Disease Diagnosis Guidelines for Master Gardeners

Situation or issue identification: Master Gardeners are volunteers trained by the Florida Cooperative Extension Service to help disseminate horticultural information to our urban, homeowner clientele. Much of the activity of these volunteers centers on the so-called "walk-in" trade, where clientele arrive at the county office seeking help in identification and control of plant health problems. Plant diseases are particularly difficult to diagnose and most Master Gardeners can benefit from the expertise of professional plant pathologists in developing diagnostic skills geared to the peculiarities of their portion of the state.

Measurable or potential impact: Half day sessions on the principles of plant pathology, especially disease diagnosis, have been held for Master Gardener trainees in four counties in southeast Florida, once or twice a year for the past several years. Approximately, 480 volunteers have been trained, representing a potential 24,000 hours of volunteer service returned to Cooperative Extension. These volunteers have indicated strongly that they are much more comfortable handling plant health questions because of the exposure to these sessions. About 500 copies of a new publication, Disease Diagnosis Guidelines for Master Gardeners, have been distributed to target personnel. A Web site has been produced using most of the color images from our live presentation: http://erec.ifas.ufl.edu/mg/index.htm.

Collaborating organizations/agencies: This work has involved collaboration between professional plant pathology staff at EREC and in Gainesville, staff of several county extension offices, and the volunteers themselves.

For more information contact: Kenneth L. Pernezny