Long silence….

I apologize for the long silence as the schedule has just been crazy for the past 3 weeks. In early August, both the Plant Clinic diagnostician and I, and a bunch of our Texas A&M colleagues made our way to Hawaii for the Annual American Phytopathological Society meeting. This was a joint meeting with the the International Association for Plant Protection Sciences (IAPPS). That meant lots of folks from all around the world, and a bunch of interesting research that was presented along with discussion of situation with agriculture in general in the USA. As we go through our note, we will highlight some of the research and other interesting stuff that we gained on this trip.
For now, we are in the midst of something different. Yesterday, I help to moderate the Pest Management sessions at the TNLA (Texas Nursery and Landscape Association) Expo 2011 Education Conference program in Dallas. This is a huge trade show that occurs annually. TNLA has kindly provided AgriLife Extension with a booth at this expo. If you are heading that way, check us out at booth #3031 and see the other AgriLife Extension programs that are available to the people of Texas. A little about the Pest Management Education program:

Dr. Appel educating our green industry folks on recognizing things that lead to hazard trees.

This was an educational program where folks can gain Texas Department of Agriculture Pesticide Applicators Continue Education Unit credits. Topic that were covered include Becoming better insect identifiers, Impacts of disease and practices that leads to hazard trees and for laws – managing feral hogs ‘ what is legal?’. Today thru this sunday, the expo is taking place in the huge showrooms. It is pretty interesting to see the landscape supply companies putting out their wares in nicely designed “booth” which I would like to see in my own backyard. The AgriLife Extension booth is there with all these to highlight our services to the landscape and nursery industry. I hope Sheila (diagnostician) will give us some highlights next week after she recovers from the Expo….