Home & Garden Information Center

We Can Help Your "Growing" Business

HGIC 9997

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What Is the Clemson Extension Home & Garden Information Center?

The Clemson Extension Home & Garden Information Center (HGIC) delivers information to South Carolina residents via a toll-free telephone message system and web site. More than 600 recorded messages on landscaping, gardening, plant health, household pests, food safety & preservation, and nutrition, diet and health are available 24 hours a day. Callers use a four-digit code published in the Home & Garden Information Center User's Guide (EC 700) to retrieve the message they wish to hear.

From 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., Monday through Friday (except University holidays), Information Specialists are available to answer questions not covered by the recorded messages. The Information Specialists all hold either B.S., M.S., or Ph.D. degrees in horticulture, plant pathology or food science and receive additional training throughout the year.

The Center also maintains a web site where you will find the User's Guide and more than 600 fact sheets on home and garden topics. Callers without internet access may have up to five fact sheets mailed to them free of charge by calling the toll-free number (1-888-656-9988) and speaking to our Information Assistant.

Benefits

Quality Information: Unbiased, research-based information is presented in a clear, easy-to-understand format through fact sheets and tape messages designed for the consumer.

Time Savings: Save valuable time during your busy season by offering customers a 24-hour-a-day source for dependable information.

Customer Relations: Customers appreciate the quality information you can provide through HGIC fact sheets and access to the web site.

Employee Training: The HGIC web site and fact sheets can be used to provide employees with up-to-date information on recommended cultural procedures, pest control and other topics.

The Price is Right: It's free! The Center provides fact sheets, recorded messages and advice from Horticulture Information Specialists free of charge to South Carolina residents. Businesses may print fact sheets from the HGIC web site.

Access

Toll-Free Phone System: Recorded messages on more than 600 topics are just a phone call away. Call 1-888-656-9988, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The Center received over 23,000 calls in 2006.

Expert Advice: For those really tough questions, customers can call 1-888-656-9988 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Monday through Friday (except University holidays) and speak to one of our Horticulture Information Specialists.

Web Site: More than 600 fact sheets and our User's Guide are available at http://hgic.clemson.edu. Our fact sheets are available in both HTML and PDF formats. The web site had over 6 million visitors with 16.3 million hits in 2006.

Topics

Here is a small sample of the more than 600 titles we offer:

• Fertilizing Trees and Shrubs
• Planting Shrubs Correctly
• Azalea Care
• Growing Grass in Shade
• Container Vegetable Gardening
• Pecan Planting and Fertilization
• Changing the pH of Your Soil
• Crape Myrtle Problems
• Common Lawn Insects
• Tomato Diseases
• Broadleaf Weeds
• Reading the Pesticide Label

How to Use the HGIC in Your Business

• Display HGIC User's Guides near your register.
• Give HGIC User's Guides to landscaping and maintenance customers.
• Offer pre-printed fact sheets on popular subjects like Planting Trees or Fertilizing Lawns and more than 600 other topics.
• Use HGIC fact sheets for employee training and for reference materials.
• Provide access to the HGIC web site and print fact sheets on demand.

User's Guides and fact sheets may be printed from the web site at http://hgic.clemson.edu. The PDF version is best suited for printed copies.

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Prepared by Karen Russ, HGIC Horticulture Information Specialist, Clemson University. Revised by Millie Davenport, HGIC Horticulture Information Specialist, and James H. Blake, HGIC Director/Adjunct Professor, Clemson University. (New 06/02. Revised 01/07.)

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