2023 Hood Master Gardener Application
Soil & Water Testing
Soil and Water Testing forms and bags are at the Hood County AgriLife Extension office. Soil samples are collected yourself and sent to Texas A&M. These test tend to be around $12. Once you get your results back, you can take your paper work to the office and discuss with the Agriculture Agent on your results.
Horticulture
- Hood County Vegetable Variety Recommendation
- https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/earthkind/
- Aggie Horticulture
- Vegetable Garden Planting Guide
- Container Vegetable Gardening
- Vegetable Planting Chart – by month
- Urban Vegetable Gardening guide
- Harvesting and Handling Vegetables
- Recommended Landscape Plants
- Recommended Vegetable Varieties
- West Texas Pecan Management
- Controlling Pecan Pests
- How to Make a Rain Barrel
- Collecting and Storing Wildflower Seeds
- Collecting Vegetable Seeds
- Strawberry Growing Guide
Trees
- Arborist Search
- Granbury- Arborist within 50 miles
- Texas Oak Wilt
- Texas A&M Forest Service
- This website has a great deal of information on how to identify a tree, how trees grow, and much much more.
- Texas A&M Agrilife Extension – Fruit and Nut Fact Sheets
- This website has a great deal of pdf publications available to the public at no cost. Information is available from apples to walnuts and includes publications on pecans, grapes, and peaches.
Fruit and Nut Trees
- Homeowners Guide to Pests of Peaches, Plums and Pecans (pdf)
- Peach Production in Texas (pdf)
- Fruit & Nut Varieties for Kerr County (pdf)
- Native Pecans
- Evaluating Pecan Problems
- Controlling the Pecan Weevil
- Commercial Pecans-Controlling Rosette, Diseases & Zinc Deficiency
- Fall Webworm
Pruning
Turf
- Controlling Khakiweed
- Establishing Turfgrass
- IPM Intro
- Take-All Root Rot of Lawns
- Chinch Bug Control
- Controlling White Grubs in the Lawn
- Water Wise Checklist for Turf in Summer
- St. Augustine Management Calendar FINAL
- St. Augustine Home Lawn Guide
-
Forage Production
TESTING
The Texas A&M Agrilife Extension Service Soil, Water, and Forage Testing Laboratory offers forage testing. You can print off a submittal form below, or you may pick one up from the Kerr County Extension Office. Once you collect your sample, you will need to ship it to the laboratory for testing. There are instructions on how to collect the forage sample attached to the submittal form. We also have a hay probe available to check out from the Extension Office on a first-come-first-serve basis.
If you want to pay for testing with a credit card, use this form
Sampling Hay Bales and Pastures for Forage Analysis (pdf)
Understanding Forage Quality Analysis (pdf)
Forage/Pasture/Hay Management Information
Forage Quality
- Defining Forage Quality (pdf)
- Forage Quality Photo Guide (pdf)
- Why Range Forage Quality Changes (pdf)
- Armyworm Fact Sheet (pdf)
Forage and Livestock
- Forages for beef cattle (pdf)
- How Much Forage do you Have (pdf)
- Stretching your Horse’s Hay Supply During Drought
- Forage Quality and Quantity in Texas – Managing Nutrition in Range Beef Cattle (pdf)
- Estimating Grazeable Acreage for Cattle (pdf)
- Stocking Rate Decisions (pdf)
Other
- Nitrates and Prussic Acid in Forages (pdf)
- Nitrogen Fertilizer: What Should I Use (pdf)
- Suggestions for Weed Control in Pasture and Forages (pdf)
- Establishment and Early Persistance of Seeded Warm-Season Grasses (pdf)
- Selection, Establishment and Management of Bermudagrass (pdf)
- Grass Growth and Development (pdf)
- Common Grazing Management Mistakes (pdf)
- Cool Season Forage Legume Management Guide (pdf)
- Suggestions for Weed Control in Pastures and Forages (pdf)
- Warm-Season Annual Forage Grasses for Texas (pdf)