by Mary Woodsen
New Cornell guide gets to the root of tree and shrub problems
ITHACA, NY: Cornell University plant pathologist George Hudler began Branching Out in 1994 as a newsletter providing plant health-care professionals with “hot off the press” information about insects and diseases on woody plants in New York landscapes. Each issue included a feature article providing in-depth discussions of individual pests and pathogens.
Branching Out was written by Dailey O’Brien with contributions by colleagues Dan Gilrein, George Hudler, and other knowledgeable professionals. Now those 18 years of feature articles have been updated and compiled in Branching Out: Features from the Past for the Future, a nearly 300-page book with over 700 color photos.
For landscape, nursery, and Christmas tree professionals and other Branching Out aficionados, no more need to shuffle through old newsletters tucked into an overfull file cabinet—the vital information for coping with the most important issues readers are likely to face will be at their fingertips. Branching Out explores and explains the integrated pest management (IPM) concepts central to the range of tactics for dealing with a pest—as well as conditions that look like a pest caused it, but didn’t.
From “Hickory Hiccups” to “Thousand Cankers Disease” to “Mulch Maladies”: whether it’s diseases, arthropods, or cultural conditions like drought, herbicide injury, or soil compaction, Branching Out’s feature article compendium has it covered. First-rate color photos and a well-designed index provide both ease of use and the superlative identification guidance essential for good IPM.
Branching Out: Features from the Past for the Future is is available from Branching Out, Department of Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology, Cornell University, 334 Plant Science Building, Ithaca, NY 14853. Cost: $30; checks made out to Cornell University.