on tree • Distribution of affected trees within crops • Presence of insects, fungal fruit bodies • Time when symptoms were first observed • Site-related factors which might be involved • Get new / unusual observations diagnosed!! Basics of disease diagnosis
and site details • Photographs are extremely helpful • What type of samples? - samples should contain junction of dead / live tissue - trees/shoots/branches should be in the process of dying, but not completely dead - package in plastic bags and send immediately as samples deteriorate in storage
• Show the trees in context, then home in on the details of the symptoms that they display • “Postage stamp” sized photos aren’t much help but very high resolution pictures are a problem to Email & then store • Camera phones have the benefit of being handy but may not produce good enough images • But in the end – something is better than nothing at all……………
you see something that doesn’t look right • There may be a simple explanation • If there isn’t, then getting the process of identifying the problem started quickly increases the chances of a speedy diagnosis • Problems that you ignore don’t go away, and some of them may come back to bite you in time! Basics of disease diagnosis