Texas Plant Disease Diagnostic Lab

Home
United States
College Station, TX
Texas Plant Disease Diagnostic Lab

The Texas Plant Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (TPDDL) aka the TX Plant Clinic provides plant health diagnostic and educational support to people in the state of Texas and beyond. The Texas Plant Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, located in College Station, Texas, is a service lab of the Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology at Texas A&M University in conjunction with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service.

06/05/2026

Happy Friday (20260605) from the Fort Worth area, attending a wedding. While here, I dropped in on our SCRI Sustainable Rose cultivar trial@in Grapevine. Plants generally looks good with some showing symptoms powdery mildew and/or black spot. There we also symptoms of some thrips damage…but no real obvious symptoms of rose rosette disease. Unfortunately that was not the case of the roses at the hotel we stayed at. I am not sure what cultivar but these had classic symptoms associated with RRD. Anyone else seeing RRD? Please share where in the comments.
Have a great, fun, safe and healthy weekend. -KO

06/03/2026

20260603 These are photos of Popcorn Drift roses that were planted by Katy E. this spring. In her email, she mentioned first noticing leaves curling the previous weekend and was wondering WHAT might have caused those symptoms and if I had tips to keep them healthy.
My response noted that the leaf curling in two of the photos could be caused by powdery mildew (a fungal disease) or spider mites. I advised her to " take a close look at it to see if you see white powderish stuff on the leaf surface OR web-like strands around the affected leaves. One is powdery mildew and the later is spider mites."
Then there is the leaf spots photo. I suspected that this was caused by the fungus Cercospora. I suggested potentially using a broad spectrum fungicide that is labeled for this pathogen and to avoid overhead watering (unfortunately, we have no control over rain).
Here is a link to (search result) of rose disease related factsheets on the Texas A&M AgriLife Learn website : https://bit.ly/RoseDiseases
There are several rose disease that have been reported recently in many parts of Texas, including black spot of roses. -KO

05/22/2026

Happy Friday (20260522). I was invited to the Texas Rose Rustlers spring meeting to talk about Rose Rosette Disease and it current status in Texas. This event will be at the Antique Rose Emporium in Brenham, TX. (https://maps.app.goo.gl/7wNKmJA99qhAbMvr9)
If you are in the area and want to learn more about rose diseases, come on by. It will be a fun time!
Finally, Congratulations to all those who just graduated or are graduating (there are a lot of high school graduation events this weekend)! Have a great, fun, safe and healthy Memorial Day weekend! -KO
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service

05/21/2026

20260520 Several weeks ago, CEA Kaycee D. shared some photos that included these of damaged cabbage wondering WHAT is going on with these plants. Here is the information that was obtained from the client ," ...they seemed to start yellowing this week, on the outer leaves. (Note- after heavy rains last week)". I replied that my first thoughts looking at these photos that it was downy mildew. Together with the information she shared, I was pretty sure that is what it is. BUT it would be better if we could have looked at the lesions under microscope to see if we could identify the types of pathogen that caused these damage. Have you seen these symptoms before on your brassicas? -KO

05/15/2026

Happy Friday (20260515)! Last week, Dr Wonbo Shim (PLPM dept head) and I attended the Uvalde Field Day. We got to check up Dr. Kim Cochran who is our extension plant pathologist based in Uvalde. Also, got to visit up with some other folks with their experiment: Dr. Krishna Bhattarai with the tomato breeding program and other. If interested in attending one of those, do check out the Texas A&M Research and Extension center that is close to you. Their website will likely have that information on upcoming field days. Also, you can check out AgriLife news at http://AgrilifeToday.tamu.edu for all AgriLife research and extension related news. Have a great, fun, safe and healthy weekend. - KO .

05/12/2026

A bit about our department and its undergraduate programs.

05/08/2026

Happy Friday! (20260508) A hearty CONGRATULATIONS to our undergraduate student workers who are graduating. They will get to participate in commencement exercises at Texas A&M University tomorrow, to be conferred their B.Sc. degrees. Congratulations to Bailey Hoffman, Jordan Harris, Lauren McGough, Yudi Sanchez, Madison Cruz and Emily De La Fuente (not in photo). Best Wishes with future/next adventures.
And congratulation to all who are celebrating graduation this semester. Have a great, fun, safe and healthy weekend. -KO
Texas A&M University Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service
Texas A&M University - College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

05/07/2026

20260506. These photos were emailed to the TXPlantClinic by Chris G. wondering WHAT these fungus might be? HD Hannah replied with the correct answer that this is not a true fungus, but it is a myxomycete aka SLIME MOLD. These usually pop up in landscapes when it is wet and moist. Here are some oldies but goodies that I had previous posted about these organisms. Enjoy. -KO
See many colors of slime molds: https://bit.ly/4tngkeZ
video from 2018: https://bit.ly/49x9Oei

05/01/2026

Happy Friday (20260501)! Last weekend, HD Hannah and a few of the TPDDL Crew went to set up our outreach table at PlantCon Houston. As a part of Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, we get to share our expertise in plant health knowledge with the public to help with protect our natural and agricultural resources for the enjoyment and benefit of all Texans. Also, wanted to show you that the plant disease people can be FUN too. And thank you PlantCon for supporting this Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service program.
Have a great, fun, safe and healthy weekend. -KO

Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service

04/29/2026

20260429. These photo were received from CEA Kim M. with a plea,"... let me know WHAT you think might be going on". Additional information that was provided include: plant receives full sun and tomatoes has been grown in the same bed for several years with no problem until now. Here was my response, "First thought - looks like TSWV. Do you know what cultivars are affected? Are there visible thrip issues?" What do you think? To learn more about Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus (TSWV), check out: https://bit.ly/4w1Vlkc -KO

Address

College Station, TX

Telephone

+19793215390

Website

http://plantclinic.tamu.edu/, https://linktr.ee/txplantclinic

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Texas Plant Disease Diagnostic Lab posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Want your organization to be the top-listed Government Service in College Station?