Re: [gardeners] USDA

Allen and Judy Merten (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Fri, 23 Jul 1999 08:56:15 -0500 

Hi Byron,
    I guess it does differ from county to county. Fortunately in the 9 Texas
counties that I have lived in the county agent has been very user friendly. I
joke with the "home economist"  that they are now called "family life
scientists" or something real close to that. I know family and scientist are
included in the title. The FLS are a great source of information on canning and
preserving. I call on the Bastrop Co. agent first, if not available, I can call
on and am well received by the county agent and FLS in Travis, Lee, Washington,
and Fayette counties. All of these are our neighboring counties.
    Have you looked at the Agrigator site from Fla.St.?
Allen, big fan of Texas Extension Service
Bastrop Co.
SE Central Tx.

Byron wrote:

> Allen
>
> Actually I am from NH, a home gardener can take their problems to the
> County Agent or talk thru e-mail. The County Agent in this state makes site
> visits to Commercial growers only.
>
> TX varies by County, I Know a Chile Head from TX said in her county
> the County Agent would talk to her if she was growing more than 5 acres
> of 1 particular crop and only that crop.
>
> County agents usually limit themselves to County residence only.
>
> US Ag. Schools, A few have some folks that will chat with you.
> However they have a priority, County Commercial first, State Commercial
> county home growers, then non-resident growers. when they have time.
>
>    Every now and then you find one that you have to wonder about, I found
> a Plant Pathologist at UMASS Amherst that had never heard of chlorine
> or tsp as seed treatment for seed borne diseases. ??
>
> Some states have some great pages but they are not easy to find. IE
> VA Tech. VA Tech did some stuff on folar feeding and found that other
> than nitrogen, it's better to soil feed.
>
> Some like NMSU are geared only to commercial growers.
>
> ND, NCSU, UCDAVIS, UCONN and Ohio are more geared to the home
> grower
>
> One of favorite sites is the following, just type in plant, disease or bug
> and you will get at least 25 pages of info
>
> Ohio fact sheet
> http://www.hcs.ohio-state.edu/factsheet.html
>
>
> Byron