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Four tiles showing different vegetables with disease or disorder symptoms and signs. Top left tomato leaves with chlorosis; Top right squash leaves with powdery mildew; Bottom left broccoli with necrotic leaves; Bottom right pepper leaf with spots.

Important Information Regarding Sample Processing This Summer

Please note: this message affects all PDIC users, except samples of turf/grasses for the Turf Diagnostic LabSummer is always a busy time for the clinic, and unfortunately this one even more so as we…

A Google street view of the front of the Varsity Research Building, Module 10

Big Changes Coming to the PDIC This Spring!

Two significant changes are coming to the PDIC this spring: Our lab will be moving to the Varsity Research Building (Module 10). We will be launching a new database app (replacing the current…

A black cicada with orange red eyes and orange markings and wings, rests on the smooth bark of a holly tree with the blues sky in the background.

Here They Come Again! More Periodical Cicadas Will Emerge This Spring

If you missed them last year or didn't get your fill, you'll have another chance to see periodical cicadas (Cicadidae: Magicicada) in NC this year! If you were utterly annoyed by them, hopefully you…

an adult clover mite, Bryobia sp.

Watch Out for These (Arthropod) Spring Home Invaders

Note: This post was originally published March 2021, and updated March 2023Insects and other arthropods are feeling the warm weather and waking up for spring. Bees, social wasps, bugs, flies, ants,…

Various molds and yeasts growing on culture media

PDIC Discontinuing Household Mold Identification Service

Beginning January 17th, 2023, the NC State Plant Disease and Insect Clinic (PDIC) will no longer be providing identification services for molds found in homes and other buildings. We understand this…

A heavy-bodied, black spider with shiny legs.

Local Spiders Confused for Deadly Relatives

I've been getting a few emails and calls about large, menacing-looking black spiders that are often confused for exotic, and sometimes deadly, Australian Sydney funnel-web spiders (Atrax robustus).…

A nursery web spider (Pisaurina mira) resting on a tree branch in the sun

Late Spring Spiders Common but Not Dangerous

We've been getting a lot of inquiries about spiders hanging around and coming inside homes lately. Some have been mistaken for brown recluses (Loxosceles reclusa) despite this species being extremely…

A bee in the genus Andrena poking its head out of a tunnel it made in the lawn of an urban yard.

It's the Season for Busy Ground-Nesting Bees!

As the weather warms up, insects and other animals are becoming more active. I wrote the other day about social wasps waking up, but here I'd like to talk about another close relative you may see in…

Bar graph showing the number of samples submitted by counties that made up 2% or more of the samples in 2021. The counties in descending order are Wake, Mecklenburg, Orange, Buncombe, Henderson, Durham, Guilford, New Hanover, Johnston, Randolph, Moore, Sa

2021 Plant Disease and Insect Clinic Year in Review

Last year (2021) was a busy one for us at the Plant Disease and Insect Clinic (PDIC). It was also eventful: all lab members returned to full-time work in the clinic around July (following approved…

Portrait photo of Swarnalatha Moparthi and a tobacco field

The PDIC Welcomes a New Lab Member

The NC State Plant Disease and Insect Clinic is happy to announce the arrival of our newest lab member, Dr. Swarnalatha ("Swarna") Moparthi! Swarna will be handling all of the disease diagnostics for…