Garden Success — Ask the Plant Doctor: Dry Spots, Lethal Bronzing, Corn Smut, and a Rose Rundown

This month's Ask the Plant Doctor segment brings host Stephen Brueggerhoff back together with Dr. Kevin Ong of the Texas Plant Disease Diagnostic Lab. The two open by tackling one of late summer's most common misdiagnoses: patchy, crispy lawn areas that homeowners assume are disease but are often just hydrophobic dry spots, with practical fixes ranging from soil polymer gels and compost topdressing to core aeration. Kevin shares a milestone for the lab — recent National Plant Diagnostic Network core accreditation, a rigorous standardization process tracing back to a post-2002 federal effort to protect U.S. agriculture from bioterrorism and emerging pathogens — and gives a tour of Texas's three-lab diagnostic network, including the virus-focused Weslaco lab working with USDA APHIS and Border Patrol. The conversation moves into real quarantine stakes close to home: citrus greening and citrus canker restrictions covering the greater Houston area, and lethal bronzing disease now showing up in palms in Galveston and Harris counties, with insect-vector research still very much unsettled. Building on last week's caller conversation, Kevin and Stephen dig deeper into distinguishing chili thrips from spider mites on roses (the classic shake-test-over-white-paper trick), why horticultural oils and soap treatments can backfire into sunburn-like leaf damage in Texas heat, and a fascinating detour into biopesticides — including Kevin's own past work with beneficial nematodes and a mystifying case where doubling a biological treatment's rate made it perform worse, not better. Caller Lynn phones in with details on the Brazos Valley Beekeepers Association's daylong Bee School (September 26th). Plus: a genuinely fun tangent on corn smut as a Mexican culinary delicacy, and a reminder that product labels aren't just guidance — they're the law. Plus: upcoming events including blooming bulbs at the Bryan library (September 19th), Wings in the Garden pollinator event (September 26th), and the next Ask the Plant Doctor segment on October 15th.