Stephanie Adams, Ph.D., recently joined the Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology as an assistant professor and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service tree and landscape plant health specialist. Her role will be 75% extension and 25% teaching in the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
Adams will support the department by addressing some of the most pressing plant health challenges in Texas, especially those affecting the state’s diverse tree populations. She will also be educating others on the specialized approach needed to diagnose and manage trees.
“I’ll be doing a lot of similar work as I have at an arboretum for the last 15 years, except now I’ll be supporting the 254 counties and 30 million people in Texas,” Adams said. “It will be a fun challenge, and I look forward to contributing to the diverse needs of the state.”
Adams’s approach to tree care
Over her 15 years with The Morton Arboretum, a 1,700-acre tree-focused botanical garden and research center in Lisle, Illinois, Adams developed and led its plant health care program, specializing in rare and endangered plants. Her work often involved diagnosing complex tree health issues where little was known about the trees and what disease or insect problems they were susceptible to.
“Working with rare and endangered plants is often like solving a riddle,” she said. “Trees can only communicate with us nonverbally, so you have to learn to read the tree’s body language — such as their form, color and branching patterns — to try and diagnose the issue and identify the right way to approach it.”
Adams’ methods involve a careful balance of biological controls, integrated pest management practices and plenty of patience.
Over her 24-year career and through her different positions, she’s spent time both in the lab and in the field, often finding innovative ways to work with trees’ natural defenses and environmental conditions for managing entire forest stands all at once.
For instance, she recently completed a survey of 168 mature oak trees at the First Division Museum at Cantigny in Wheaton, Illinois, that she began treating a year ago for root rot diseases and drought stress.
At Texas A&M, she will help professionals and homeowners as well as educating students. She said she’ll teach an introductory plant pathology course to undergraduates and rotate between other specialized courses focusing on diagnosis, management and forest pathology.
More about Adams
Adams’ journey in plant pathology began during her undergraduate studies in botany and urban forestry at Western Illinois University. It was there she first became interested in trees and fungi, the most common plant pathogen.
She went on to earn a master’s degree in plant pathology from the University of Georgia and returned to academia for a doctoral degree in forest pathology from the University of Florida after almost a decade working in the industry. In 2007, she became a certified arborist with the International Society of Arboriculture and a board-certified master arborist in 2017
Over the course of her career, she’s lived in 10 different states with diverse climates and has adjusted to trees’ varying needs, such as the freezing temperature of Minnesota and the sudden oak death epidemic in Georgia.
Now, Adams said she looks forward to taking on troubles in Texas and collaborating with experts in both the Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology and the Department of Horticultural Sciences on difficult tree challenges, like handling the sensitive root systems of post oak trees.
She hopes to not only address these challenges but overcome them entirely — and maybe even add more trees to the Texas Superstar list, a select group of plants that must be easy to propagate and perform well for growers throughout Texas.
“A lot of people don’t pay much attention to trees on a daily basis, but they really do give a place a certain presence,” she said. “Treating their problems is also about preserving their history. If we remove a 60-inch-diameter bur oak and replant, we won’t get to see that again in our lifetime.
“I’m hoping to do my part to support the history here and assist Texans in managing trees in the different climates, topographies and soils throughout the state.”
