Does the condition of the leaves affect test results (i.e. dried material)?
Condition of the leaves affects the test results slightly; however, extent of rust contamination affects the test more. Because the QuickStix Kit is sensitive enough to distinguish Soybean Rust at very early stages, later-stage heavily contaminated samples may overwhelm the strip and make the test line appear light. Because heavily infected leaves are quite easy to distinguish from so called “lookalike” diseases, this is not deemed any sort of problem. The most valuable use of the QuickStix is its ability to distinguish SBR from look-alikes very early in the disease process, when visual differences are less noticeable and when fungicide application decisions are critical.
