Allow me to introduce the summer Extension interns, Claudine and Arthur!
We are so excited to have them in our office this summer. Claudine has been busy assisting Elizabeth and Sonja conduct money management classes and Dinner Tonight Healthy Cooking Schools. She is also planning a MyPlate presentation for the upcoming 4-H Camp.
Arthur is working with Horticulture Agents, Paul Winski and Skip Richter. He has been helping them conduct trials in the test garden areas! One of Arthur’s favorite trials so far is the melon trial, which is evaluating nine different varieties of melons based on their pest& disease resistance, fruit quality & production, and overall vigor!
Let’s welcome them to the Extension Office!

This is a fun post that the County Agents let me post on the facebook page! Hope you enjoyed it! 

Pest

A few garden pest that I encountered during my internship.

1. Leaf-footed bug(Family Coreidae): Leaf-footed bugs are primarily plant-feeding insects. Depending on the species and the location, these bugs attack seeds, fruits, vegetable crops, sorghum and ornamental plants. 
   
   Leaf-footed bug nymphs. 
   
   
   
   Two leaf-footed bug mating.
   
   
   
   Leaf-footed bug egg sac. 
2. Leaf Miner( Family Agromyzidae): A leaf miner is the larva of an insect that lives in and eats the leaf tissue of plants. The vast majority of leaf-mining insects are moths, sawflies and flies.  
   
   
   
3. Aphids( Family Aphididae): Aphids are soft, pear-shaped, and very tiny and are small sap-sucking insects with two short tubes project backward from the tip of their abdomen.  Aphids may be green, pink, yellowish, black, or powdery gray.
   
   
   
   
   
   

Part of my daily duties as an intern was to work in the greenhouse. Working in the greenhouse consist  of watering the plants, repotting plants, sowing seeds, taking cuttings and preparing plants to be be transplanted.

Melon Trial

This trial is designed to evaluate nine varieties of melons based on their pest& disease resistance, fruit quality & production, and overall vigor.

Varieties Included: 

1. Savor Charentais
- Small, 2lb. melons with pale green, smooth skin and extra-sweet, bright orange flesh. 
2. Green Nutmeg- Heirloom muskmelons, known as a "nutmeg" because the 2-3lb. green-flehed fruits are round, highly netted, and aromatic
3. Jenny Lind- Named after the famous Soprano, this heirloom variety has turban-shaped, 1-2lb. netted fruits with green flesh that blush when ripe. 
4. Sakata- Small 3-4lb. melons with edible, yellow skins yield a crunchier textured fruit than many melons. 
5. French Orange- This Charentais and American cantaloupe cross yields 2.5lb fruits with light netting, creamy-yellow rind and deep orange flesh. 
6. Tasty Bites- This Charentais and Ananas cross yields 1 pound, pale yellow-skinned melons with deep orange flesh offset with a green outer ring. 
7. Escorial- Charnatais ype with 2 lb. fruits that have green skins with pronounced sutures and moderate netting, yield a dark orange aromatic flesh. 
8. Oui- Charnatais type with 3-4lb. fruit that yield a firm dark-orange flesh inside a pale yellow rind with moderate netting. 
9. Dove- Ananas("pineapple") type with 3-4lb fruits having traces of netting on the greenish-orange rind and ivory flesh within. 

Annuals Trial-Shade

The purpose of this trial is to evaluate 43 varieties of vegetative annuals grown in full shade.

Plants Included: 

• 4-Lobularia Varieties 
• 12-Coleus Varieties 
• 11-Impatiens Varieties 
• 16- Penta Varieties 

Annuals Trial-Sun

The purpose of this trial is to evaluate 43 varieties of vegetative annuals grown in full sun.

Plants Included: 

• 4-Lobularia Varieties 
• 12-Coleus Varieties 
• 11-Impatiens Varieties 
• 16- Penta Varieties 

Lantana Trial

In one of the test gardens we have a Lantana trial going on. The purpose of this trial is to evaluate four groups of lantana's. 

Plants Included:

• Bandana Lantana-15 Varieties
• Bandita Lantana-3 Varieties 
• Lucky Lantana- 9 Varieties 
• Little Lucky Lantana - 15 Varieties