- This event has passed.
First Detector Specialist Training – Bell County
September 21, 2015 @ 8:30 am - September 22, 2015 @ 4:30 pm
$50.00First Detector – Invasive Pest & Pathogen: This training will introduce participants to the National Plant Diagnostic Network’s efforts to protect US agriculture and plants through awareness information of invasive non-native pests and pathogens. Trainees will learn:
- Observational and surveying skills – symptoms and damage pattern recognition.
- Damage pattern and symptom documentation practices.
- Basic insect identification and plant disease diagnostic skills.
This training will prepare the Master Gardener Specialist to serve as a First (early) Detector. The model subjects used in this training will be the invasive Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB) and the feared Phytophthora ramorum causing Sudden Oak Death.
Participants will undergo refresher sessions on basic entomology and plant pathology. Additionally, trainees will also learn various strategies to manage landscape disease problems in Earth-Kind® approaches.
Bell County, the hosts of the 2015 TMGA Conference have generously reduced the cost of this specialist training to $50.00 as a way of thanking the Master Gardeners for their great response to their successful conference in April. You may even apply to get that $50 rebate from the TMGA if you complete your certifying volunteer hours.
Cutoff date for registration is September 15. Space is limited.
Master-Gardener-First-Detector-Specialist-Training