Pathogenic phytobacteria are an important class of plant pathogens which collectively create biotic constraints on potato production. One such major disease complex is known as Blackleg Soft Rot (BSR), an umbrella term given to describe the host-pathogen interaction of some twenty different species of pectolytic bacteria, which differ in virulence, prevalence, and host range. In Maine, we isolated Dickeya dianthicola ME30 and showed that it is a prominent causative agent of Blackleg Soft Rot, and has been traced in multiple BSR disease outbreaks and incidents in the potato industry. Currently, potato BSR is difficult to manage, with cultural practices being the first line of defense for growers. With the possibility of asymptomatic infection and spread of the disease, cultural practices are limited in their ability to prevent larger outbreaks, underpinning the importance of resistance breeding. Effective phenotyping of resistance traits begins with the characterization of pathogen behavior. In this work, growth modeling of Dickeya dianthicola isolate ME30, is performed. Bacterial growth data is fit to multiple sigmoidal growth models such as the logistic and Gompertz, as well as isolating the linear growth phase and determining the slope through an ordinary least squares approach. A pipeline for the effective culture, and subsequent infection assays of Solanum tuberosum with Dickeya dianthicola isolate ME30 is experimented on using two commercially important cultivars; Lamoka a susceptible variety, and Caribou Russet a highly tolerant variety. This paves the way to identify quantitative trait loci and to develop DNA markers linked to BSR resistance to aid in potato breeding efforts.