A green thumb on call: The plant doctor

By Arne Meyer Nov 10, 2011, 3:06 GMT

Berlin - His patients can't describe their symptoms or even point to where it hurts, but Bernhard Furtner is able to understand.

A plant doctor, Furtner can help a sick plant get better. However, like any doctor, he can't save all of his patients.

On a recent typical day in his office a woman pushed in a wheelbarrow holding a plant that was drooping and covered with brown spots. 'This doesn't look good,' said Furtner. He reached into the moist soil in the plastic bag that held the European spindle tree, pulled gently on the roots and ran his hands through the shriveled leaves. His diagnosis: Water damage caused by too much rain.

'The tree is dead,' Furtner said. 'It drowned.'

Furtner is the last hope for many hobby gardeners. The 40-year-old landscape architect pampers bushes, flowers and trees and advises their worried owners when they need help deciding whether to use fertilizer or pesticide, organic materials or chemicals.

Often Furtner needs only to look at a diseased leaf in order to recognize a condition and find a way to get rid of it. When there's doubt, the sample is sent to a city plant protection office for analysis.

Furtner's office is in a garden centre near Berlin's Olympic stadium. He also goes into the field and even does house calls to solve bigger problems. He could be mistaken for an emergency doctor in his sweater and vest, white pants and medical briefcase. He and his two colleagues carry scissors, soil testers and a magnifying glass with them on their daily appointments.

'We are heroes to many customers and that makes us feel good,' he said with a laugh. 'After all we do rescue lives.' His team takes care of plants in hotels, cafes and offices, and he recently began offering his services to cemeteries.

'Many of my customers simply don't have the time to take care of the plants properly,' said Furtner. Most of them are older people 'because they simply are more likely to have a garden. People under 30 come to me less often.'

There is no charge to get advice at the garden centre. House calls and garden service cost up to 550 euros (763 dollars) per year.

Another worried customer appears at his office asking what is wrong with his plant. The elderly man shows Furtner a leaf from a climbing hydrangea. He runs his thumb over its surface. The tip of the leaf is brown.

'This is what typical water damage looks like,' Furtner said. He reaches into a shelf and takes out a white pot. 'Potassium-containing fertilizer. It makes the plant harder, ensuring that it can withstand frost. The cells become resilient.'

The plant doctor concept came from Furtner's boss, the owner of the garden centre, about 10 years ago. 'People were always coming with pieces of their plants and asking for advice,' Furtner said. 'We thought about how we could make it more professional.'

Furtner, who did research on plant diseases in Sweden after completing his education, has developed a loyal customer base. He gets about five customers a day in the autumn. Springtime - when people are preparing their gardens for the blooming season - is his busiest time of the year.

Roses are a constant problem. 'They are as good as sick all the time. They get every kind of fungus imaginable,' said Furtner. Rhododendrons also have to be treated often.

A seldom-seen Hawaii palm stands on Furtner's desk, near a copy of a book about plants. Furtner says he and his colleagues occasionally have to look things up. Only by first determining the disease or pest can the doctor prescribe the correct remedy. He keeps medicine for bushes and flowers handy, while fertilizers and pesticides are on a shelf. His practice is also a pharmacy.

Germany has more than 100 plant doctors and Werner Ollig, director of a gardening academy in Rhineland-Pfalz, said it is an 'absolute trend' because the garden and people's plants have become more important. 'People want more nature and gardens than indoor living space. They have more longing for nature.'

Furtner finds himself making increasingly more house calls. People often call him when their plants are already deathly ill. Customers consider a plant sick when it starts looking poorly, but there's too little expert advice available at home stores. Most people water too much or overdo the fertilizer. They mean well, but this upsets the plant's nutritional balance.

In big cities plants are even more susceptible to diseases. Furtner said plants suffer because they are constantly under stress.

When treating plants, Furtner takes care to use as little pesticide as possible. Chemical 'culls' kill everything that flies, he said, adding that he favours an organic spray with plant-based active ingredients.

In many cases he can't get around using chemicals. If small insects will die if he uses a chemical on a plant, he feels some hesitation. He said, 'It's a trade off, but a plant is certainly more sympathetic than a leaf fungus.'