Thoughts on a new forum for sick plants?

How would you all feel about a forum for whatever is ailing a plant? It would be similar to the ID forums we now have, but a member could post an image or a description of their sickly plant and people could help diagnose the problem.

Call it something like "Sick Plant Diagnosis" (name suggestions are more than welcome!)

Folks with a problem plant would have a place to go for advice, and it would be contained in one area.

Bug damage, over or under watering, fungal problems, curling leaves, seedling issues, or any unknown factor that is affecting proper growth of your plant could be diagnosed.

Let's hear your thoughts. If we did this, it would be an open forum just like the ID forums, we have crowds of newbies that ask these questions every day and we would want them to have access.

I think this is a GREAT idea! Although these questions get asked on other forums, most of those forums aren't open to members. This way it's open to everyone, and we have the expertise of many people adding their knowledge to the forum. Over time I see it becoming a valuable resource.

Now why can't I think of something like this??? lol. This would be such a handy forum in stead of having to search all the others. I would definately frequent a forum of this nature. Thanks for the suggestion melody.

what would happen to the Garden Pests and Diseases forum then? i've often thought that this forum should be incorporated with the Insect and Spider ID forum because often times they end up intertwining anyway. maybe all three could be merged?

This would be a free access forum where the Garden Pests and Diseases is not. Maybe geared to a basic level. It would also be for things like leggy seedlings that need light, hostas planted in the sun, soil acidity and alkalinity. A full spectrum forum for whatever is keeping a plant from thriving, not just insects or disease.

The Recipes forum is subscriber only and the Cooking forum is free access. This would address the needs of both subscribers and non-subscribers like they do. Subscribers happily use both of the food related forums and we were thinking something similar would be useful.

Is there a good reason why we couldn't make the Garden Pests and Diseases a (free) ID forum? Just an alternate suggestion....

For most DG users, they will use the forum specific for the type of plant they have to get a good response. For instance if your rose is dying, you would post on the rose forum, if your iris don't bloom you would post on the iris forum. I think too many forums would cause repetitiveness and confusion. It can also spread members out so much that it makes some forums too slow without enough members to keep it active and it grows stale. Keep in mind alot of people are lurkers and don't even post hardly anyway.

Most DG users won't use the forum specific for the type of plant they have. That's because most if not all of the forums to which you refer aren't available to members, they're only available to subscribers. Dave's Garden has 580,823 members but only 5,972 subscribers. This new forum will be open to all members and so will benefit many more people than those who currently post in the subscriber-only forums.

I like Terry's idea of opening up the existing forum to non-subs. FrillyLilly has a point with subscribers looking to specific forums for answers. I know if I had a sick daylily or tomato, I'd ask the folks who frequent those specific forums for advice.
If non-subs could post to the Pests and Diseases forum, their questions would also have a home.

We could update the name if you all have some suggestions.

well at what point will members have so much to access that paying a fee to subscribe is no longer rational. As a subscriber, I hope I am getting my money's worth, not something I can get for free.

Bringing new people to DG is great! 1/2 of the questions I get at the nursery I work at are pest/disease related. Taking it a step further, it'd be handy to have some kinda mini-database like PF for symptoms/disorders/insect damage. ie. Powdery Mildew, Weevil Damage, Sudden Oak Disease, etc with images to compare and info on how to treat/deal with the problem. My 2 cents.

well, i 'll certainly contribute with "weevil damage" photos! LOL except it's not so funny.....sigh.

That is an excellent idea.

I guess the thing that got me thinking about this was that we get so many requests about sick plants at the helpdesk too. Most are visitors who have stumbled in accidentally. It would be nice to have a place where they could get some good basic advice and possible remedies.

Subscribers can generally find a forum or area to get some answers, but we have so many visitors that don't have a clue where to even start looking.

We're looking for constructive criticism, and ideas for best serving the gardening community as a whole. We want to respect the paying subscribers and offer them a good value for their money, but we do need to address the fact that a vast group of newbies start Googling plant symptoms, and land here as well.

Something is needed, as we have a gap in information available to a group of gardeners who are underserved.

Mike has posed a good option, anyone else have thoughts? Suggestions?

My two cents...

I don't mind having forums that non-subscribers can access. When I was a member it was those forums combined with areas like Plant, Bird & Bug files, plus Garden Watchdog that peaked my interest in DG.

