The UMass Extension Landscape, Nursery, and Urban Forestry Program

The UMass Extension Landscape, Nursery and Urban Forestry Team operates within the Agriculture and Landscape Program of UMass Extension . The team works closely with the UMass Extension Turf Team and the UMass Extension Integrated Pest Management Team to educate landscape, nursery and turf professionals by providing programs and research-based information on the best horticultural practices and technology for environmental stewardship in nursery and landscape management. The core of the program is a self-managed team of educators and specialists in weeds, entomology, plant pathology, plant materials, alternative pest controls, and diagnostics. Working with the largest and fastest growing commercial agricultural segment in Massachusetts continually challenges the Landscape, Nursery and Urban Forestry Team to address the industry's immediate problems and to anticipate future educational requirements. (The landscape and nursery industry contributes an estimated $2 billion in sales to the Massachusetts economy, and employs over 12,000 individuals at approximately 5,000 companies).

The team conducts its most visible outreach work at the bi-annual Green School, a 10-week comprehensive educational training program for green industry professionals. The series of seminars and workshops is designed to provide training in horticulture fundamentals and the relationship of those fundamentals to environmental quality. The Green School is in session every other fall. Another way garden center managers, lawn care operators, grounds managers, landscapers, and tree wardens can benefit from the team's services is on the web. A weekly Landscape Message that reports emerging insects and disease outbreaks on a weekly basis is available online or by fax. Clientele can also talk to a real person for technical support. The team conducted close to 4,000 phone consultations this year. Other available resources for the green industry include two newsletters, "Hort Notes" and "Garden Clippings."

The Urban Forestry Diagnostic Lab is located in room 107 Holdsworth Natural Resources Center at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. The lab evaluates woody plant specimens for problems caused by insects and disease.

For information on any aspect of the UMass Extension Landscape, Nursery, and Urban Forestry Team, contact Kathleen Carroll, Program Coordinator, at (413) 545-0895; kcarroll@umext.umass.edu

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