Disease
Salinas Valley farmers hit by lettuce virus
A virus spread by insects is causing widespread damage to lettuce crops in the Salinas Valley, the renowned Salad Bowl that provides more than one-half of America’s lettuce. According to growers and researchers, impatiens necrotic... more »
Purdue appoints heads of entomology, botany and plant pathology
Purdue University has a new head of the Department of Entomology, Catherine Hill, and head of the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Tesfaye Mengiste. Hill, professor and... more »
Onion thrips, disease management strategies
Onion thrips are a major insect pest in onions. They feed on onion leaves, resulting in silvery scarring, reducing the amount of green leaf tissue (Fig. 1A). A reduction in green tissue negatively affects the... more »
Biobest recognized for pest, disease biocontrol
Biobest has received the Bernard Blum Award, for the most innovative biocontrol product, in recognition of Pronemite (Pronematus ubiquitus) – a new category of commercial arthropod biocontrol agent that concurrently targets a key pest, and... more »
EPA approves AgBiome’s Esendo fungicide
Esendo fungicide is the newest in AgBiome’s lineup of microbial-based solutions and the first of its proprietary Connate portfolio to receive approval from the Environmental Protection Agency. AgBiome Inc., a leader in developing innovative products... more »
Apple-picking time and the Jonathans are dropping
It’s apple picking time! Mid-August as I write this. It had been a few days since I last checked the crop and behold! Jonathans were dropping. This means all of the preparatory projects have to... more »
Late blight monitoring, cautionary practices encouraged in Midwest
Several cases of late blight have been confirmed in Michigan in recent weeks, and researchers in the Midwest are suggesting preventative measures and close monitoring. An example of Phytophthora infestans (late... more »
Investment round brings $40 million to Taranis
Crop intelligence provider Taranis has raised $40 million in Series D funding, bringing the company’s total funding to $100 million. “Taranis has had tremendous growth over the past seven years with a goal of delivering... more »
Conditions could lead to escalation of cucurbit downy mildew in Michigan
The first symptoms of cucurbit downy mildew disease on pickling cucumber plants in commercial Michigan fields has been found by Michigan State University’s Hausbeck Plant Pathology Research Lab in Muskegon and Allegan counties. The statewide spore... more »
Downy mildew detected on Michigan cucumbers, melons
Michigan State University Extension is encouraging all Michigan cucumber and melon growers to employ downy mildew fungicides now. The first symptoms of cucurbit downy mildew disease on pickling cucumber plants in commercial production fields has... more »