I will hold a plant clinic at our new Sheila Dunning Extension Building from 9 to 11 a.m. this Friday, July 17. The address is 1954 Lewis Turner

Boulevard in Fort Walton Beach. The new building is located to the right of and in front of the Fort Walton Beach Fairgrounds, now named the Destin-Fort Walton Beach Rigdon Center, and behind the Miss Ruth’s Farmers Market pavilion.

The plant clinic is designed to provide a place and time to bring in samples of plants for diagnosis, including weeds for identification.

If you have a plant problem that you would like diagnosed, bring a sample of the weed, plant, insect, etc., to the clinic. Be sure to bring a fresh sample

that represents what is seen in the landscape. This may include a plant stem with several leaves, a 4-inch square of grass with roots attached, etc. It also may help to bring pictures on your phone

showing the declining pattern in your lawn or dieback within a larger tree.

You may also bring a sample of soil from your lawn, landscape or garden for pH testing.

Here’s how to collect a soil sample:
Collect a composite soil sample by removing sub-samples from ten to fifteen small holes dug throughout the sample area (e.g. the front yard). To obtain the sub-samples, carefully pull back mulch, grass or ground covers to expose bare soil. With a hand trowel or shovel, dig small holes six inches deep and then remove a one-inch thick and six-inch-deep slice of soil. Combine and mix the sub-samples in a clean plastic bucket.  Place about two cups of this mixture in a plastic bag or small throwaway plastic container. Close the container. If the soil is wet, let it dry by spreading it out on paper towels before putting it in the container. Make sure to attach a slip of paper with your name, phone number and where the sample was taken (e.g. lawn, vegetable garden, flowerbed, etc.).

Call the new Fort Walton Beach Extension Office at 850-376-7324 or the Extension Office in Crestview at 850-689-5850 for directions to the new building.

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