• Rhizoctonia spp. cause yield-limiting root diseases in the Pacific Northwest

•   Rhizoctonia DNA extraction is inconsistent

-- in soil and root samples

-- at low soil population densities

-- due to tough hyphae

-- due to formation of survival structures

•   Conventional DNA extraction methods cause shearing, heating, cellular debris

• Sample contamination can occur with mortar/pestle homogenization

• Triplicate extracts of samples are required for reliable real-time PCR quantification.