The following are highlights and updates about samples and questions recently received in the Plant and Insect Diagnostic Clinic. Visit the PIDC's Facebook page for updates and more pictures. For more information on a particular disease or insect problem listed, follow the article linked.
Plant Diseases and Insect Damage
The following highlights represent recent sample submissions from fruit, vegetables, trees and ornamental plants.
Broadleaf Trees
Bur oak, Two lined chestnut borer
Bur oak, Bur oak blight
Various Oaks, anthracnose, Eriophyid mite galls, powdery mildew, oak bullet galls, oak tatters, Botryosphaeria twig blight
Pin oak, vein pocket gall
Maple, transplanting stress, for newly planted trees care keep in mind the recommendation on the publication Community Tree Planting and Care Guide
White Ash, Verticillium wilt
Coniferous Trees
Pine, Pine wilt, Woodboring insect damage
Scotch Pine, Zimmerman pine moth damage
Spruce, Rhizosphaera needle cast, Stigmina needle cast, Spruce needle miner, Phyllosticta needle blight
Crabapple, Cedar apple rust
Perennials and Annuals
Coneflower, Verticillium wilt
Hosta, sunscald
Dogwood, Dogwood Leaf Spot
Highbush Cranberry, Anthracnose
Willow, Botryosphaeria canker
Turf
Lawn, Nigrospora blight, establishment issues
Turfgrass, Ascochyta leaf blight
Vegetables
Bell Pepper, Sunscald, Blossom end rot
Fruit (small and tree fruit, including hops)
Hops, Alternaria cone disorder
Ornamental Pear, suspected fungal cankers
Cherry, suspected decline. see publication Understanding Decline in Trees
Household and Other Insect Pests
Plant Identification
Quackgrass, see the article Quackgrass was the big winner in drought
Links to this article are strongly encouraged, and this article may be republished without further permission if published as written and if credit is given to the author, Yard and Garden, and Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. If this article is to be used in any other manner, permission from the author is required. This article was originally published on August 25, 2017. The information contained within may not be the most current and accurate depending on when it is accessed.