Integrating Control of Botrytis and Powder Mildew in a Greenhouse Crop
Integrating Control of Botrytis and Powder Mildew in a Greenhouse Crop
Dr. Mary Hausbeck, Assistant Professor and Extension Plant Pathologist, Michigan State University, E-MAIL: hausbec1@pilot.msu.edu
FUNGI EXPUNGI: FUNGAL-DISEASE-CONTROL STRATEGIES ARE SHARPENED, STREAMLINED
Production and post-production environments for most floriculture crops coddle the plants as well as a trio of plant-disfiguring, sales-slashing fungal diseases: botrytis, downy mildew, and powdery mildew. But the industry’s plant paradise is fast growing less inviting to the fungi causing those diseases thanks to Endowment-funded research led by plant pathologist Dr. Mary Hausbeck. Since 1996, Hausbeck and her team have focused on establishing an integrated (”all-in-one”), disease-management program targeting botrytis and mildews. In its final presentation on tip sheets, the program stands to simplify disease-preventive production practices, while it makes (improved) production environments and (fewer) chemical inputs work harder to decrease crop damage.
Tracking growth of the microbial culprits, Hausbeck and her team are documenting conditions that make the fungi most and least uncomfortable. And the team’s many crop-and disease-specific grower interviews, observations, tests, and crop trials are generating some useful data. Already, the team has drafted grower guidelines for controlling the fungus behind a previously poorly understood, poinsettia-specific powdery mildew. And botrytis and mildews affecting gerberas, delphiniums, snaps, and roses are under the researchers’ scopes. Currently, the team team’s tasks include:
- determining how greenhouse conditions can be modified to discourage growth of specific fungi on specific crops,
- trialing methods for producing powdery mildew-free poinsettia cuttings,
- screening cultivars for signs of natural disease resistance, and
- comparing the effectiveness of synthetic fungicides on key crops.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT RESEARCH-PROJECT LEADER:
Dr. Mary Hausbeck, Assistant Professor and Extension Plant Pathologist, Michigan State University, E-MAIL: hausbec1@pilot.msu.edu
