A good plant diagnosis starts with sample collection. By submitting a high-quality sample, you help the clinic provide a high-quality, accurate diagnosis.
Please follow the collection and shipping instructions we've put together for each type of submission to ensure successful diagnosis.
Collect and ship samples on or before Wednesday to avoid weekend storage
Send a healthy-looking plant and a symptomatic/sick plant
Collect entire plant when possible:
Dig up symptomatic plants to keep root system intact.
Bag roots separate, and then place entire plant into larger plastic bag.
Label and use plastic bag instead of paper and do not add water. This will maintain sample integrity.
Once collected, ship plant samples ASAP via overnight UPS or FedEx; USPS can take up to 14 days and will yield inaccurate test results.
Collection Tips
Wilt Diseases:
Collect several branches ½ to 1 inch in diameter and 12 inches long
Branch should be in the process of wilting but not dead
Foliar disease, cankers, fruit rots:
Collect several branches 10-12 inches long (or fruit) showing a range of symptoms
Collect entire plant – for tall field crop, cut the stalk in several places, bag the roots separately, and place plant foliage and root bag into large plastic bag
Collect plants that are declining but not dead
Don’t forget to send in a healthy/good crop
Send entire plant, even for virus testing
Wheat degrades rapidly in the mail, so always mail overnight via UPS/FedEx
Bag roots separately to avoid soil contact with the leaves
Collect a plug from the boarder of the browning edge (sample should be half green, half brown)
Cut out a plug a few inches across and deep
Provide lots of information on submission form
Send photos of lawn/field to show patterns
Pine Wilt:
For best results, collect branches adjacent to the trunk of the tree
Collect branches 2 inches in diameter (thumb size) and 6-8 inches long
Corn Nematodes:
Both plants and soil from good and bad areas should be collected
Collect soil and plants around 5-6 weeks after planting, a good sample must have shallow roots
Plants Collection:
Dig up several symptomatic (stunted) plants and several healthy plants for submission (label bags accordingly)
Bag soil and roots separately for each healthy and symptomatic plants
Soil Collection:
Take 15-20 cores in the root zone around 6 – 8 inches deep
