• Home garden enthusiasts
• Golf courses managers
• Garden societies and clubs
• Property management corporations
• Hydroponics, vegetable, orchid and ornamental plant farms
• Agri-chemical companies
• Landscape companies and maintenance contractors
• Plant and plant product exporters and importers

Our services include:

• Analysis of plant materials and soil for insect and nematode pests, bacterial, fungal and viral pathogens, and to recommend appropriate control measures where available.
• Nutrient analysis for plant tissues, soils, fertilisers, manure and growing media.
• Consultation on soil fertility, chemical and physical soil properties for plant growth.
• On-site assessment and diagnosis of plant health problems at location.
• Consultation and training on pest management and pesticide applications.
• Laboratory and field evaluations on pest control efficacy for phyto-chemicals and pesticides.
• Diagnostic support for issuance of phytosanitary certification for export
  

• Select plant materials that are showing the symptoms you are concerned about.
  
• Send several samples showing various stages of the disease, especially the early stage.
  
• Place samples into a plastic bag or wrap samples in newspaper to keep moist but do not add any water. Wrap roots in a second bag to keep the leaves free of soil.

• Plant samples for disease diagnosis
  
  
  • Herbaceous Plants: For general decline or dying of plants, send whole plants (if practical) including roots, showing early symptoms. Dig up carefully to include 500 grams of surrounding soil (see guidelines for soil samples below for more details). It is important to keep soil off the foliage.
  • Tree Wilts: Collect branches or twigs to 1 inch in diameter, which are actively wilting but not totally dead. Wrap in plastic to retain moisture.
  • Leaves, Branches, Fleshy parts: When localised infections such as cankers, leaf spots and rots are involved, send specimens representing early and moderate stages of disease. Press leaves flat between papers. Send entire or small parts of infected branches and twigs to include several centimeters of healthy wood adjacent to the diseased part. Wrap fleshy parts e.g. fruits or vegetables separately in dry paper.
  
  
• Turf: sample plugs should be at least 4 to 6 square inches and include the transition area between the diseased and healthy portion of grass. It is best to place root systems separate in another plastic bag.
  
  
• Insect specimens and infested materials for diagnosis: For insect pest diagnosis, collect several (the more the better) live specimens of the insects together with associated plant parts (hosts). Collect all stages of the life cycle if available. Care should be taken to pack insects so that they arrive as complete specimens. If 2 or more species are included in the same package, be sure to separate and label the insects and provide appropriate information on each.
  
  
  • Affected plant parts e.g. leaves, flowers or fruits: Send affected twigs, branches, leaves or flowers with presence of pest related products (webs, bags, frass) together with unaffected plant parts. Place highly mobile pests in a vial with some alcohol (70%) or in separate plastic bags. For fruits, send freshly damaged fruits, wrapped individually in paper.
  • Tiny and/or soft-bodied specimens e.g. aphids, mites, thrips, caterpillars, spiders: Submit specimens in a small leak proof bottle or vial of 70% alcohol. Do not submit insects in water or without alcohol, as they will readily decompose.
  • Hard-bodied specimens e.g. flies, grasshoppers, butterflies and beetles: Submit specimens dry in a crush-proof container. Do not tape insects to paper or place them loose in envelopes.
  
  
• Soil samples: Avoid collecting samples when the soil is extremely dry or wet, or immediately after fertiliser application. DO NOT add water to the soil after sampling. Take several sub-samples from the root zone at depth of about 15 to 20 cm, especially from around plants showing similar symptoms. Mix the sub-samples to form a composite sample for submission.
  
  
• Soil for plant nutrition or nematode analysis: Collect 500 grams to 1 kilogram of soil (mixture of sub-samples) from plants showing nutritional problems e.g. yellowing or unhealthy colour in a plastic bag for submission. It will be useful in the diagnosis to include a sample of soil from the same plant type/species without the symptoms (healthy) for concurrent analysis for comparison. Reference samples will not be charged.
  
  
• Fertilisers/tissues for plant nutrition analysis: Send 250 grams of fertiliser or fresh plant tissues showing nutritional problems e.g. yellowing or unhealthy colouring in a plastic bag. For plant tissues, include similar plant parts of same plant species from a healthy source for concurrent analysis. DO NOT WET the leaves. It will take a longer time to dry them for analysis and the foliage may rot.
  
  
• Nutrient solution for plant nutrition analysis: Submit 500 ml to 1 litre in a bottle and state the required analysis to be performed e.g. N, P, K, pH, salt etc.
  

• Part A: For home growers or individuals, please give your name, mailing address, contact no. and NRIC no. for billing purposes. For company representatives, please include your name and your company name, mailing address, your contact number and your Company's Registry of Company & Business Number for billing purposes.
  
• Part B: Most of the information requested in this part helps to reconstruct the "field situation" for plant health diagnosis. The information is important since only a representative portion of the plant specimen is received by the laboratory and will provide important clues and crop history that are significant for both the diagnosis and the control recommendation to be given.