Cornell Cooperative Extension

Tompkins County
close-up photo of soil after tilling

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

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

CCE-Tompkins can identify Plants, Insects, and Diseases for $5/sample.

Help for Gardeners

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

GrowLine

Trained Master Gardener volunteers respond to your gardening questions. Call (607) 272-2292 and ask for the GrowLine; visit the GrowLine webpage; or email growline1@gmail.com.

Soil Testing Services

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

Insect, Disease or Plant Identification

This service is done here at CCE-Tompkins for $5/sample. If necessary, 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.

Home Garden/Landscape Site Visits

Master Gardener Volunteers (MGV) are available to perform a limited number of garden site visits each year. The charge for individual consultation is $50 for a one hour consultation.  Master Gardeners are available to provide services that deal with mostly with diagnostics, plant ID, and other services that require our MGV training background. CCE Tompkins and the MGVs do not do garden design as part of our Site Visit program. Appointments can be made by contacting the Growline at growline1@gmail.com.

Seed Saving Resources

CCE Tompkins maintains a seed library in the Agriculture-Environment office. Free seeds are available for gardeners, along with information on how to save your own seeds, some of which can be returned to the seed library the following year for other gardeners. For more information on saving seeds and a list of organizations that promote seed saving, seed production and plant breeding, go to Cornell University's resource page on all things seedy!

Please note: All CCE-Tompkins fees are contingent upon the ability to pay.

Last updated April 6, 2021

Help for Gardeners

Find Your Zone

2012 USDA Hardiness Zone Map

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

U.S. postage stamps of spiders and insects, used on the Cornell Insect Diagnostic Lab website; 200px wide to use as an image for a sidebar link to their site at: http://entomology.cornell.edu/IDL

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/

Tick Diagnosis

CCE-Tompkins can identify ticks for $5; for confirmation of deer ticks, we can send samples to Cornell for an additional $25 fee, described above. Please call for more information.

Remake of Cornell Garden Based Learning image, 850x425, to link to their website at: http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/

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