Digger magazine

Written to make you a nursery industry expert.

You are here: Home / Archives for Plant Pests and Diseases / Plant Diseases

Testing the waters

By — Posted

How to test your irrigation system for the presence of Phythophthora By Neelam R. Redekar and Jennifer L. Parke Phytophthora is a fungus-like organism — called a water mold — that can infect a wide variety of nursery plant species. One of the ways it can spread is through irrigation water. Depending on size, a […]

Emerging threats to conifer foliage

By — Posted

Growers and nurseries should be on the lookout for these diseases By Jared LeBoldus, Dave Shaw, and Paul Reeser Two new foliage diseases of Douglas fir and several other conifer species are emerging in Oregon, and they could be a threat to conifer growers and nurseries. The pathogens include Phytophthora pluvialis, the cause of Pytophthora […]

Farwest Show speakers talk about woody breeding and boxwood blight

By — Posted

At the 2018 Farwest Show, seminar speakers Dr. Ryan Contreras of Oregon State University (OSU), and Jill Calabro of AmericanHort/Horticultural Research Institute (HRI), will deliver talks of particular interest to nursery growers, sharing insights on new breeding for woody plants and developments in the crisis of boxwood blight. Dr. Contreras’ seminar, “Moving, Shaking and Remaking: […]

Heroes and villains

By — Posted

Research identifies harmful and beneficial microbes in nursery soil Four years ago, we received funding from the Floriculture and Nursery Research Initiative to study the interaction of soil-borne pathogens and environment on nursery plant health and disease control (Digger, July 2015). Since then, we have made significant progress in identifying the beneficial and pathogenic microbes […]

The sudden oak death epidemic in Oregon

By — Posted

Oregon nurseries are increasingly threatened by the repeated expansion of the sudden oak death (SOD) epidemic in Curry County. Although this epidemic is geographically far away from the main nursery production areas, the continued expansion of the SOD quarantine area and the newly discovered introduced EU1 clone are distinct threats to the nursery industry. What […]