Dr. Isolde Francis, a new faculty member at CSU Bakersfield, invited Elizabeth Fichtner, UCCE Tulare County Advisor, and Therese Kapaun, Lindcove Research and Extension Center Staff Research Associate, to design an undergraduate lab practical to teach students how to isolate and identify plant pathogenic bacteria. Local Tulare County nut growers, and grower cooperators supporting Fichtner's research, graciously provided plant tissue samples from commercial orchards to support this educational endeavor.  To complete the exercise, students will isolate pathogens into culture and complete diagnostic PCR reactions to identify their bacterial isolates.  Kapaun, Fichtner, and Sabrine Dhaouadi, a visiting scientist in Fichtner's program, instructed students on laboratory techniques, but also provided students with a perspective of field symptomology and field sampling strategies to diagnose plant diseases.