WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue Extension’s newest cell web site, can assist gardeners ensure they’re by no means once more caught with their vegetation down.
The Purdue Plant Doctor web site is a mobile-friendly one-stop store the place gardeners can navigate the bewildering maze of insect, illness and abiotic issues that have an effect on the lots of of panorama bushes, shrubs and flowers utilized in Midwestern landscapes.
“Every 12 months, owners make investments hundreds of thousands of {dollars} of their landscaping supplies, and as a result of insect illnesses and typically an absence of expertise, issues come up. This is a free, simply accessible method to establish and repair these issues,” mentioned Janna Beckerman, a Purdue Extension plant illness specialist and content material specialist for the web site.
The web site builds on a wealth of Purdue Extension information, utilizing high-quality photographs to rapidly kind by way of the hundreds of issues gardeners can encounter on panorama vegetation and flowers. Problems discovered on every form of plant are ordered primarily based on how frequent they’re in Midwest gardens and yards. Once issues are identified, the web site guides customers by way of strategies to deal with their vegetation.
Today, many web sites obtainable to help growers in plant well being administration are sponsored or developed by corporations that produce gardening chemical substances or merchandise. Cliff Sadof, a Purdue Extension entomologist and content material specialist for the web site, mentioned these apps are likely to recommend specific merchandise, whereas Purdue’s web sites are centered on research-based remedy strategies.
“We begin with the least poisonous approaches earlier than we advise utilizing pesticides or fungicides,” Sadof mentioned. “We wish to train folks the right way to deal with the underlying issues earlier than turning to chemical options. We even have a piece dedicated to generally discovered beneficials, so somebody doesn’t mistakenly hurt pollinators and different helpful bugs.”
Beckerman mentioned the web site was designed to enchantment to the brand new growers that found their inexperienced thumb throughout the pandemic.
“We hope this web site helps growers no matter degree enhance their gardening expertise,” she mentioned. “For this purpose, photographs of every plant are included to information growers by way of the diagnostic course of.”
Sources: Cliff Sadof, 765-494-5983, [email protected]
Janna Beckerman, 765-494-4628, [email protected]
Agricultural Communications: 765-494-8415;
Maureen Manier, Department Head, [email protected]
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