Testing for Sudden Oak Death
- Culturing on Selective Media
The traditional method for identifying Phytophthoras is to isolate and grow them on Petri plates containing a selective growth
media.
Microscopic organisms are isolated from infected soil or plant tissue and sterile cultured on to Petri plates containing PARP agar.
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After 5 to 7 days the plates are examined under a microscope for the presence of the distinctive spores of Phytophthora ramorum.
Pros and Cons of the culturing method:
Pro:
- Only relatively low tech equipment required.
- Culturing techniques are relatively easy to learn.
- Relatively low cost (although PARP media is expensive).
Con:
- State and Federal permits required to keep live P.ramorum cultures.
- Cultures from infected material do not always grow on agar media.
- May provide false negative results.
The UC Berkeley Forest Pathology and Mycology Laboratory does not provide a SOD testing service. For information on SOD testing please visit
www.suddenoakdeath.org
Disclaimer: Mention of any company, trade name, or commercial product does not constitute endorsement by the University of
California or
recommendation for use.
