Advanced Master Gardener

Land Care at MG College 2011

Advanced Master Gardener Land Care Steward

Master Gardener College, 2011

June 22-26, 2008, Blacksburg VA

Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011

Torgersen Hall Room 1030

9:00- 9:30      Welcome, Introduction to Land Care Stewards and Advanced Master Gardening, Course expectations and Service requirements.  Frank Reilly, Research Fellow, LMI, and Prince William Master Gardener Volunteer.  UNIT 1 Presentation  Overview of Reduce Reuse Recycle Presentation

9:30- 10:30     Reduce Yard Waste by Reusing Materials. Frank Reilly, Research Fellow, LMI, and Prince William Master Gardener Volunteer.  UNIT 3 Overview of Reduce Reuse Recycle Presentation

10:30-11:00     Break

11:00-12:00     Landscaping to reduce yard waste, Tom Martin, Instructor, Agricultural Technology, Virginia Tech. UNIT 2 Presentation Handout

12:00-1:00     Lunch

1:00-2:00       Land Care Stewardship Programs that Work:

Backyard Composting - Sharon Giese, Hanover County Master Gardener.

    Presentation

    Handout - Getting started in composting

    Handout - Three bin system

Large-Scale Composting - Emily Gianfortoni, Hanover Master Gardener

Presentation

Vermicomposting - Emily Gianfortoni and Sharon Giese, Hanover Master Gardeners

    Presentation     Extra Pictures of Vermicomposting

    Handout - Script for Maymount

    Handout - Program for Swansboro Third Grade

    Handout - Maintaining your worm bin

3:00 -3:30         Break

3:30 - 5:00        Fire-House - A Wildlands/Urban Interface tool - Pattie Bland, Hanover County MG Coordinator explains the Fire House used by Hanover to demonstrate at the VA State Fair and other locations.

Recycling and Plastic Pot Recycling,

Emily Gianfortoni and Sharon Giese, Hanover Master Gardeners

    Presentation  

    Handout - Recycling Nursery Pots

Initiation, Implementation, and Lessons Learned.  Hanover County Advanced Master Gardeners: Land Care Stewards, Including: Emily Gianfortoni Sherry Giese and Pattie Bland. UNIT 6

    Presentation

4:45-5:30        Dinner

5:45 - ~7:30    Field Trip one: Gardening for Wildlife Habitat Enhancement, Suzie Leslie, College of Natural Resources, Virginia Tech and Virginia Master Naturalist UNIT 5. PLEASE NOTE!! Suzie Writes: "the gnats have been bad in our yard some evenings. I’m not into bug spray, so I wear a bandana to cover my ears, long sleeves, and a broad-brimmed hat. So if they have any tricks they use to keep gnats from bothering them, please encourage..."

Here is a presentation that Suzie Leslie made at Advanced MG Training in 2008

Thursday, June 23rd, 2011

Torgersen Hall Room 1030

9:00- 12:00      Wildland Urban Interface and Fire.  Home protection from wildland fires, Firewise landscaping and Firewise communities.  Bill Worrell, ANR Virginia Cooperative Extension & Barb Stewart National Park Service. UNIT 5

12:00-1:00       Lunch

1:00-5:00         Firewise Community Tour Meet the buses outside D-2.  The buses leave promptly at 1:00. David Richert, Forester with the Virginia Department of Forestry.  Take a first-hand look at real-life FireWise management examples. Visit local homeowners’ private property and see the management strategies they have adopted to protect themselves against Wildland fires. Mr. Richert will discuss an incentive plan funded by the VDOF to assist homeowners in ‘FireWising’ their own landscape and property. UNIT 5 & 6 

Friday June 24th, 2011

8:30 – 9:00      Welcome Addresses  Virginia Cooperative Extension. UNIT 1

9:00-9:30         Brown Marmorated Stink Bug Update. Eric Day. UNIT 5

9:30-10:30       Firewise Landscaping, Fred Turck.  VA Department of Forestry. UNIT 5

10:30-11:00     Break

11:00 – 12:00  Exotic Invasive Plant Species Invading our Forests. James Miller. UNIT 2 & 5

12:00-1:00       Lunch

1:30-3:30        Choose one of the following classes.  You must have pre-registered for these classes:

*Before the Storm. Adam Braaten. Beyond selecting the right tree, learn some basic tree management strategies to help you mitigate storm damage before it hits. This is a continuing education opportunity for land care stewards as well as tree stewards.

*Beyond the Disease Pyramid. Adria Bordas. Ever wonder what plant pathogenic Fungi and Bacteria are most common in Virginia. Perhaps you want to know more about the life cycle of the most common plant pathogens in Virginia. In this class, Adria will describe the most commonly found plant diseases, their life cycles and truly the beauty in plant diseases. The goal is to acquaint the participant with the most common diseases, their life cycle, and how to manage the problems.

*Sustainable Gardening Practices. Laurie Fox. .

*Weed Ecology & Biology. Amber Vallotton. Weeds have certain characteristics that make them far more than simply “plants out of place!” This presentation will give you an appreciation for weed biology and ecology to better understand effective control strategies. A portion of the talk will focus on the increasing frequency of plant injury caused by herbicide residues in manures, grass clippings, and compost.

3:30-5:00        Choose one of the following classes.  You must have pre-registered for these classes:

*Persistent Herbicides in Compost. Greg Evanylo. Amending turf and landscape soils with compost is generally considered a good practice, and grass clippings and animal manures are two items that are often composted. However, knowing something about the herbicides applied to the grass the clippings came from or the hay that the animals ate can impact your choice of using the compost. This presentation will discuss the issue of herbicide carryover and offer guidelines for the use of the pyridine carboxylic acid herbicides and precautions to take when using compost that may contain their residues.