But there were limitations in the number I was allowed to look up each day & there were forums I couldn't access. Mostly, though, it was the desire to participate when I had questions of my own or answers for others that got me off the fence.

That last part shouldn't be ignored. Where else can you ask a gardening question that reaches gardeners all over the world, all with valuable information & different views?

Speaking from my own experience, I like the idea of a Sick Plant forum available to all Members.

My suggestion for a name might be something like "What's Ailing Your Plants?".

This message was edited Jun 8, 2011 3:13 PM

I like the idea--and I do think it would be nice to allow non-subscribers to have access to it too. I think there are currently more "what's wrong with my plant" sort of posts in the beginner forums than there are in Garden Pests & Diseases so it seems that is where the help is probably needed most.

Green Cross, Plant Hospital, Plant ER, Foliage Medic, etc. Lots of names I can think of.

Taking that idea I mentioned, having a database with criteria for each problem, and a search by symptom would work. Make it 1 search per week for non-subscribers, anytime for subscribers. Ya've got symptom, cause & solution. It could be cross-referenced with bug files for some. ie. Weevils (sorry trackinsand for mentioning the evil weevils!) but there are numerous weevils for each region that affect specific plants. Some plants are more susceptible to certain pests, fungal problems, etc. Tie in PF, BF and PD (Plant Disorders) by cross-reference and it enhances each file for a more comprehensive view of a plant. It could even be tied into vendors of solutions for more revenue generation.

i like the names that growin suggested. i also like "what's wrong with my plant?".....and for id forums, "what plant is this?", "what bird is this?" and "what insect is this?".

Tracks, I think that's a great idea... "what plant is this?" just sounds less intimidating to post in than "plant identification" if you're a newbie, I think... and it's good to have similar names for the "identification" type forums.

I suppose you could call it "Plant Problem Identification" or something similar if you wanted to stick with the "Plant ID" and "Insect ID" forum titles.

The current "pests and diseases" forum could be rolled into the new all-purpose plant problem forum, or it could stay as it is... I don't know how much traffic that forum is getting lately, so that may be a consideration (might be better to keep them separate for now if it's already a pretty busy forum).

I think Plant ID and Pests and Diseases forum headings are very clear.
We wouldn't want to dumb down DG just to get more people would we? Quantity over quality.
A lot of non subscribers come and go. We all have similar basic questions when we start out.
Questions that deserve an answer if possible but it is the next step when people become more knowledgeable that makes this site interesting.
It looks like what we really need is an expert or two to handle the Pests and Disease Forum.
If no one in the DG community has the necessary knowledge maybe a professional should be hired.
For the Plant Id Forum there are a number of really knowledgeable experts available who are very accurate.

I could've used such a forum just today! I was unsure whether to post in Garden Pests and Diseases or Indoor Gardening and Houseplants. I don't think it's a disease or a pest issue, more of a watering/fertilizing issue with a houseplant. I posted in the latter forum, and so far nobody's answered and very few have even viewed it (though it's only been since this morning).
So I vote 'Yes'!

It seems the consensus is to use the existing Pests and Diseases forum for this. I'll open it up and rename it shortly. Thanks for the suggestions and ideas!

experts are where you find them.....we have SO many here on dg, i couldn't begin to name them all.
as far as "dumbing down", i merely meant to make the titles more inviting to the general public and have a little fun with it-and yes, we do want as many members as we can possibly get! a lot of those non-subscribers become paying folk as time goes by.

I've opened the Pests and Diseases forum to non-subscribing members to be able to read and post. We'll see how it goes - we may move it and/or change the name over time, but for now we'll leave it where it is.

I'll favorite the forum and participate. Thanks.

Does anyone else see the Pests and Diseases forum in the community forum list? If it's there, I'm gonna go to bed, 'cuz evidentally I can't see straight anymore.

It was under "General Gardening" http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/pad/all/

Not sure why the double post.

This message was edited Jun 23, 2011 6:49 PM

Thank you JuneyBug! I didn't realize the word Gardening was in front and was looking in the 'P' area of each category.

Now that means I can go to bed if I want to. :)

^_^

Took me a while to find it too.

It was on my homepage already, so it was very easy for me to find. (LOL!)