Fusarium and Aspergillus and Ustilago: OH MY!

Hey y'all! How is the pollinating going? Done here the corn is already tasseling and is way taller than I am!! So different than what's happening back in Wisco. So I decided that I really miss Madison - the vibe, layout, mindset, and how open-minded the culture is. I know it's a bubble to the rest of Wisco but I miss that place dearly!! I'm not really missing people (yet) but more or less the city of Madison by itself...I don't know how to explain it but I hope y'all understand what I'm talking about. I'd do anything to get a 'Taste of Madison' right now. That does NOT mean that I don't like it down here - I really do!

The new me!

Yesterday was my first day of research in the Carbone lab - it is definitely going to take a few days to get in the swing of things but hey! I finally know what I am working on - yay! I am doing a lot of field research that also has a strong "Extension" component where I do farm tours, weekend programs, and get the information out to the public. Just so y'all know...that is exactly what I want to do after I graduate. I want to help the farmers with diseases, means of control, and general information. But right now I'm not doing anything in the field (mainly because it's been like a mini-hurricane everyday for the past week). Right now I'm preparing my inoculum to infect my corn crop later next week. That's every plant pathologist's dream - to make healthy plants sick!!

Today I learned how to make PDA (Potato Dextrose Agar) which is one  of the easiest media to make. I put in 19.5g of PDA powder into a flask and then add 500mL of distilled water. Mix it up on a stir plate, cover the top with tin foil, autoclave it for 40 minutes (where it gets really hot & pressurized to kill any living thing), wait for it to cool, pour into sterilized petri dishes. Then when they are solidified we can plate the fungus of our choice onto in and watch it grow!! Today we plated 6 strains of Fusarium onto PDA. I cut little chunks of the strain I want from the stock plate and put it on a new PDA plate. This is called creating the inoculum, I need to have like 600/700 plates done by tomorrow so my fungi has enough time to grow so I can use it to inoculate the corn crop. Then I have to make a conidial suspension (I'll talk about that later when I have actually done the procedure so I know what I'm talking about). Anyways, I discovered I really, really, really do NOT like working in a lab all day. I honestly don't know how people do it and like it. I was dying to go out in the field (even though it was a mini-hurricane all day) and play with the plants. But hey, if I have to do some lab work to go play with the plants...I guess I can do it :)

So far I'm liking it in the South. I found two clubs to join! One is an outdoor club where everyone is like "Hey! Let's go kayaking!" "Who wants to go for a hike in the mountains this weekend?" "I'm going camping in this state park - any suggestions for good fishing lakes?" Hmm...sounds like something I'd totally hate. The other club is Competitive Rock Climbing - this is one way to keep me entertained!! I'm so excited :)

I've never seen a rainbow it a straight line before...or in the SE part of the sky

So that's all for now! I have to go figure out other paperwork. The 15 emails a day about what I all have to do is so much fun to get through. Yay. Bye!!