Baiting stored irrigation water to test for the presence of Phytophthora and Pythium: Instruction sheet for growers

This guide contains a summary of the outcomes from a research project for ornamental crops ‘Baiting and diagnostic techniques for monitoring Phytophthora and Pythium species in irrigation water on ornamental nurseries’, which provides the necessary detail to create the baiting kit and instructions on how to use a lateral flow device to test for the presence of the pathogens.

You can learn how to:

• Use baits to capture Phytophthora or Pythium spores from your water store
• Use the baits in a lateral flow test to determine whether either of the pathogens is present in your stored water
• Interpret the results
• Troubleshoot problems with the test

This information was last updated in 2014.