You gaze out at your garden and notice your rose has yellow leaves. Suddenly you realize your plant has a problem and you don’t know what to do to fix it. It’s time to turn to your WSU Master Gardener Volunteer diagnostic clinic for help.
Where do you find your local Master Gardener diagnostic clinic?
Each WSU county with an active Master Gardening community has volunteers that provide diagnostic help. See http://mastergardener.wsu.edu/program/county/ for your local program.
What type of your sample should you bring?
The plant problem sample you collect to bring to a diagnostic clinic should represent the types of damage you are seeing on the plant. Since the WSU Master Gardener volunteer will likely not be able to visit the site, you may want to take some pictures to demonstrate the distribution of the problem on the plant and how the plant is situated in the garden or landscape.
What information should you provide?
Come prepared to answer questions. You will be asked questions about the history and care of the plant as well as the onset of the problem. The Master Gardener volunteers may also quiz you about environmental conditions and the landscaping practices used.
Source: Excerpted from WSU Plant Problem Diagnosis web page at http://puyallup.wsu.edu/plantclinic/plant-problems/.