The needles are falling off your white pines! Who you gonna call?

Cornell University Cooperative Extension of Westchester County, that’s who!

A famous neighbor sought advice from CCE at the Bedford 2020 Environmental Action Day two Saturdays ago.
February 11, 2011
by JoAnn DiRico Trautmann and Anna Snider

Every spring, something slimy and sluggy causes traffic jams on your sidewalks. What are they and how can you reroute them? Your beautiful white pines are looking a tad Charlie Brownish. What happened? 

These, and just about any question you can imagine, about your landscape, horticulture and the environment in general, can be answered by the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Westchester County for free!

Their horticulture diagnostic helpline for home gardeners and for commercial businesses is available daily from 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon on weekdays, and last year it handled over 2350 inquiries. They also operate a walk-in diagnostic clinic on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1:15 p.m. - 3:15 p.m., where plant disease samples, garden pests, soil samples and household pests can be identified for $10.00. Soil ph kits are also available for purchase at $15.00 so home gardeners can determine their garden soil’s acidity to help them choose the best plants for their garden. The phone number for the diagnostic helpline is 285-4640.

CCE’s responsibility: To provide extension services to every resident in NYS

Well known in the “green industry” that includes landscaping and golf course professionals, certified arborists, pesticide applicators, municipal tree stewards and landscape architects, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Westchester County (CCE) also provides community outreach via its Horticulture and Pest Management experts and Master Gardener Volunteer Program, as well as through its Nutrition and 4-H and Youth Development Programs.

Cornell Cooperative Extension’s main mission is to disseminate Cornell University’s research-based information in the disciplines of horticulture, the environment, natural resources, nutrition and 4-H and Youth Development. Cornell was designated as New York State’s Land Grant University and established under the Land Grant Act during the presidency of Abraham Lincoln. With this distinction comes the responsibility of providing access to extension services to every resident in New York State.

CCE’s mission: To plant the seeds of Cornell’s research in Westchester landowners

CCE provides educational programming for “green industry” professionals throughout Westchester County, including offering continuing education for certified pesticide applicators, helping landscapers reduce pesticide use for the betterment of the environment, identifying pest resistant trees and shrubs and teaching landscape professionals and homeowners how to protect our groundwater. This enables the “green industry” to keep up to date on ways to minimize any negative impact on the environment while keeping their licenses to do business in Westchester County up to date.

4-H and Youth Development educators help schools incorporate experimental learning in their curricula with popular programs like hatching chicken eggs in the classroom through the popular Incubation and Embryology Program and school gardening. CCE educators work with schools to develop gardens and use them across the curriculum. This spring our 4-H and Horticulture departments are joining together to offer four workshops on school gardening.

Look for your friendly CCE Master Gardener at the Chappaqua Farmers Market this spring

CCE’s Master Gardener Program numbers over 100 active volunteers, specially trained during a 12-week intensive program. After completing their training, these Master Gardeners reach out to the Westchester community to educate home gardeners in using proper horticultural practices.

Master Gardener Volunteers staff both indoor and outdoor farmers’ markets throughout the growing season. Look for them under the Ask a Master Gardener banner. Every winter for the past 15 years, they have offered to the gardening public as well as to landscape architects a very popular monthly Home Gardening Lecture Series. The next lecture, entitled “Woodland Treasures,” by John Lonsdale, is this Wednesday, February 16 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Chappaqua Library. Call 285-3590 to register or to request a brochure). Their Speaker’s Bureau of garden-related topics is perfect for garden clubs, businesses, libraries and community gardens.

Master Gardeners exhibit and demonstrate proper gardening practices to the public while gardening in two demonstration gardens, the town of Greenburgh’s Harts Brook Park and Preserve on Ridge Road in Hartsdale and Hilltop Hanover on Hanover Street in Yorktown Heights. They give gardening advice in the form of a written report to overwhelmed homeowners through the Homeowner Site Visit Program. Call 285-3590 to arrange a Homeowner Site Visit. Since school gardens are all the rage, Master Gardener Volunteers also mentor teachers by providing training and support through the School Garden Mentoring.

Cornell Cooperative Extension offers nutrition education for food stamp recipients through the Eat Smart New York program and offers an educational series for income-eligible families with children through Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program.  These programs teach nutrition, consumer education and healthy lifestyles designed to prevent nutrition-related diseases. 

Visit Cornell Cooperative Extension’s website: www.cce.cornell.edu/westchester for more information and for directions to our office, located at 26 Legion Drive, Valhalla, NY 10595.

JoAnn DiRico Trautmann is CCE’s Master Gardener Training and Continuing Education Coordinator. Anna Snider is a Resource Educator at Cornell University Cooperative Extension of Westchester County.