I am having a lot of trouble getting my rhododendron leaves to become infected and having discussed the issues with a group of scientists working on Phytophthoras I have come up with a list of ideas which may be the reason for this:
1. The plants are dormant and have suberised for the winter and so their innate immunity afforded by their thick cuticle is especially effective.
2. The plants have been wounded by me cutting leaves from them for previous experiments and this has elicited systemic aquired resistance to infection.
3. The plants at the farm are irrigated by water which has been treated and this may be inhibiting the infectivity of the plants.
To test these theories I will carry out a number of small scale experiments using detached leaves to determine if there is an effect of wounding the plants or if there is a difference in infectivity year round or how the irrigation is affecting the plants.
back to the research
Well it's a new term and I'm not taking any classes and I'm not teaching so I can devote all my time to my research and it's the perfect time for it as I am having my first committee meeting this term and I will give my research proposal seminar at the start of next term too so I will have plenty of time to prepare fully for those two events.
I have finally got my committee members together and set a date so I need to prepare a summary of my research proposal for them and get my program of study signed off by them. I am gearing up to set up another farm experiment with a slightly different foliar inoculation method and I'm making plans for a lot of other little experiments to supplement the main project.
Yesterday I spent the day helping Kim take down her soil inoculation experiment in the growth chamber and although her experiment didn't go as planned it was a good experience for me as I will need to follow a similar method when I take down my farm experiment. There are definately some lessons to be learnt from these initial runs of the soil inoculation and this might mean tweaking my experimental design for my field experiments a little. We'll see.
I have finally got my committee members together and set a date so I need to prepare a summary of my research proposal for them and get my program of study signed off by them. I am gearing up to set up another farm experiment with a slightly different foliar inoculation method and I'm making plans for a lot of other little experiments to supplement the main project.
Yesterday I spent the day helping Kim take down her soil inoculation experiment in the growth chamber and although her experiment didn't go as planned it was a good experience for me as I will need to follow a similar method when I take down my farm experiment. There are definately some lessons to be learnt from these initial runs of the soil inoculation and this might mean tweaking my experimental design for my field experiments a little. We'll see.
Term is almost over
There is less than one week remaining of classes and then only finals week. I'm flying back to the UK on December 12th. I have to run the last of the plant pathology labs today and then the lab final on Thursday. Next week is the plant path final which I will help to grade and then my final exam for Forest insect and disease management, and I also have to complete and turn in my collections of insects and forest pathogens which are almost complete, just need to label them.
lack of progress
I've had a horrid cold all week and so I have not been as productive as usual, in addition this week, the class I TA for turned in two pieces of homework for me to mark as well as completing their second midterm exam so I have spent a lot of time grading and not much time in the lab doing research. I've also been working on ordering merchandise such as t-shirts and tote bags for the Botany and Plant Pathology department to buy in time for Christmas and hopefully make a few pennies for the the graduate student association (GSA) of BPP to pay for student travel grants and coffee meetings! Plus I have a midterm on Monday in forest disease management so I am studying a little for that this weekend, and I can't wait for Thanksgiving next weekend and a nice long break away from the normal routine. The term is flying by, and I just can't wait for next term when I will not have to take any classes, and will be able to devote all my time to research and actually get things done! On the other had there is so much to do before the end of term and it is approaching fast...
About turn
Well, the second of my detached leaf inoculations had an equally high failure rate to the first try despite doubling the concentration of the inoculum and meticulous set up and monitoring. I have come to the conclusion that this may be due to the state of the plants I took the leaves from, I guess they are just heading into winter and the leaves are thickened and suberised, and although the preliminary experiment I did in early September to trial the method had a 100% success rate this has not worked in the full scale set up I began in October. It's rather frustrating. I will now try dipping whole leaves to see what happens, if this still doesn't work I may just have to put this off until the growing season begins next year.
In other projects I am trying to make inoculum for the farm experiment but that is proving tricky once again, even though I thought I had nailed a method which would work. Never mind. I am going to trial an agar inoculation method now to see if that might be more reliable. Since for this research the objective is to study the epidemic not the infection process so in theory it shouldn't make much difference how I inoculate so long as infection occurs.
In other projects I am trying to make inoculum for the farm experiment but that is proving tricky once again, even though I thought I had nailed a method which would work. Never mind. I am going to trial an agar inoculation method now to see if that might be more reliable. Since for this research the objective is to study the epidemic not the infection process so in theory it shouldn't make much difference how I inoculate so long as infection occurs.
Busy
This term has been so busy I have not had time to update this site with new posts. I am enjoying teaching the labs for plant pathology and I am hoping to do this again next Fall to fulfill the teaching requirements for the PhD program.
I am halfway through the Forest Insect and Disease Management class that I am taking and I've completed the insect collection for it. I now have to make a pathogen collection for the second half of term.
In other news Curtis and I got engaged on the 14th of October, our 3 year anniversary so we now have to make plans for our wedding with will probably (not definately) happen next summer in the UK.
I am trying hard to keep my research projects moving forward despite having little time leftto devote to them after teaching and taking a 5 credit class. I have some time data for the whole plant dip experiments I was doing so that just needs analysing. I am now working on a detached leaf experiment and then on Friday I will hopefully set up another foliar inoculation at the farm with help from some helpful people in my lab. Being so busy I have been particularly appreciating the assistance of my colleagues especailly Kim and two undergraduate workers, Rob and Jamie. I am luck to work in a lab where so much support is available.
I am also starting to coordinate my graduate studies committee so that they can approve my program of study. I have asked three professors who have all said yes so I'm almost set to have my first meeting with them. These are also the people who will ultimately examine me to determine if I should pass with a PhD.
I am going home to England for just over 2 weeks at Christmas so that will be a nice holiday for me.
I am halfway through the Forest Insect and Disease Management class that I am taking and I've completed the insect collection for it. I now have to make a pathogen collection for the second half of term.
In other news Curtis and I got engaged on the 14th of October, our 3 year anniversary so we now have to make plans for our wedding with will probably (not definately) happen next summer in the UK.
I am trying hard to keep my research projects moving forward despite having little time leftto devote to them after teaching and taking a 5 credit class. I have some time data for the whole plant dip experiments I was doing so that just needs analysing. I am now working on a detached leaf experiment and then on Friday I will hopefully set up another foliar inoculation at the farm with help from some helpful people in my lab. Being so busy I have been particularly appreciating the assistance of my colleagues especailly Kim and two undergraduate workers, Rob and Jamie. I am luck to work in a lab where so much support is available.
I am also starting to coordinate my graduate studies committee so that they can approve my program of study. I have asked three professors who have all said yes so I'm almost set to have my first meeting with them. These are also the people who will ultimately examine me to determine if I should pass with a PhD.
I am going home to England for just over 2 weeks at Christmas so that will be a nice holiday for me.
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