What kind of diagnosis do you need?

• Plant Problem or Plant Disease
• Plant ID or Weed ID
• Insect or Arthropod ID
• Indiana Educators or Purdue Specialists ONLY

About Digitally Assisted Diagnosis

The Digitally Assisted Diagnosis area provides a standard method of submitting digital samples to the P&PDL for diagnosis or ID. Digital samples submitted to the Plant and Pest Diagnostic Lab are assessed the same charges as physical samples.

We recommend, due to potential regional diferences in the occurrence of certain plant diseases, and species of plants and insects, that residents of other states first contact their local extension services and diagnostic labs for assistance, prior to submitting digital or physical samples to Purdue's Plant and Pest Diagnostic Lab (P&PDL). Follow this link for Plant Disease and Soil Testing Services located in the United States. There will be no additional charge for any related follow-up physical samples that might be requested by diagnosticians who require more detail for an accurate identification or diagnosis of the problem than is provided by the digital images submitted.

General Digital Photo Tips

You can help us by following these guidelines:

• Please look at the images before sending them to us. If they look out of focus to you, they will not be helpful to us.
• Send no more than five images per sample/question.
• When possible, please include size reference such as a ruler or a coin. If taking a photo of a ruler, let us know units (ie. Size is about 2 mm).
• For plant identifications, please include whole plant image, as well as close-ups of plant parts (leaves, flower, fruit, etc.)
• As with actual samples, please include as much additional information as possible such as: planting date, age of plant, chemicals used, number of plants affected, where found, patterns, when symptoms first noticed, etc.

Tips for Taking Digital Photos for Plant IDs

The following publications were prepared as guides for taking photos of plants for identification:

• WS-26-W, Guidelines for Submitting Digital Plant Images for Identification: Grass Identification (PDF - 501 K) by Dr. Case R. Medlin, Assistant Professor of Weed Science, Department of Agronomy, Purdue University
• WS-27-W, Guidelines for Submitting Digital Plant Images for Identification: Broadleaf Identification (PDF - 1.4 MB) by Dr. Case R. Medlin, Assistant Professor of Weed Science, Department of Agronomy, Purdue University

(PDF documents require Adobe Acrobat to view and print.)