PLANT PROTECTION 4

THE CLIENT
The client is the key to diagnosing many plant problems
Clients include home gardeners, retailers and wholesalers of plants, landscapers, commercial and organic
growers, specialist grower groups, arborists and consultants, exporters and importers, industry and government
enterprises. A critical part of diagnosis is to understand and satisfy the client’s needs and expectations. It is
important to differentiate between the enquirer (the client) and the enquiry (the plant problem). Without a
clear understanding of each, incorrect diagnoses and advice may result.
RECORD
CLIENT
DETAILS
LISTEN TO THE
CLIENT
HOW CAN THE
CLIENT HELP
WITH THE
DIAGNOSIS?
The following details must be recorded:
• Date
• Name
• Company/home gardener
• Address
• Tel
• Fax
• Email
• For further information see pages 105 and 121.
You need to be a good communicator to understand your client and listen to their
concerns (see page 117).
• It is the bringing together of the client’s observations and the diagnostician’s expertise
that decides the outcome of any diagnosis.
• It is the job of the diagnostician to make a diagnosis, which is as definite and
reliable as the client or situation requires.
• You have to determine how significant the problem is to the client. The loss can be
economic, aesthetic or a quarantine matter.
• Clients often come with an apparently simple enquiry and want a quick fix. This is
generally not possible. Don’t be rushed into a diagnosis!
• If diagnosticians do not communicate effectively with the client, they can come
up with a perfectly accurate diagnosis of one problem, but not address the main issue of
the client’s concern. For example, it is possible to come up with an accurate diagnosis
of peach leaf curl on nectarines from the sample, make control recommendations
and walk away with a ‘job well done’ feeling. Then you discover that the client’s real
concern was the dieback of several large branches, which was not related to peach curl.
Poor communication!
In many situations, the client can provide:
• Samples, photographs or digital images of the perceived problem, eg distorted new
growth.
• If samples are not available, they can provide information on the identity of the
affected plants and a description of the problem.
• Records of management practices, pest, disease and weed occurrences and treatments
and weather during the current and previous seasons. This information is vital for
completing submission forms that accompany samples being sent to a diagnostic
service for further investigation.
• Answers to relevant questions, especially if you are unable to visit the site or access
records, eg when the crop or hedge was planted, history of the planting, etc.
• Specialist knowledge. Some commercial growers, grower groups and home
gardeners have considerable knowledge and experience of the plants they are growing
and their common pests and diseases.
30 Diagnosis – Step 1. The client’s enquiry