Extension Search / Diagnostic Labs / Colorado
Colorado State University Plant Diagnostic Clinic
The Plant Diagnostic Clinic at Colorado State University is Colorado’s university plant diagnostic lab. Send it a sick plant, an insect or a weed and it tells you what it is and what to do about it, usually for a small fee.
Lab Details
Colorado State University
Denver, Colorado
- Disease diagnosis
- Insect ID
- Plant ID
- Virus tests
- DNA tests
- Tree wilts
- Hemp
Open the lab's site for fees, forms and the mailing address.
Services
- Disease diagnosis. Finds what is making a plant sick, from fungi and bacteria to cold, drought or chemical injury.
- Insect ID. Identifies insects, mites and spiders and whether they are a threat to the plant.
- Plant ID. Identifies plants and weeds.
- Virus tests. Serological tests such as ELISA that check a plant for specific viruses.
- DNA tests. PCR or sequencing to confirm a pathogen that can't be told apart by eye.
- Tree wilts. Cultures or tests branch samples for wilt diseases such as Dutch elm disease, oak wilt or Verticillium wilt.
- Hemp. Takes industrial hemp samples. Most labs ask for your state hemp license number, and none take marijuana.
- Nematode analysis is not offered right now, except a DNA test for pine wilt nematode.
- Hemp samples need a Colorado Department of Agriculture license number.
- Soil testing is done at a separate CSU lab.
Not Accepted
- Mushroom identification
- Marijuana
- Samples from the human body
- Dead plant tissue
Out of State
Out-of-state samples are taken case by case. Contact the lab before sending one.
Sample Tips
- Call or email the lab before you send anything. What a lab accepts, and what it charges, changes.
- Send a plant that is still sick, not one that has died. Include the edge where sick tissue meets healthy tissue.
- Bag the roots and soil and tie the bag off at the stem, so soil stays off the leaves. Wrap leaves in dry paper and don’t add water.
- Mail early in the week so the box doesn’t sit in a warehouse over the weekend.
- Fill in the lab’s form completely: the plant, what you see, when it started and what has been sprayed or applied.
Not sure it’s worth a lab fee? The plant health key narrows a problem down from what you see, and your county Colorado Extension office can often look at a sample free first.
Other Labs
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