Horticulture Programs in Danville
Assistance to the Green Industry
The Danville office of Virginia Cooperative Extension has a long standing relationship with the local nurseries, lawn care businesses, landscapers, and retail garden outlets. Assistance is provided on many horticulture topics including plant pest identification with control recommendations, soil testing, and training.
The U. S. and Virginia Governments require that and person who applies pesticides of any type as a part of their work must be certified as a commercial pesticide applicator. The Danville Extension office can provide limited training to assist those who are preparing for the certification examination and we also provide an annual training opportunity so that those who are certified can maintain that status.
The Danville Extension office currently provides training in the outdoor ornamental and turf pest categories and right-of-way pest category. Re-certification training is provided for these 3 categories plus the aquatic, forestry, and research categories.
Virginia Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners
The Danville Master Gardeners have been an established group of dedicated volunteer educators since 1988. This group of people give their time to teach others how to get the most from their gardens and landscapes. They have several projects that they work on every year and they also make their services available by request. Anyone who needs the assistance of the Danville Master Gardeners can approach them directly or they can route their request through the Danville Extension office. Please keep in mind that the Master Gardeners are not a source of free labor nor are they to be engaged in planting simply for beautification, their job is to teach others how to do these things right!
Want to find out what the Danville Master Gardeners are up to? Visit their web site: www.danvillemastergardeners.org
A sample of Danville Master Gardener projects:
Glenwood Magnet School Green House
Seeds for Kids
Danville Community Market, Saturday morning information booth
Here’s the Dirt on WAKG
Plant Clinics at retail garden outlets
Danville Science Center Butterfly Station
Southside Grounds Maintenance Conference
Any one interested in becoming a Virginia Cooperative Extension Master Gardener Volunteer should contact the Danville Extension office at 434/799-6558. There is a comprehensive training program that covers a wide array of horticulture topics. At the end of the training the prospective Master Gardener must pass a final examination. Then there is a requirement that the new Master Gardener serve as an intern – and – complete 50 hours of approved volunteer service within 12 months before being promoted to the status of Master Gardener. To maintain that status, the Master Gardener is required to provide 20 hours of approved volunteer service and attend 8 hours of additional training each calendar year.
Horticulture Job Skills
This program was developed in Danville by Extension Agent Stuart Sutphin and by Post-Dispositional Teacher Jane Clardy to provide job skill training for juvenile offenders residing at W. W. Moore Juvenile Detention Home. The 10 week long program is offered every spring and fall. The trainees learn the basic job skills they will need for entry level employment in green houses, plant nurseries, lawn care businesses, and landscaping businesses. This technical training can also be used to start the students in a college level horticulture curriculum.
This program has been highly successful. Many of the juvenile detention facilities across Virginia have now copied the program in some form.
The site has become a research location for Dr. Bonnie Appleton from the Virginia Cooperative Extension Hampton Roads Agricultural Research and Extension Center. She is researching the feasibility of producing utility friendly trees in a prototype container production nursery, The Green Thumb Nursery. In October, 2008 the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) presented their Gold Leaf award to W. W. Moore Juvenile Detention Home for their efforts and innovation in urban forestry research.
Hughes Memorial Home in Pittsylvania County donated a 40 foot X 70 foot green house
to further enhance this training and rehabilitation opportunity.
Southside Grounds Maintenance Conference
This conference began as a commercial pesticide applicator re-certification short course in the early 1990’s. When the current Horticulture Extension Agent took over in 2001 there were 35 participants in the one-day long program. The importance of this program to south central Virginia and north central North Carolina became evident in 2006 and the program was expended to meet additional needs. This is now a two-day long conference and the addition of a third day is likely in the near future as the event continues to grow. In 2009, there were 200 participants attending the conference.
The conference is now a partnership involving Horticulture Extension Agents from Virginia and North Carolina, Master Gardeners, and green industry businesses. The heart of the conference is and will continue to be the re-certification of commercial pesticide applicators from across Virginia and North Carolina, other states may soon be added. Additional programs have been added to provide up-to-date and research based information on a professional level covering many topics that are not related to pesticide safety.
Virginia Cooperative Extension has partnered with The Natural History Museum of Virginia, the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, and the Virginia Department of Forestry to offer a program to train and develop volunteer educators and service workers in the natural environment.
The Dan River Chapter of the Virginia Master Naturalists Chartered in 2008. This group of dedicated volunteers has completed the initial training that covered numerous natural resource issues that are important to Southside Virginia. They are now able to provide volunteer services in the community that include conducting bird counts, stream invertebrate population monitoring, teaching groups from all age groups about the different elements of nature, habitat improvement, tree planting, tree maintenance and other vegetation management issues on natural area trails.
To become a Master Naturalist a person must first complete a 40 hour training program and provide 40 hours of approved volunteer service. Anyone who is interested in becoming a Master Naturalist Volunteer should contact the Danville Extension Office at 434/799-6558.
Find out more about the Dan River Master Naturalists at danrivervmn.webs.com
Educational Programs
In addition to routinely scheduled programs, the Danville Horticulture Extension Agent provides educational programs by request from almost any group that asks. The programs are tailored to meet the needs of the group or organization requesting the service. These programs can range from lecture type instruction in a classroom setting to hands-on demonstrations outdoors in a garden or landscape.
Programs that are currently popular include short gardening presentations to garden and civic clubs, assistance with community gardens, public and memorial tree planting/garden projects, workshops and training programs for service organizations, and review of landscape projects in public areas.
Consumer Services
The Danville Horticulture Extension Agent assists numerous residents and property owners with a wide array of lawn, garden, and landscape problems. From having soils tested for lime and fertilizer needs to pest identification and control recommendations the Horticulture Agent assists hundreds of people every year. Current Virginia Cooperative Extension Publications are made available through the Danville office to provide more detailed, research-based information to help local residents to become more effective and more environmentally responsible gardeners.
Any person who needs assistance with a horticulture related topic should contact the Danville Horticulture Extension Agent at 434/799-6558.