Cheryl Smith
Extension Professor, Plant Health Specialist
UNH Cooperative Extension – Plant Biology Dept., UNH
Cheryl Smith is the ‘plant doctor’ for the state of New Hampshire, or, more technically, she is a plant pathologist. Officially, she is the UNHCE Plant Health Specialist, and director of the Plant Diagnostic Laboratory at the University of New Hampshire, which is funded by Cooperative Extension.
The Plant Diagnostic Laboratory is open to anyone in the state: from backyard growers, to commercial producers, to people with problematic houseplants. For a $15 fee, plant samples may be sent to the lab to be analyzed by Smith. She will try to identify the cause, and provide advice on how to correct the problem, and prevent the problem from happening in the future.
Smith stresses cultural practices rather than chemical controls, to prevent plant diseases. If plants are showing problems, Smith encourages anybody with a question about his or her plants to send in a sample, and let her tackle it. So far, she’s dealt with everything from "golf course greens to forest trees", so there’s little that can surprise her, and even if it does - she will continue to monitor and work on the problem to help the grower find an answer and a solution. She is also a member of a national network of diagnosticians and plant pathologists who are always available for assistance in solving problems.
When she’s not diagnosing samples in the Plant Diagnostic Lab, Smith may be traveling around the state, either visiting commercial producers or giving presentations on crop management techniques and how to identify plant problems. The presentations are generally geared towards commercial producers and Master Gardeners.
In between the lab and presentations, Smith conducts applied research. She is very interested in biological and bio-rational control products and cultural techniques for management of plant diseases. She is currently collaborating with Paul Fisher, Alan Eaton and Rossana Freyere on managing diseases and abiotic problems on young plants (liners, plugs and cuttings). The research is one part of the focus/mission of the Young Plant Research Center at UNH.
