Extension Communications
3614 Administrative Services Building
Ames, Iowa 50011-3614
(515) 294-9915
1/17/00
Contacts:
Mark Gleason, Extension Plant Pathology, (515) 294-0579,
mgleason@iastate.edu
Elaine Edwards, Extension Communication Systems, (515)
294-5168, eedwards@iastate.edu
Yard and Garden Column for the Week Beginning Jan. 21
Do You Think Like A Fungus?
By Mark Gleason
Extension Plant pathologist
Iowa State University Extension
Do you think like a fungus? Perhaps you've never asked yourself this question before. It's an unusual question, maybe, but less off-putting than "Do you stink like a fungus?" Maybe you're thinking, do I want to think like a fungus? Should I want to think like a fungus?
If the idea of thinking like a fungus is even slightly attractive to you, you're in luck. Iowa State University is offering a one-week short course that may not make you think like a fungus, but will at least help you to think more about our moldy brethren. The short course is called "Practical Plant Pathology," and it's offered on the ISU campus in Ames during the week of Feb. 21-25, 2000.
Practical Plant Pathology is actually about more than fungi. Basically, it compresses the world of plant diseases into one week. The goal of the course is in its name: to provide down-to-earth, hands-on training in recognizing and managing plant diseases. The course is team-taught by faculty and staff in the ISU Plant Pathology Department, whose presentations span not only fungal diseases but also diseases caused by bacteria, nematodes and viruses - the entire rogues' gallery of plant-attacking felons.
The week typically leads off with a several-hour introduction to plant diseases. Then come lecture-and-lab sessions with each of the disease-causing groups. Often, we start with the fungi, because they cause more plant diseases than the other groups combined. Then it's on to bacteria, nematodes (microscopic worms that live in the soil and attack roots) and viruses. You'll have many opportunities to look at diseased plants, feel them and try your hand at simple procedures for isolating and identifying the attackers.
Next come speakers that try to pull this diverse picture together in the context of managing plant diseases. It's usually hopeless to defeat plant diseases completely, whether in a soybean field or a home garden, so our aim is to suppress them enough so that our plants give us what we want - food, shade, beauty and so on. The synthesizing speakers will explain how disease management plays out in the real world of corn, beans, fruits, vegetables and ornamentals.
The final speaker in the short course will be Paula Flynn, the diagnostician in the ISU Plant Disease Clinic and a 10-year veteran in unraveling the causes of plant disease. Every year, Paula sees thousands of sick plants, sent or delivered from all over Iowa by people worried about how to save them. Paula will share her wealth of experience in the art and science of plant-disease diagnosis, and leave you with some useful hints and references to sharpen your own diagnostic skills.
If you're still reading this, you may be asking yourself, is this course for me? Over the past two decades, attendees have ranged from homeowners and farmers to research technicians and agrichemical-company researchers, with degrees ranging from high school to Ph.D. Since the class size is fairly small - no more than 25 - the instructors can gear their presentations to the level and needs of each year's crop of students. At the very least, you'll emerge from the week with a new appreciation for the beauty, resourcefulness and persistence of some of mankind's oldest foes.
Practical Plant Pathology is a one-credit course at ISU, listed as Plant Pathology 493, so you have to pay tuition accordingly. Undergraduate tuition (if you don't have a college degree) is $117, while graduate tuition is $184. An additional "materials fee" of $50 is charged for a plump notebook of course materials that help you remember what you've learned. The materials fee also covers an impressive array of pastries, fruit, coffee and juices that are available all day during the course.
If you love plants, and want to learn more about the diseases that plague them, Practical Plant Pathology will inject you with a concentrated dose of disease lore, geared to your level of understanding.
For more information about the course, please contact me, Mark Gleason, by phone (515) 294-0579, or e-mail mgleason@iastate.edu. If you get my voice mail, leave a message with your name and address and mention that you have interest in the Practical Plant Pathology course. I'll send you a brochure describing details of the course and a mail-in registration form.
ml: isugarden
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