{"id":2332971,"date":"2026-03-17T12:08:02","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T12:08:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2332971"},"modified":"2026-03-17T12:08:02","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T12:08:02","slug":"lsu-agcenter-team-can-help-when-plants-get-sick-entertainment-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/lsu-agcenter-team-can-help-when-plants-get-sick-entertainment-life\/","title":{"rendered":"LSU AgCenter team can help when plants get sick | Entertainment\/Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

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When a plant isn\u2019t doing well in the garden, it can feel a bit like dealing with a sick pet or young child. They can\u2019t tell you what is wrong \u2014 but that doesn\u2019t stop you from wanting to help them get better.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when plant doctor Raj Singh and his team at the LSU AgCenter Plant Diagnostic Center can come to the rescue.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlants get sick, too, like we get sick,\u201d said Singh, who holds a doctorate in plant medicine. \u201cAt the Plant Diagnostic Center, if you send us your sick plants, we can determine the cause of their sickness.\u201d<\/p>\n

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LSU AgCenter plant doctor Raj Singh, left, talks with extension associate Tim Burks. They\u2019re standing next to lab equipment that is used to diagnose plant health problems.<\/p>\n

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\n LSU AgCENTER PHOTO BY OLIVIA McCLURE<\/span>
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Lots of things can make plants sick: fungi, bacteria, viruses, nematodes, insects, even stress caused by nutrient deficiencies or the weather. Differentiating between pathogens and environmental causes of plant health problems is crucial. They often produce similar symptoms but can require drastically different treatment plans.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In their lab on the LSU campus in Baton Rouge, Singh and his staff examine hundreds of plant samples mailed from across Louisiana every year. Anyone who works with plants \u2014 commercial growers, homeowners, landscapers, extension personnel \u2014 can submit samples.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe triage the samples when they come in, and based on the symptoms, we conduct diagnostic tests on the roots and on the foliage. It depends on the symptoms that the plants are exhibiting,\u201d Singh said. \u201cWe can culture those pathogens and root out the possibility of if there\u2019s a pathogen involved in it or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

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When submitting samples to the Plant Diagnostic Center, avoid placing a plant in a bag with loose soil, which can interfere with testing.<\/p>\n

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\n LSU AgCENTER PHOTO BY OLIVIA McCLURE<\/span>
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Clients are informed of the diagnosis and given recommendations for managing the condition.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re interested in sending an ailing plant to Singh\u2019s lab, it\u2019s important to collect and package the sample properly.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cOur diagnostics depend on how good the sample is,\u201d Singh said.<\/p>\n

If possible, send an entire plant, not just a cutting. This allows Singh and his team to run multiple tests on the roots, leaves and other plant parts \u2014 helping them accurately diagnose the problem.<\/p>\n

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LSU AgCenter plant doctor Raj Singh shows an example of a properly packaged sample. The plant roots are secured with a plastic bag to prevent loose soil from moving around, and the entire plant is placed inside a second bag.<\/p>\n

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\n LSU AgCENTER PHOTO BY OLIVIA McCLURE<\/span>
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Once you\u2019ve dug up your plant, don\u2019t simply toss it in a bag or box and ship it to the lab. Loose soil can interfere with testing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are so many microorganisms in the soil that can contaminate the rest of the plant, so it\u2019s really hard for us to find the actual cause of the problem,\u201d Singh said.<\/p>\n

Instead, securely wrap the plant\u2019s roots in a plastic bag, then put the whole thing in another plastic bag.<\/p>\n

Before mailing your sample, be sure to fill out a submission form.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Plant roots are seen inside a plastic bag that was sent to the Plant Diagnostic Center.<\/p>\n

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\n LSU AgCENTER PHOTO BY OLIVIA McCLURE<\/span>
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\u201cIt\u2019s very important that we know the history of cultural practices, including use of fertilizers or chemicals sprayed on plants, and any other events that led to the first appearance of symptoms on your plants,\u201d Singh said. \u201cAlso, we need to know what was happening during that time period to figure out if it is actually a plant pathogen or just an environmental factor that is causing those symptoms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Routine diagnostic service costs $20. If needed, more tests can be conducted for an additional charge.<\/p>\n

For more information, including a submission form and detailed instructions for packing samples, visit www.LSUAgCenter.com\/PlantDiagnosticCenter<\/a>. You also can call the Plant Diagnostic Center at (225) 578-4562.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.nola.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When a plant isn\u2019t doing well in the garden, it can feel a bit like dealing with a sick pet or young child. They can\u2019t tell you what is wrong \u2014 but that doesn\u2019t stop you from wanting to help them get better. That\u2019s when plant doctor Raj Singh and his team at the LSU […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2332972,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2332971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/LSU-AgCenter-team-can-help-when-plants-get-sick.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2332971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2332971"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2332971\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2332973,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2332971\/revisions\/2332973"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2332972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2332971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2332971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2332971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}