Cornell Cooperative Extension

Ulster County
close-up photo of soil after tilling

You can obtain pH, nutrient profile, and other specialized soil tests through CCE-Ulster.

Leaf lesions on tomato due to late blight
Image by Cornell Horticulture Dept.

CCE-Ulster can identify Plants, Insects & Diseases for $5/sample.

Services for Gardeners

The CCE-Ulster Community Horticulture program provides support and services that can help home gardeners with a variety of gardening challenges.

Horticulture Hotline

Our trained Master Gardener Volunteers respond to your gardening questions! Call (845) 340-DIRT on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9am-Noon (just Fridays in winter).

Soil Testing Services

You can obtain pH, nutrient profile, and other specialized soil tests through CCE-Ulster. Read about the soil testing services that we offer, and the instructions for taking a soil sample before bringing your sample to CCE-Ulster for testing.

Insect, Disease or Plant Identification

Plant Identification and Diagnosis is done here at CCE-Ulster for $5/sample.  We also perform Insect Identification: $5 for insect ID, $1 for additional samples. For help with ticks, click here; for information on bedbugs see Bedbug Guide (NYC Health Department).

If necessary, insect samples can be sent to Cornell University for identification, at a charge of $25/sample. Please read this information about how to submit an insect sample to The Cornell University Insect Diagnostic Laboratory.

CCE-Ulster also offers Invasive species resources and FREE identification of suspected invasive species.

Last updated July 26, 2019

Gardening

Find Your Zone

test

The 2012 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map helps gardeners and growers determine which plants are most likely to thrive at a location. For the first time, the map is available as an interactive GIS-based map, for which a broadband Internet connection is recommended. Users may also simply type in a ZIP Code and find the hardiness zone for that area.

Insect Diagnostic Lab

For more information about an insect, or how to deal with an insect problem in or around your home or garden, contact the Insect Diagnostic Lab, a program of Cornell Cooperative Extension in the Department of Entomology. For a $25 fee, an insect or related arthropod can be shipped to the lab, or a detailed photo can be emailed, for expert identification. Diagnostician Jason Dombroskie, Ph.D. has many years ofexperience identifying insects and other arthropods. More information about this service, including fact sheets on common outdoor and indoor insects, can be found at: http://idl.entomology.cornell.edu/

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