In this Summer 2025 issue of the UCNFA Newsletter, our Featured Articles focus of diseases of nursery crops, presenting the most recent diagnostics data from ornamental nurseries in California out of the Greenhouse and Nursery Pathology Lab at UC Davis. We will also discuss the impact and biology of powdery mildew in California nurseries, including practical guidelines for identification and management.

Phytophthora diseases are a growing concern to restoration and nursery plant production that have led to huge economic and ecological losses. Here in California, most people may know of Phytophthora (lit. “plant destroyer”) from the devastating outbreak of Sudden Oak Death, caused by the aerial Phytophthora ramorum, in the 1990s – 2000s in Northern California and Southern Oregon.