*Been Saving Those Plastic Nursery Pots? Reusing and Recycling Nursery Plastics in Virginia. John Ignosh & Lisa Sanderson. The Virginia nursery and greenhouse industry is one of the fastest growing sectors of agricultural production in the Commonwealth. This growth leads to consumers purchasing plants in plastic nursery containers. Landfills become filled with this plastic and many gardeners have been collecting their nursery plastic for years waiting for this opportunity. Learn what you can do as a Master Gardener in your community to recycle plastic nursery pots and divert them from the landfills!

*Site Evaluation. Laurie Fox.

*Water-Wise Plant Selection. Sandra Reichert. Struggling with water woes in your landscape? Learn about the seven principles of water-wise gardening and how to work with nature, not against it, to create a pleasing environment while reducing the need for additional water usage in the landscape. Discover how the proper selection and placement of plants for your site will reduce maintenance and expenses once your garden is established.

*Wildlife Damage – Who You Gonna’ Call? Frank Reilly. Diagnosing and responding to damage in the home & landscape. Don’t be a victim. Learn how to tell what is doing the damage and how to adapt, respond, or retreat with respectability. Presentation

Saturday June 25th, 2011

9:00-10:30       The Fate of Fertilizer & the Chesapeake Bay. Panel UNIT 2 & 5

10:30-11:00     Break

11:00-12:00     Eliminating Murder: How Not to Kill Plants. Bryce LaneUNIT 2 & 5

12:00-1:30       Lunch

1:30-5:00         Extension Programming. Pat Reilly, Cooperative Extension MG Volunteer, VT. Required for Land Stewards; open to all Advanced MGs. Learn how to research community needs, determine appropriate teaching methods to meet needs, ensure staffi ng/resources, and plan for continual improvement.  Have you ever had a great idea for a program but don’t know how to get started? Or do you get overwhelmed with all the possibilities for Master Gardener activities and don’t know where to put your effort? Does your Master Gardener program need to be “pruned” a bit? This workshop will provide a four-part program model, four approaches to Extension education, and a tool to prioritize community needs. We will share program needs with each other and examples of how we have determined which activities to offer. We will also discuss how to streamline current educational activities to better meed local needs and survive in a busy world! Bring your program triumphs and woes to share with each other. UNIT 6

Programmatic Handbook This is a large Adobe Acrobat file and can take a long time to download.  It is provided as part of the training materials for Advanced Master Gardener - Land Care Training.

What do I do now 2011   A PowerPoint presentation of programmatic training specifically developed for use with the Land Care Stewardship Program.

What do I do now 2011 A Microsoft WORD handout to accompany the Programmatic Training

Social Marketing by Mitchell

1:30-3:00  Or If you have BOTH completed Programmatic Training at another Advanced Master Gardener Training AND a volunteer at a Unit that ALREADY HAS a Land Care Stewardship Program you may take one of these elective courses.  If you have pre-registered for them.

*Abiotic Stressors/Nutrient Deficiencies. Dave Orcutt. (Part 1 of 2). This presentation will provide an introduction to abiotic stress, plant nutrient requirements, and diagnosis of nutrient deficiencies. You will also learn about plant strategies for surviving and coping with drought and heat stress.

*Plant Diagnostics. Mike Likins. (Part 1 of 2). This presentation will take you through the process of proper plant diagnostics. Learn how to determine if a plant is being affected by a fungus, bacteria, or virus or if it is simply showing symptoms of an abiotic stressor.

*Selecting Plants for Your Landscape, Should I Go Native? David Yost. David has spent the past 25 years working with sick, dying, or dead plants. Come hear what plants the “Garden Curmudgeon” recommends for reliable performance, including both native and non-native species.

3:30 pm-5:00 pm 

*Abiotic Stressors/Nutrient Deficiencies. Dave Orcutt. (Part 2 of 2). In part 2 we will examine the impact and response of plants to flooding, chilling, and freezing stress. This presentation will also cover the effects of light quality and quantity on plant growth and development and the significance of air pollutants on plant growth and production.

*Plant Diagnostics. Mike Likins. (Part 2 of 2). Continued.

*Teaching Children Composting the Old Fashioned Way...with red wigglers! Dawn Lerch. Composting is an important part of nature’s recycling and the benefits of using the final product – humus – are many. But who and what are involved in this process? This presentation will investigate the critters of the compost pile. We will take an up close look at the life of a worm as well as how to care for a worm bin/vermicomposting. Come and catch the “wow” of vermicomposting and teach a kid how to do it too. Your fee for this session provides you with a copy of Mary Applelhof’s book Worms Eat My Garbage, a coir fiber brick for bedding, and your starter supply of red wigglers!

*Signs, Symptoms, and Clues to Diagnosing Plant Problems. David Yost. This interactive session will emphasize following a systematic approach to diagnosing plant problems. Take this opportunity to hone your diagnostic skills so that you will know what questions to ask and how to help your clients the next time you are asked, what’s wrong with this plant?

 *Gardening in Limited Spaces: Big Ideas for Small Trees. Bryce Lane. With the average home property size shrinking and the Baby Boomer Generation getting older, the need for large, good ole fashion shade trees is decreasing. Small to medium size ornamental trees are becoming more and more popular, and greater in demand. This presentation will focus on the basic principles of selecting, planting, and caring for small trees in the home garden.

Sunday June 22^nd, 2008

9:00-10:30         Holly Scoggins. 'Nuff said!

10:30 – 12:00   Landscape Rehab: A Twelve Step Program to a Sustainable Landscape. Linda Chalker-Scott. Unit 2

Complete Program Design and project list and report back to become Advanced Master Gardener Land Care.

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Last changed: January 24, 2012