A burl is a swollen growth on a tree trunk or branch where the grain has grown in a deformed pattern. These growths are caused by stress, injury or viral/fungal infections that disrupt the tree's normal cell growth. This one is in the Boston Common 🌱 🧪 @plantdisease @plantdisease.bsky.social

Plant health is everywhere! Eric Otto (PhD '22), now a DNR forest health specialist, is quoted by @mprnews.org about a surprising intersection between caterpillar outbreaks and forest fires www.mprnews.org/story/2025/0...

Linda Kinkel finds the right soil microbes are the secret to plant health, both in her UMN research and at her startup: twin-cities.umn.edu/news-events/... #planthealth #sustainable

Minnesota has a larger Ash Tree population than any other American state. How are Emerald Ash Borer beetles changing the lives and health of Minnesota's ash populations? plpa.cfans.umn.edu/news/galleries research by @andrewmann.bsky.social @forestmycology.bsky.social funding by NSF

Thank you to the Des Moines Register for honoring Norman Borlaug, perhaps our most famous alumnus! www.desmoinesregister.com/story/life/2...

Decoding the genetic secrets of two of the 21st Century's biggest wheat stem rust epidemics: plpa.cfans.umn.edu/news/spanner...

Four new fungal species discovered during examination of an Eastern larch beetle outbreak by @forestmycology.bsky.social @andrewmann.bsky.social plpa.cfans.umn.edu/news/elb-lar...

Scientists testing fungi to protect Minnesota's one billion ash trees: new from @mprnews.org @forestmycology.bsky.social www.mprnews.org/episode/2025... #fungifriends #mycology

APPLY NOW! Postdoctoral researcher in the Ranjan Lab: hr.myu.umn.edu/jobs/int/371... (internal) hr.myu.umn.edu/jobs/ext/371... (external)

Fungi from Minnesota can kill emerald ash borer beetles, opening up potential biocontrol solutions: twin-cities.umn.edu/news-events/... @forestmycology.bsky.social

It's Give to the Max Day in Minnesota! By giving to our fund, you'll directly support the career-building experiences of hardworking graduate students. crowdfund.umn.edu/participants...

Sudden oak death was detected in Minnesota. What does that mean for our forests and nurseries? @forestmycology.bsky.social @nickrajtar.bsky.social twin-cities.umn.edu/news-events/...

Foxtail barley serves as alternate host for fungal pathogens of barley: www.eurekalert.org/news-release...

"Blightmare on Stem Street"? We're intrigued! USDA-ARS scientist and UMN Adjunct Professor Dr Deb Samac got on @cropnetwork.bsky.social's podcast to discuss a truly spooky alfalfa pathogen, bacterial stem blight. sites.libsyn.com/416264/s4e38...

We can't resist celebrating Witches' Cauldrons in spooky season, even though this unique little cup fungus appears in spring when the snow melts. Read Bob Blanchette and Nick Rajtar in FUNGI on Witches' Cauldrons: fungimag.com/v18i1/v18i1-...

Professor Dean Malvick spoke with @mprnews.org about red crown rot, a soybean disease with no cure, being found in Minnesota and potential consequences: www.mprnews.org/story/2025/1...

A new study just published from @andrewmann.bsky.social PhD dissertation on fungi and bacteria associated with the red turpentine beetle in its native range #fungi #insects #ecology www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/16...

Common smut on corn caused by Ustilago maydis. Easy to ID by the gray galls that form & contain masses of dark spores. Spores can be spread by wind/splashing rain. Control includes selecting hybrids w/t more resistance, crop rotation, balanced fertility & gall removal #Fungi #Corn #Plant-disease 🧪

Find it in the Field: Oat Smut with Haidyn Larson This video shows how to recognize oat smut, a long-lasting fungal oat pathogen, and a little about how collaborative research is working to solve it! www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5SP... #fungifriends #mycology #planthealth

If you've found a Stinkhorn Mushroom in the wild before, did you see it or smell it first? 🍄 These funky fungi can be found in lawns or mulch as well as in the wild near wood decay. extension.umn.edu/lawn-care/co... #mycology #fungifriends #fungi

📢🍄Mycology job alert🍄📢 The Department of Plant Biology at @michiganstateu.bsky.social has a job opening for a herbarium/fungarium director at the Assistant, Associate or Full professor level. Review of applications start on 3rd October 2025. careers.msu.edu/jobs/assista...

Rare taxonomic #mycology job in NZ! Conduct fungal biodiversity & taxonomy research, secure funding, publish outputs. Working with the National Collections. PhD + postdoc experience required 🧪. Apply here: careers.sciencenewzealand.org/jobdetails?a...

We see dead (well, dying) plants 💀! This is a good thing when they are located in research trials… Plant early dying and signs and symptoms of black dot are appearing in trials located in Becker MN. Jasper’s inoculum worked like a charm! 🥔⚫️🍄! @umnplantpath.bsky.social

PLPA on WCCO News: @nickrajtar.bsky.social discusses "plant destroyer" water molds in Minnesota @wcconews.bsky.social www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/ne...

