard me talk once or twice (or perhaps more often!) about cool season grasses, especially as it relates to winter grazing. I had some grading work done on my property in the fall and we used an annual ryegrass as a ground…
Posted in: Forages -
As children, many of us experienced the wonder of watching a seed germinate and learning how plants grow. Gardening can provide a variety of forms of engagement for children including designing, planting, and maintaining gardens, harvesting, preparing, and sharing food, working cooperatively with others, learning about science and nutrition, and creating art and stories inspired…
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As Georgia starts to warm up, with the promise of spring and summer around the corner, many of us are starting to appreciate the new growth and blooming plants around us. While we have another month or two to wait until we see blooms, one of my favorite landscape plants in our area are crape…
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Pesticide Licensing A pesticide is any substance that can prevent, destroy, repel, or mitigate pests, and includes anything used as a plant regulator, defoliant, or desiccant. The use of pesticides can be used to control pests- undesirable organisms that injures humans, plants and animals, manufactured products, or natural substances. Common pests include weeds, insects,…
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