Home Grown: A sample a day keeps the plant Dr. away
If you have ever noticed one of your plants is in need of some tender loving care, experts at the University of Arizona want to help!
Whether it’s your family’s lemon tree or a crop of wheat that just won’t grow, in today’s Home Grown, we’ll learn how you can get them back to tip-top shape.
Dr. Bindu Poudel is the Cooperative Extension’s plant pathologist and plant disease diagnostician.
This means that Dr. Bindu is tasked with diagnosing a problem with plants.
In layman’s terms, a plant doctor!
“Whenever home growers, commercial growers, anyone has problems with their plants, vegetables, trees, they bring us the samples or the whole plant, if it’s a small plant, then we look at it and we figure out what’s wrong with the plant,” said Dr. Bindu.
Dr. Bindu and other University of Arizona students collect samples from home and commercial growers as a part of the Plant Diagnostic Clinic.
The grower then fills out forms like at the doctor’s office, explaining what the problem is, how long the plant has been experiencing the problem, and where the plant is experiencing the problem.
“This is basically like detective work to figure out all the pieces in the puzzle,” said Dr. Bindu.
There are often many factors in what could be making the plant sick.
“It could be diseased, it could be nutritional disorders, it could be some abiding factors that are making your plant look sick,” said Dr. Bindu.
If you are interested in bringing in a plant sample, there are some important steps to follow.
“You have to send enough tissues of the plant, so if it’s a tree when you just send us one leaf it’s not going to help us. So try sending a small branch or a small twig,” said Dr. Bindu.
According to Dr. Bindu, she enjoys being able to work closely with the agriculture community, it’s work she finds fulfilling.
“I have done a lot of lab work basic science and I loved it but this is very fulfilling,” said Dr. Bindu.
Dr. Bindu also does home visits and field visits for certain situations.
The plant sample forms can be found online or can be picked up from the Yuma Agricultural Center.
Samples are accepted Monday through Friday but Dr. Bindu suggests dropping off samples before 3 p.m.
For a copy of the form, click here.
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