Plant Management Systems: Urban Horticulture

Otero County 2008 and 2009 Master Gardener’s Class

As in 2008, the 2009 Otero Master Gardener’s Classes began September 8th and will continue every Tuesday for twelve consecutive Tuesdays until November 17th. Twenty two residents of Otero County make up the majority of the new class with three to ten members of the existing Otero Master Gardeners Association attending also. The class participants are acquiring skills and information for growing healthy gardens, fruit trees, berries, lawns and ornamental trees and shrubs resulting in bettering their nutrition and saving them money through home-grown fruits and vegetables, while providing them a healthier environment through the cultivation of ornamentals in and around their homes. The classes, Basic Botany, Trees & Shrubs, Weather, Entomology, Soil, Weeds, Wildlife Damage Management, Fruit and Nut Trees, Berries, Urban Forestry, Turf Grass, Plant Pathology, Pesticides, and Growing Vegetables in Otero County, are being taught by NMDA Wildlife Damage Control, NMSU specialists, and one class by 3 local growers.
The Otero County Agricultural Agent set-up the schedule, secured the speakers, made copies of the speaker’s power point presentations, tests, and other handouts for the class members, oversees and helps with the room set-up and take down, and grades the class tests.
So far, as a result of this training, 100% of the participants responded that all the classes increased their knowledge of the particular subject matter taught, 93% responded that they expected to use the information taught in all of the classes, 89% responded that the overall rating of all the classes was excellent, and 11% responded that the overall rating of all the class was good.

Otero Master Gardeners Association
The Otero Master Gardeners Association is comprised of vegetable, fruit and nut tree, growers and home landscape hobby horticulturists who sell their produce at farmers market, share and trade with their neighbors, or just enjoy the fruits of their labors with their families. All members of this organization have completed the series of Master Gardeners class and have the option of attending any of the subsequest classes during their membership. This organization meets once a month to share their horticultural successes, problems, and questions, plan advanced classes for their group, organize horticultural and botanical field trips, and organize their various community service activities. The agricultural agent gives a short presentation at each meeting on an unusual insect, plant disease, or other agricultural anomaly that has been brought into the extension office that month. The agent also oversees and participates in the organization’s general activities which includes: information tables at the Otero County Fair, Earth Day, Arbor Day, Holloman Air Force Base activities, helping with the set-up of Master Gardeners classes, and responding to incoming horticultural calls, E-mails, and walk-ins to the Otero Extension Office when the Agricultural Agent is on leave or attending extended out-of-county meetings. The Cooperative Extension Service gets a double benefit from this organization by the members attending the full course of classes prior to becoming members and any subsequent classes they wish to attend members of the community (Master Gardeners) receive valuable horticultural information which they not only employ in their home gardens and landscapes but also share on a regular basis with the community through their numerous community service projects.

Otero County Pecan Field Day

As with Pistachios, southern New Mexico’s climate is particularly suited for Pecan trees enabling more and more people to plant a tree in their landscape that not only provides shade and beauty but produces a highly desirable nut. The Otero Cooperative Extension Service office receives a considerable amount of calls from people who have planted pecan trees but need some help in their management. With large orchards being in proximity to home landscape pecan trees it is just as important to educate growers with one or two trees as it is to educate larger growers. To meet this need the Otero County Pecan Growers Field Day was presented and attended by forty-three Otero County pecan growers (25% of which were "backyard growers") where specialists from New Mexico State University and the Agricultural agent spoke on “Soils for Pecan Trees”, “Minerals and Nutrients” for Pecan Trees”, “Irrigation and Water Requirements of Pecan Trees”, “Insects of Pecan Trees”, and “Pruning Pecan Trees” (Otero County CES Agricultural Agent).
Pecan tree growers in Otero County will now know: how to test their soils to find out what type and the nutrient profile of soil they have, when, what type, and how much fertilizer to apply to their pecan trees, what the signs of nutrient deficiencies look like in their pecan trees and how to correct them, when to irrigate and how much water to apply, which insects are beneficial and which are detrimental to pecans and the integrated pest management plans to control damaging pecan tree insects, how to collect, submit, and interpret the results of a soil sample from their orchard or landscape, and how to train and prune young trees, mature trees, and home landscape pecan trees.
As a result of this program, 90% of the participants responding to the evaluation agreed the field day increased or enhanced their knowledge of the topic discussed and 85 % said they expected to use the information presented in their orchards or landscapes.

Otero County Pistachio Growers Workshop

With Pistachio trees being especially suited to Otero county’s climate, relatively low in their water requirements, and produced in this county more than any other county in New Mexico, greater numbers of Otero County residents are planting pistachio trees in their landscapes, small orchards, and commercial production orchards. This growing interest in the cultivation of pistachio trees resulted in the Otero Agricultural Agent along with Extension Specialists presenting the Otero Pistachio Growers Workshop. Fifty-five pistachio growers (20% of which were backyard growers)from New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas attended this six hour program that provided information on the cultivation and care of pistachios covering: insect pests and integrated pest management, soils, irrigation, pistachio diseases and their management, and the general management of pistachio trees in orchards as well as home landscapes.

Of the participants responding to the workshop evaluation (41 of 55 participants completed an evaluation):
97% of the participants agreed, ‘they expected to use the information presented in their pistachio orchard.’
95% agreed, ‘the workshop increased or enhanced their knowledge of the topics discussed.’
76% agreed ‘they expected to spray their pistachio trees for Septoria Leaf Spot and Alternaria Late Blight’ should Spring conditions so require.’

Lawns and landscapes make a big impact on a semi-arid environment and are highly treasured by those that own them. Trees are key parts of any landscape and are treasured by home owners. This agent realizing the need to better understand tree management attended the Think Trees Conference. This conference provided a great insight into tree management and provided useful information that could be applied at the county level. This agent is better prepared to impact the county because of this training.

This agent spends roughly one to two days a week answering questions about lawns, trees, vegetables, insects, and other various small acreage or homeowner questions. These are often simple questions but can be rather detailed and require much time on the phone or researching answers for clientele. Over 70% of the people that receive information about small scale horticulture situations respond that they have learned something from information provided by this agent and will adopt those changes into their home situations. This agent has encouraged residents to utilize soil tests to determine fertilization needs for their home lawns and gardens. Over 50% of the people that have utilized soil tests have adjusted their home garden management to better fit the needs of the garden.