Plant Pathology Infobytes
July 20, 1999
Questions Can Get You Answers at Your County Extension Office
It goes without saying that vegetable gardening, fruit production, and maintaining a healthy landscape is a lot more rewarding when plant health problems can be minimized. So, if something suddenly goes wrong with you plants, homeowners want to know what's going on. If you're not sure where to turn for help, the best place to start is the County Extension Office.
It's a good idea to determine the cause of the problem as soon as possible, since timely problem identification allows an early start and improved chances for carrying out a treatment or control measure which could save sick plants. Step number one is to give us a call, and we'll tell you how to properly collect a specimen to bring in for diagnosis. In most cases, we'll be able to identify the problem and provide a publication which contains control information.
Clientele groups served by these laboratories include homeowners who need to have vegetable, orchard, landscape plant, and turf problems identified. Additionally, commercial horticultural crop producers, farmers, agricultural consultants, landscape maintenance companies, as well as regulatory and governmental agencies, send plant specimens in for disease and injurious insect identification.
The labs are well equipped to handle most problems. Microscopic assays and tissue isolation are routinely used to identify the specific type of disease causing microorganism which may be involved.
Following laboratory testing of specimens, a diagnostic report is sent to the client. It identifies the disease or insect pests and lists control strategies to minimize further plant loss.
Accurate diagnosis of a plant health problem depends on several factors. The specimen must arrive at the laboratory in fresh condition, but just as important, it must also be representative of the symptoms expressed in the garden, orchard, or landscape. Also, a complete description of the area, its history of cultural or chemical control practices, and other pertinent facts will need to be provided in order for the laboratory to provide an accurate identification of the problem.
Infobytes newsletter was written by the late Dr. Frank Killebrew, Extension Specialist.