In case anyone out there is on the job hunt:

https://www.usajobs.gov/job/820762000

This is the same job I have in San Diego (and before that, Miami). Basically, the position is identifying plant pathogenic fungi found during inspection of agricultural commodities coming into the country: you get to see a wide variety of interesting plant-associated microfungi from around the world. It's a great position for someone that loves spending time on a microscope puzzling out the little tiny things.

They never leaves these up for very long: this one opened today, and closes Dec. 2. Government applications are checked by computer before a real person sees them, and it can be a bit fiddly to get past the automated review. Feel free to reach out with any questions about the job, or how to apply. AMA!

Anyone know what might be happening with this maple? I have several around my home, but this is the only one with this white stuff on it.

I’m a horticulturist, and I’m trying to get my head around the active ingredients of various pesticides. I have a pretty good understanding of the basics, but when it comes down to working out the difference between say, cupric hydroxide vs copper ammonium complex, it gets a bit fuzzy. I know they’re both copper, but do they do the same thing? Google isn’t really providing a lot of great answers, it hoping there is some kind of ‘unicorn’ resource that will help me find my answers.

My guess for the first photo is Belonolaimus and the second is Meloidogyne but I am not sure anymore. Please help.

I want to pursue a Master’s Degree, and I’m currently considering a degree in plant pathology. However, it’s kind of hard to tell what career options/opportunities are available from online research. If possible, I’d like to get some insight into what careers are available in the plant pathology field. So, people who have worked in plant pathology, are there plenty of job opportunities in the field? And if so, would anyone be able to share how much those jobs pay on average? I think the field is interesting, but I’m worried about completing my MS and not being able to find work in my desired field.

I just became acquainted with the KOH test used in dermatology to test for skin lesions of fungal origin; a skin scraping is taken and mounted on a slide with 10% KOH, allowing the skin cells to be hydrolyzed, leaving fungal structures easily visible… I assume lactophenol cotton blue or another fungal stain could be applied at this point to further exemplify the fungal structures.

I wondered if there could be an analogous process for plants… maybe HCl to hydrolyze the cellulose? I presume that could also cause damage to fungal chitin, so maybe there is a better solvent, or a sweet spot in concentration… one which rapidly degrades cellulose, leaving chitins somewhat intact.

I always use lactophenol cotton blue for fungal stains. Anyone have preferences or thoughts on its utility in fungal staining?

Any thoughts or input on the topic of fungal microscopy is much appreciated. Cheers.

Looks like Mosiac(?)

I received this photo from my daughter on Saturday, “what diseases does the corn plant have?”. She’s away at college and was visiting a local corn maze. I almost shed a tear. Note: she has zero interest in being a plant pathologist, but I’ve somehow bestowed some knowledge.

Does anyone have any good resources (or your own thoughts) for an in-depth look at the physiological points of failure that lead to particular elemental deficiencies having particular appearances.

The most obvious being nutrient mobility and location of chlorosis… but in many cases such as Fe and Mg, which play supporting and structural roles in chlorophyll synthesis..what about iron makes its deficiency a uniform interveinal chlorosis in new leaves versus Mg’s classic patchy interveinal chlorosis of new leaves..is that a matter of iron’s ‘upstream’ regulatory role leading to a more evenly spread effect, as opposed to being a ‘construction material’ whose lack is only felt locally in a leaf?

On the more mysterious side… why do people say that zinc deficiency leads to asymmetric leaf-petiole attachments? What kind of mechanism (outside of superstition) could account for that?

Etc, etc

I feel that understanding the mechanisms behind the signs would help inform decision making.

Thanks