By Clint Thompson Florida tomato growers have a new concern with plant disease management this year. “The big news that we have right now is that we’ve identified a new race of fusarium wilt on tomato that appears to overcome a lot of our sources of resistance that are currently deployed. I’m just trying to get the word out to …
Federal Grant: UF Scientist to Investigate Strategies to Control Tomato Disease
Diseases like bacterial spot can threaten tomatoes, a $1.9 billion-a-year crop planted on 330,000 acres across 18 states. Gary Vallad, a University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) professor of plant pathology, has been awarded a $5.8 million federal grant to study how to mitigate this disease. “Bacterial spot of tomato is a major challenge to commercial …
UF/IFAS Research: Diseases Minimal in Hops
By Clint Thompson Potential hops producers in Florida can rest easy knowing diseases are minimal, if they start with clean material. Gary Vallad, professor of plant pathology at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Gulf Coast Research and Education Center, discusses what findings his research has yielded so far in this up-and-coming commodity. “The only …
UF/IFAS Researchers May Use Fungi to Control Deadly Crop Disease
A group of fungi might fight a disease that’s dangerous to tomatoes and specialty crops. University of Florida scientists hope to develop this biological strategy as they add to growers’ tools to help control Fusarium wilt. Tomatoes are the number one vegetable crop in Florida. In 2017, approximately 28,000 acres of tomatoes were commercially harvested, with a production value of …