DIAGNOSTIC UPDATE 



□ 



Happy New Year! Although 

 this is a slow time in the 

 Diagnostic Lab, it's been a busy 

 month for meetings and work- 

 shops The Christmas Tree Pest 

 Management Workshop was held 

 in Keene on |anuary 8-9 and was 

 once again a great success and a 

 lot of fun. If you work with 

 Christmas trees, and haven't at- 

 tended this workshop, you should 

 plan on it for 2000. I hope all of 

 you survived the "ice storm of 

 the century" with minimal dam- 

 age. 1 would suspect, however, 

 that many of us will be dealing 

 with cleanup well into the 

 spring. For those landscape trees 

 that can be salvaged, it will be 

 important to prune the ragged 

 damage to relatively clean 

 wounds to allow for better heal- 



ing during the growing season. 



Although relatively few samples 

 were received in the last two 

 months, some were notable. Rhizo- 

 SPHAERA NEEDLE BLIGHT was Con- 

 firmed on a couple of balsam fir 

 samples. This disease seems to 

 be on the increase and is quite 

 prevalent in native stands of fir. 

 Delphinella shoot blight is an- 

 other fungal disease that ap- 

 pears to be increasing on firs 

 throughout the New England 

 states. The fungus infects the 

 new growth and causes injury 

 that may resemble frost damage. 



Problems on greenhouse crops 

 were relatively few during No- 

 vember and December Although 

 there was only one confirmed 

 case of Powdery Mildew on 



poinsettias sent to the PDL this 

 season, the disease was more 

 prevalent than last year in most 

 areas of the country Low tem- 

 peratures and low light condi- 

 tions contributed to EARLY LEAF 

 DROP in some of the poinsettia 

 crop. The problem was first evi- 

 dent as a slight constriction of 

 the petiole followed by yellow- 

 ing, then leaf drop. In another 

 case, high temperatures (to push 

 the growth) resulted indirectly in 

 a NUTRIENT DEFICIENCY (low nitro- 

 gen and potassium). INSV was 

 confirmed on Swedish Ivy Many 

 of the leaves exhibited distorted 

 growth, stunting, and necrotic ar- 

 eas. Some of the damage re- 

 sembled pesticide injury. Ring- 

 spots were noticeable on only a 

 few leaves. 



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FEBRUARY ■ MARCH ■ 1998 



27 