So great to see lab members discussing their work on the biology and management of soilborne fungi at #planthealth2025. I overhead helpful exchanges and introductions 👀🌱. Stop by posters 037, 149, and 271 to learn more about their work or to pick up a business card. One more today, P-406 at 10:15!

Having an unBEETable time today at #PlantHealth2025 with UMN’s Chanda Lab @beetpath.bsky.social — Ashok and Austin brought excellent research on sugarbeet health @plantdisease.bsky.social

As #planthealth2025 starts, just wanted to share some fungi we’ve seen in and near Honolulu! #mycology #fungifriends @plantdisease.bsky.social

Heading to Honolulu next week? Come find us at APS Plant Health: plpa.cfans.umn.edu/news/planthe... @plantdisease.bsky.social

@umnplantpath.bsky.social Becky Spanner and @USDA Fargo Alyssa Flobinus at #2025ISMPMI

Miss seeing elm trees in Minnesota's metros? Research into resistance and resilience in elm is working to bring them back: mitppc.umn.edu/news/revivin...

Recovering samples from the *final field season* of Hunter’s trial at the NWROC.

Everyone welcome Dr Ashok Chanda, UMN-PLPA Extension faculty and beet health researcher extraordinaire, to Bluesky! 🦋 @beetpath.bsky.social

Charmed by coral crowns 👑 Crown-tipped coral fungus, or Artomyces pyxidatus, has tiny, jiggly arms topped with cute "crowns" #fungifriends #mycology

From Professor Linda Kinkel: No Microbe is an Island www.seedworld.com/us/2025/06/3...

Professor Linda Kinkel has been selected as a World Food Prize Top Agri-Food Pioneer! 🌱 Kinkel's work at Jord BioScience harnesses the strengths of microbial diversity as a sustainable agriculture solution.

Celebrating PI Megan McCaghey and grad student Jasper Tao, who won the Lafayette Frederick Diversity in Mentoring Award! @plantdisease.bsky.social @mnsoilfungi.bsky.social

New publication: "Plant height defined growth curves can predict end of season maize yield" acsess.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1...

Hot off the press🔥The spring issue of Source magazine is here! Dive into stories about flower farming, accessibility in 4-H, rural grocery store resilience, the future of our northern woodlands, and more ⬇️ buff.ly/LwA8yDh.

Planting prep continues! Hunter, MSc student, led pre-plant winter rye cover crop biomass sampling this morning.

Morel mushrooms are out in Minnesota! Colin Peters and myself found some yesterday (Sunday) [email protected] @umnplantpath.bsky.social

Looking for a Postdoctoral Research role in plant health? Apply to join the Ranjan Lab at UMN-PLPA: UMN Internal: hr.myu.umn.edu/jobs/int/367704 External: hr.myu.umn.edu/jobs/ext/367704

We are hiring! Applications will be reviewed upon submission. We look forward to working with a couple new UMN undergraduate students this summer. This is a great chance to “get your feet wet” in plant pathology research both in the field and lab 🌱🚜. Please share!

Day 3 at BLS meeting @umnplantpath.bsky.social. Proud of my PhD students Muhammad Ahmad and @tapishpwr.bsky.social whose talks on BLS host resistance in wheat were outstanding! Proud mentors Karl Glover, @shysol4u.bsky.social. @sdstate.bsky.social. Moment with a fellow Plant Pathologist- Borlaug!

Bacterial Leaf Streak Meeting 2025 is over! Thank you so much to the organizers, attendees, presenters, staff, and volunteers who made it a success!

The 2025 Bacterial Leaf Streak Initiative Meeting has already led to so much learning and synergy, and we're only halfway through! Thank you to our visiting colleagues from Ohio State, @ndsuplantpathology.bsky.social, @sdstate.bsky.social, Colorado State, USDA, Manitoba, and INIA Uruguay 🌾

Growing all winter in Minnesota? ❄️ You betcha! Growth chambers on our campus allow for great growing conditions year-round, facilitating essential research. 🪴 cfans.umn.edu/news/growth-...

Fantastic 4th annual bacterial leaf streak research initiative meeting at @umnplantpath.bsky.social Day1-Pathogen Biology and career development panel (Academia, industry and government representations) next year @sdstate.bsky.social will host it!

Welcoming Assistant Professor Megan McCaghey and her Soilborne Fungi and Oomycetes Lab team to Bluesky! 🦋 Follow the lab for updates: @mnsoilfungi.bsky.social

From Petri dish to main dish 🍽️ Students in "Diseases of Forest and Shade Trees" (taught by @forestmycology.bsky.social) get to grow and harvest their own culinary mushrooms. An educational treat! #mycology #fungifriends #umnproud