Presenters: Karen Snover-Clift, Director of the Plant Disease Diagnostic Clinic at Cornell University, and Sandra Jensen, Diagnostician of the Plant Disease Diagnostic Clinic at Cornell University
Dates/Times: Tuesdays, January 14, 21, 28, February 11, 18 and 25, 2025 (no workshop on February 4); 3-5pm EST
Fee: $300 per person; $250 for Cornell Cooperative Extension employees & volunteers. See group registration information (5 or more people) at the bottom of this page.
Participants must have access to Zoom to participate in real time. Lectures will be recorded and available to participants after live sessions.
CEUs:
- DEC: 2 CEUs for Sessions 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 in categories 3a and 25; 1 CEU for Session 3 in categories 3a and 25
- CNLP: 2 CEUs per session.
- ISA: 2 CEUs per session.
Attendees seeking CEUs will be required to sign-in 15 minutes before each presentation (2:45pm EST) using the Chat feature, noting full name, license number and email. Attendees must remain for the duration of the class and answer all quiz questions to earn credits. Attendees must send photos or scans of their ID cards by 2/10/2025 to sr369@cornell.edu
Are you interested in improving your plant disease diagnostic skills? The Develop Your Diagnostic Skills (DYDS) webinar series is a unique training opportunity developed specifically for those that give advice, answer questions, and educate others on plant health and plant disease issues. Diagnosticians from Cornell University’s Plant Disease Diagnostic Clinic will provide 12-hours of comprehensive content in a 6-week course that includes step-by-step diagnostic procedures and answers to common plant health questions using abundant examples and identifying key resources.
This comprehensive webinar series will include the following modules:
Session 1: DYDS-Plant Pathology 101-Basic Plant Pathology.
The first session of the Develop Your Diagnostic Skills webinar series will cover the five (5) groups of microorganisms that cause plant disease and introduce abiotic causes of plant damage. The speaker will review plant pathogenic fungi, bacteria, nematodes, viruses and phytoplasmas; describe common characteristic symptoms and signs for each group; and provide several examples of infected plants displaying characteristics symptoms. The speaker will convey how a diagnostician uses the key characteristics to compare each pathogen group, narrowing down the possibilities and identifying the most-likely type of pathogen causing the damage. The session will conclude with the review of several cases of real-world diagnostic submissions in an interactive discussion exercise.
Session 2: DYDS-Abiotic Factors Versus Plant Pathogens and Pests. 
The second session of the Develop Your Diagnostic Skills webinar series will build on the previous session focusing on the key characters used to confidently conclude abiotic factors as the cause of plant damage. Diagnostic laboratory staff indicate around 50% of their sample submissions result in an abiotic diagnosis. This represents a huge number of samples submitted annually by those assuming a disease or pest is harming the plants. Because of this high number, understanding and recognizing abiotic damage is critical for those serving in an educational role such as arborists, regulatory inspectors, CCE county educators and master gardener volunteers. The speaker will provide numerous examples of abiotic factors causing damage to a wide host range of plants and highlight how observing patterns of damage in a community of plants, on an individual plant and on individual plant parts, and observing the progression of damage over time, can lead to the determination of either an abiotic factor or biotic organism cause. The speaker will conclude this session with a discussion of the importance of an abiotic diagnosis that could result in a reduction of unnecessary pesticide applications.
Session 3: DYDS-Submitting a quality diagnostic sample. 
The third session of the Develop Your Diagnostic Skills webinar series will introduce the steps of submitting quality sample material, taking pictures, collecting appropriate plant parts, gathering and supplying helpful information, packaging the sample properly, and using expediated shipping methods or dropping off the sample to get it to the laboratory quickly. Proper execution of these steps will lead to submission of quality sample material. Not following the proper steps can lead to the submission of insufficient material, the degradation of material or supplying the wrong plant part which in turn can provide material lacking the initial causal agent of the damage and a false negative result.
Session 4: DYDS- Steps of the Diagnostic Process and Helping Does Not Require the Answer. 
The fourth session of the Develop Your Diagnostic Skills webinar series will be given in two parts. The first part of the session will follow a sample from an inquiry about how to submit a sample through developing a diagnostic result report to convey how a diagnostician at the Cornell University-Plant Disease Diagnostic Clinic (CU-PDDC) handles sample submissions. Understanding and practicing these steps will build a diagnostic analysis skill set, convey what can be done using available equipment and tools, and provide an understanding of sample submission processing at the CU-PDDC. The processing steps will include how the diagnostician conducts their initial analysis to determine best next steps; how they determine the appropriate test methods based on their observations; how they interpret test results while considering symptom expression, and finally, developing the diagnostic response appropriate for the submitter.
The second part of this session will cover several ways in which individuals with questions can be helped even when the diagnostician can’t give them a definitive answer. Several scenarios will be presented to include cases when a sample is submitted at a time of year when the pathogen’s presence is difficult to find, when the appropriate plant material cannot be submitted, and when numerous pathogens are present on one sample. Narrowing down the possibilities can provide peace of mind. For example, being able to point to an abiotic issue puts that person at ease knowing it will not likely spread or identifying a group such as viruses that will lead to the same management recommendation as identifying the specific virus.
S5: DYDS-The Most Common and Asked About Plant Diseases. 
The fifth session of the Develop Your Diagnostic Skills webinar series will highlight the importance of staying informed and learning what plant pathogens are common in an area, state and region; and what pathogens and abiotic factors are prevalent each season. Plant pathogens are living organisms that rely on specific conditions to infect plants, spread, reproduce and disperse to new locations. Weather and site conditions, cultivation practices and other human activities can play a key role in which pathogens thrive. The speaker will provide a review of the commonly identified plant diseases and abiotic factors identified in the CU-PDDC over the past couple of years and will highlight the most-likely conditions that promoted successful infections and plant damage.
Session 6: DYDS-The BOLOs; Be On the Look Out for these Regulatory Pathogens. 
The sixth session of the Develop Your Diagnostic Skills webinar series will review several high consequence and regulatory plant pathogens to provide the participants with the skills to identify plants that require communications with regulatory inspectors or samples that need to go to the CU-PDDC for official diagnostic testing. The speaker will share examples of plant pathogens targeted by our regulatory agencies, the New York State Departments of Agriculture & Markets and Environmental Conservation and review how regulatory sample suspects must be communicated, handled and reported. Numerous examples of regulatory greenhouse, nursery and forest plant diseases will be reviewed. The presentation will conclude with an interactive session of performing the steps of submitting a suspect regulatory sample.
Group rate: submit 5 registrations at the regular rate ($300/person or $250/person for CCE staff/volunteers) and have access for other staff and/or volunteers to attend the webinars. We heard some will want to do this in a group setting.
PLEASE NOTE the following:
- This group rate does not apply to attendees seeking DEC, ISA or CNLP credits.
- Attendees seeking credits must attend as an individual on a computer and cannot attend as part of a larger group setting. This is a requirement of the credit organizations.
- We are extending this group rate in good faith. If your group participates, please only include your immediate staff and/or volunteers.