Below are recent news items about DDDI.

By: Romi Herron For The Courier-News (Elgin, IL)
When Internet searches or a gardener's best hunch aren't enough to solve a problem in a flower bed or other planted area, the University of Illinois at Champaign Extension is providing answers.

Through its Distance Diagnostics program, the organization offers free information, including identification of specimens and suggestions for management, said Dennis Bowman, a crop systems educator at the University of Illinois Extension. Since the system was launched in 1999.

In 10 years, UGA Extension agents have submitted more than 23,000 samples through the system to quickly diagnose insect and disease problems. Almost every county in Georgia is equipped with a DDDI system, which includes a dissecting scope, a compound microscope, a camera that mounts on either microscope, a digital camera for use in the field, a computer, software and a printer. Article published in UGA CAES FACES

The University of Illinois Extension Distance Diagnostics System, DD, was started in 1999. Since then nearly 8000 plant and pest samples have been processed. This system connects 95 local University of Illinois Extension field offices with over 50 University campus and field-based experts. The system utilizes a unique combination of hand held digital cameras, microscopes and adapters that will allow the cameras to take pictures through the microscope. The equipment was upgraded in 2006-2007 through a state bio-terrorism grant.

Last spring, a small, nondescript moth alighted on a family apple tree in western Washington. Before it had time to make itself at home, however, it was whisked away by a vigilant crop consultant and identified as the Cherry Bark Tortrix (Enarmonia formosana), an exotic pest which has been slowly migrating down from British Columbia.

Thanks to the Distance Diagnostics through Digital Imaging system - coordinated through the WSU Puyallup Research and Extension station - the emerging pest, whose larvae bore into the bark of fruit trees, was prevented from establishing a new territory in Washington. Article published in WSU Today - Faculty & Staff News

Students in Missy Wilson's science classes may soon be diagnosing diseases of fish in Honduras or problems with crops on local farms.

Last week, the students at Piedmont Academy got involved in an unusual project that combines the resources of a private university in Honduras, the University of Georgia and UGA's Cooperative Extension Service. Article published in The Macon Telegraph

In 10 years, UGA Extension agents have submitted more than 23,000 samples through the system to quickly diagnose insect and disease problems. Almost every county in Georgia is equipped with a DDDI system, which includes a dissecting scope, a compound microscope, a camera that mounts on either microscope, a digital camera for use in the field, a computer, software and a printer. Article published in UGA CAES FACES