Our July Speaker: is Pat Nolan "A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO PLANT PATHOLOGY"
Pat Nolan currently serves on the non-profit board for the San Diego Mycological Society as one of their resident mycologists. We're lucky to have her join us in July as our meeting speaker. Pat had a long career as the plant pathologist for San Diego County's public plant pathology lab - before it closed temporarily during COVID19. Sadly, that lab is now shuttered and county funding ceased for residential orchards. Many fruit growers may recall submitting forms and plant samples to the county (and indirectly to Pat) for help with identification of potential pests & plant diseases occurring in or on their fruit trees. You'll likely learn in July that most fungi are not particularly harmful and many are beneficial. Pat has a Master's degree from UC Davis in plant pathology and worked for almost 30 years at our county lab. Pat hopes to explain the basics of how plant pathology works, and also why it's critical to know what is wrong a plant, before you treat it for any pathogen.
Bring your questions to the meeting, but understand ahead of time that Pat will only be able to address the most basic diagnoses during her public presentation. She will have Q & A at the end of her talk, so be prepared with any plant histories, and very clear photos - if you have stories to share. And please be respectful of her time. She is not coming to our meeting to diagnose everyone's current fruit tree problems.