Submission Forms

COVID-19 UPDATE (9/21/20)

The Rutgers Plant Diagnostic Laboratory is open and accepting samples via no-contact, curbside drop-off.

We are committed to doing all we can to help you with your plant health needs, including looking at physical samples. Campus buildings are closed to visitors. Carefully follow the directions below for sample submissions during this time.

Sample Submission Directions

Step One:

• See fee information, sampling instructions, and submission forms to accompany your physical sample. (After clicking the appropriate link, scroll all the way down to the bottom of the webpage.)
• Accurate diagnosis requires both a representative sample and sufficient information about the cultural practices and environmental conditions associated with the problem.
• For proper diagnosis or identification, specimens must be received in good condition.
• Emailed photographs are helpful when they accompany a physical sample (email to rutgerspdl@njaes.rutgers.edu), but the lab will not attempt an accurate diagnosis or identification from a photograph alone.

Step Two:

For no-contact, curbside sample drop-off (Monday–Friday):

Zoom in

The flatbed trailer.

• Before you arrive, be sure your samples are labeled, boxed or bagged if necessary for protection from the weather, and the appropriate submission form(s) is thoroughly filled out. There are no supplies available to you at the outdoor drop-off location.
• Leave your samples on the red, flatbed trailer parked outside of the closed gate to the turf farm.
• Call the lab at 732-932-9140 to inform staff that samples have been left on the trailer.
• DO NOT leave payment or credit card information with your sample on the trailer.
• Professional clients will be invoiced. Residential clients may pay via credit card over the phone or by mailing in a check.

To ship samples via UPS, FedEx, US Postal Service, etc., address packages to:

• Rutgers Plant Diagnostic Laboratory
  Ralph Geiger Turfgrass Education Center
  20 Indyk-Engel Way
  North Brunswick, NJ 08902
  Phone: 732-932-9140
• Please email us to inform us when to expect your sample—we will need to retrieve it from central campus mail services.
• DO NOT send samples to PO Box 550, Milltown, NJ—they will not be able to be retrieved.

Please contact us via email (richard.buckley@rutgers.edu and/or sabrina.tirpak@rutgers.edu) if you need further instructions for sample submissions.

Please return to this website to monitor lab status as the pandemic situation changes. Thank you for your patience as we deal with this unprecedented situation—we will do our best to minimize delays.