In the garden
quality of our environment,” the club states on its website. “As part of the Garden Club of America, we actively support pro-environmental policies through member/community education and political action.”
Offered in several counties in Pennsylvania, the Penn State Extension’s Master Gardener Program is a free service that is just a phone call or email away from getting you the answers you need.
“We have a free garden hotline where they can call or email with pictures,” Kinley said. “We will troubleshoot any questions and help you make that diagnosis — it’s a good place to turn to if you can’t diagnose a problem correctly on your own.”
The Master Gardeners at Penn State Extensions are volunteers who have undergone 50 hours of training before they can serve the public.
“They are trained to give the most environmentally responsible option first,” Kinley said. “Integrated pest management is the basis of all the advice we give.”
The Master Gardener Program of Chester County describes Integrated Pest Management (IPM) as a decision-making process that seeks the least toxic method for controlling pests.
Whether insects or fungi, the key is to make sure you are accurately treating the issue For example, it might be a fungal disease you have, and you are incorrectly trying to treat a bacterial disease.
“We are going to dig into, ‘What are ways that we can manage this,’” Kinley said. “If you have a certain fungus on your tomatoes and we can identify that, we can then recommend certain types of tomatoes that are fungi resistant for you to plant next year.”
Their goal is to set people
up with long-term solutions.
“It might not be feasible for this year to treat the problem,” she said, adding that in that case, they might make recommendations that will positively impact you in future years.
Regardless, they always begin with the best practices to treat a problem and would only recommend a pesticide as a last resort in cases where all of the previous steps to solve the problem didn’t work.
“The basis of all of our advice is going to be around good plant care and other non-chemical options for treating plant problems, such as disease,” she said,
If a pesticide is recommended as a last resort, she said, an individual can then choose if they want to use an organic or a synthetic pesticide.
“We will always go through the pros and cons of all of those options,” Kinley said.
If you take the time to diagnose your problem, or seek out advice to do so, you
will reap many advantages and one will have a positive impact on your wallet.
“It can save you money in the long run,” she said. “You are wasting money if you are buying a chemical that’s not effective.”
Kinley said that even in cases where you buy the right chemical, it will only serve as a quick fix and will only treat it short-term.
“When we address the root cause of a problem, you are better able to manage that problem long term,” she said. “If a problem comes back year to year, you are going to continue to buy something that you are going to have to continue buying, it is a cost you will have to do year after year — you are spending money you don’t need to spend.”
Kinley said the best action you can take at home for issues involving plants already in the ground is to do a soil test to enable you to get a report of how many nutrients are in your soil. The test can aid in making helpful decisions.
“It will give you a snapshot through an actual report on how to keep your plant in your area healthy,” she said.
Each of Penn State Extension’s county offices sell them at cost. The $10 fee covers the cost for the Agricultural Analytical Services Lab to run the test.
“They can download the forms online and collect a dirt sample,” she said.
The second takeaway Kinley highly recommends has to do with plants and vegetables that aren’t in the ground yet. While this bit of advice might sound obvious, Kinley said it is something that is often overlooked.
“If you are getting new plants, always read the tag on the plant before you make a decision to buy it,” she said. “They are almost like a recipe card for success that comes with your plant.”
This will enable you to know the proper spacing for a tomato plant, for example, or what type of sun
conditions it likes. Basically, you want to pick the right plant and get it in the right place.
“I just got some native fern plants and they want full shade,” Kinley said. “If I put them in the sun, they would fry in a matter of a week.”
Cultural controls are important for all gardeners to take into account, regardless of what you’re growing.
“Good plant care practices can reduce your money and labor and can ensure you aren’t having the same problem year to year,” she said.
A long-term solution is usually better for the environment and will give someone the greatest chance of success in the long run. Kinley emphasized there is not a one size fits all solution to reach a homeowner’s ultimate goal in their vegetable garden or flower bed.
“The goal is to have a beautiful plant with the least amount of input,” she said.