• Log In
  • Events
    • View Calendar
Culham Research Group
Just another blogs.reading.ac.uk site
Skip to content
  • Home
  • About
  • Advent Botany
    • Advent Botany 2014
    • Advent Botany 2015
    • Advent Botany 2016
    • Advent Botany 2017
    • Advent Botany 2019
    • Taxonomic index to #AdventBotany
  • PhD Students
    • Ahmed Gawhari – PhD 2016
    • Ana Simoes
    • Anas Tawfeeq
    • Azi Jamaludin
    • Donald Zulu
    • Jordan Bilsborrow
    • Maria Christodoulou – PhD 2016
    • Tomos Jones
    • Widad Aljuhani – PhD 2015
    • Kálmán Könyves – PhD 2014
    • Marshall Heap – PhD 2014
    • Ahmed El-Banhawy
    • Hassan Rankou
    • Oli Ellingham
    • Aramide Dolapo Oshingboye – L’Oreal Visiting Fellowship 2014/2015
  • Projects
← Chelsea 2014
A visit from Vic Aspland, President of the Cyclamen Society →

Powdery Mildew Survey

Posted on May 21, 2014 by Oliver Ellingham

Please refer to the 2015 survey for updated info.

As part of the Powdery Mildew citizen science scheme, I am asking YOU to keep an eye open for powdery mildews.

Powdery mildews commonly occur on garden plants, are unsightly, and can cause serious damage. To help understand how widespread powdery mildews are, both in terms of geography and hosts, the Royal Horticultural Society and University of Reading are working together to identify and map as many powdery mildews as possible over the next two growing seasons. You can help by supplying us with infected plant samples and in exchange we will do our best to tell you what mildew is infecting your plant.

Gernium infected with powdery mildew

Figure 1: Geranium sp. infected with Neoerysiphe geranii in the University of Reading, Harris Gardens

With over 900 named species, occurring on more than 10,000 different plant hosts, even experts struggle to ID them effectively. I am able to collect and analyse many powdery mildew samples around the University campus and further afield in Reading. However, it is necessary to gain more samples, from more UK locations, on more host plants, in order to better understand the problem in UK gardens.

Using DNA sequences I will be able to identify and map which powdery mildews occur where and when they are most prevalent and ultimately develop short DNA sequences allowing for easy ID of similar samples in future.

Quick, accurate and efficient identification of these garden, fungal foes will help to track the presence of British based species on their host plants, perhaps discovering new species invasive to this island. It will also allow us to track which have recently expanded their host ranges to infect new plant species.

UK gardeners and plant enthusiasts can help to build the global knowledge of Fungi and plant diseases. To help this important research please collect and send your infected plant material to me (please try to follow the steps below)!

Figure1: Please try to pick a significant portion of the infected plant: an entire leaf or shoot would be best

Figure2: Please try to pick a significant portion of the infected plant: an entire leaf (such as that of this Geranium sp.) or shoot (like this Myosotis arvensis (Field Forget-me-not)) is best.

I will record the appearance of your fungi, and then pulverise a small part of it to analyse its DNA. Once identified your sample will be added to a national powdery mildew database and you will be sent a link to the relevant record.

Figure 2: Adding a damp tissue will ensure the sample stays fresh.

Figure 3: Adding fresh leaves to a ‘slightly inflated bag’ will help to preserve the sample.

How to…pick and send a powdery mildew sample:

  1. Locate powdery mildew on plant host.
  2. Prune off several whole leaves (fig. 2)
  3. Put the fresh leaves in a slightly inflated sealed bag (fig. 3).
  4. Send to:
Oliver Ellingham
School of Biological Sciences
Harborne Building
University of Reading
Whiteknights
Reading
Berkshire
RG6 6AS
United Kingdom 

…along with the postcode/grid reference of where the sample was found, your email address and the host plants name. If you can add a GPS location and/or photograph of the plant in growth this would be most helpful.

5. We will email you when results are available. This may take several weeks.

This information will help to form a more complete picture of powdery mildew presence in the UK and to develop cutting-edge, molecular identification techniques.

Many thanks to all!

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Tumblr
  • Pinterest
  • Pocket
  • Print
  • More
  • Reddit

About Oliver Ellingham

PhD student at the University of Reading. Working on ID techniques of powdery mildew Fungi. Interested in mycology, plant pathology and arboriculture.
View all posts by Oliver Ellingham →
This entry was posted in PhD research, Public Engagement with Science, RHS research and tagged Ascomycota, Erysiphales, Fungal identification, Fungi, Oli Ellingham, Oliver Ellingham, Pathology, Plant Pathology, Powdery Mildew, RHS, Royal Horticultural Society, taxonomy. Bookmark the permalink.
← Chelsea 2014
A visit from Vic Aspland, President of the Cyclamen Society →

11 Responses to Powdery Mildew Survey

  1. Pingback: First survey samples received! | Culham Research Group

  2. Pingback: Citizen Science Samples | Culham Research Group

  3. Pingback: Citizen Science Samples – Update | Culham Research Group

  4. Pingback: Invasive powdery mildews | Culham Research Group

  5. Pingback: The Powdery Mildew Citizen Science Scheme - development of identification using molecular techniques | Culham Research Group

  6. Pingback: Powdery Mildew Survey | Collection Holder News

  7. Pingback: Powdery Mildew Survey 2015 | Culham Research Group

  8. Pingback: 2015 Powdery Mildew Survey Results | Culham Research Group

  9. Pingback: Powdery Mildew Survey 2016 | Culham Research Group

Leave a Reply to The Powdery Mildew Citizen Science Scheme - development of identification using molecular techniques | Culham Research Group Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • Recent Posts

    • #AdventBotany 2021 – Day5 – All I Want for Christmas is an Identified Victorian Fern
    • A personal reflection on Wild about Weeds – author Jack Wallington
    • Community fungal DNA workshop
    • #AdventBotany 2019 Day 6: Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly…
    • Final call: help identify potentially invasive plants
  • Recent Comments

    • Specimens, Specimens: Uses | Herbarium World on Brief notes on some Percival Wheats
    • Tendrils: 151218 – The Unconventional Gardener on Advent Botany 2015 – Day 15: Mahleb
    • Tendrils: 151218 – The Unconventional Gardener on Advent Botany 2015 – Day 17: Sgan t’sek
    • Tomos Jones on A personal reflection on Wild about Weeds – author Jack Wallington
    • Future Invaders in your Garden? – The Gardening Zoologist on Future invaders at RHS Chelsea
  • Categories

    • Advent
    • Art
    • Catalogue of Life
    • Collectors
    • e-learning
    • Hawkins Research Group
    • Herbarium RNG
    • i4Life
    • MSc Plant Diversity
    • PhD research
    • Public Engagement with Science
    • RHS research
    • Type
    • Uncategorized
    • Welcome
  • Meta

    • Log in
    • Entries RSS
    • Comments RSS
    • University of Reading Weblogs
    • RSS - Posts
    • RSS - Comments
  • Subscribe to Blog via Email

    Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Culham Research Group
Proudly powered by WordPress.
 

Loading Comments...