…for
discerning weeders
A Newsletter of the Okaloosa County Master Gardeners Association –– June 2011
MG Meeting, June 1st, Shalimar Baptist Church Home Visits For the class of 2010, if you have not made a home visit with one of the veteran MGs, there should be plenty of opportunities left to get this requirement checked off your to do list now that Spring has sprung and we call it summer! You are probably finished with your office training, answering questions over the phone and assisting walk-in customers with plant and pest ID. The more you do this, the easier it becomes and the sooner you will learn that you cannot know it all. We work as a group and we all have strengths and weaknesses. Most of the people who visit the offices are delighted that someone is willing to help solve their problem. It is a good feeling to send away a “satisfied customer”. That may involve telling someone you don’t know the answer or cannot identify the pest or plant. Just don’t drop the issue...find out from someone who does know the answer. Problem solving involves asking forty questions...your forty (or twelve) questions will Okaloosa County Master Gardeners
Lynn Fabian be different from someone else’s forty. The more questions you ask, the closer you will get to a good answer or solution to a homeowner’s problem. With that in mind, there is a document on the IFAS website titled “Determining Problems on Woody Ornamentals Over the Telephone”. <http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/mg078> It has been newly revised but the basic information has stayed the same. Download a copy and keep it handy. Don’t be misled by the fact it deals with woody ornamentals. The same basic guidelines apply to many problem solving situations. First the basics: Ask questions that require more than a yes or no answer (often called open-ended questions); don’t jump to conclusions, keep an open mind; find out who the customer is...as MGs we work with homeowners, not commercial clients; don’t put down anyone’s ideas...try to lead them to the UF research based answer and to give up on the grits idea.