8 Plant Pest and Disease Resources You Need to Know About
February 22, 2020 The United Nations has designated 2020 as the International Year of Plant Health to raise global awareness about how protecting plant health can help end hunger, reduce poverty, protect the environment, and boost economic development. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates around 40% of food crops are lost each year due to plant pests and diseases annually. And that’s not all; floriculture and ornamental growers, along with cannabis and hemp growers, can suffer damages and devastation, as well, if proper attention isn’t paid to preventing such problems.
That’s why any focus on plant health is good news for growers. In celebration and support of the 2020 International Year of Plant Health, here is a list of eight resources to help you keep your plants healthy.
Greenhouse disease and insect management recommendations for 2020 from Michigan State University (MSU)
MSU updates these recommendations yearly. They include the latest information on the efficacy of pesticides used in research trials at MSU and nationwide evaluating common greenhouse insects, mites or diseases. The pesticides are evaluated by a network of researchers involved in the IR-4 Project, a research group that facilitates the labeling of pesticides on specialty crops, including greenhouse crops. On the site, you’ll also find information on related topics, such as Impatiens Downy Mildew and disease management for vegetable and herb crops.
Useful pest and disease management apps for controlled-environment growers
If you want to keep track of pest and disease management from the convenience of your phone, check-out this list from UMass Extension of useful website and phone apps from various universities for tracking crop production and pest information.
You can’t go wrong with eGro (Electronic Grower Resources Online) where you can find information about everything from quarantine pests and diseases and alerts about pest and disease problems or research on nutrient disorders in floriculture, vegetables, and hemp crops.
The American Floral Endowment is a non-profit organization that funds research and scholarships in floriculture and environmental horticulture for the benefit of growers. It’s another organization to watch for some of the latest pest and disease research. It is currently funding more than eight pest and disease-related research projects in 2020.
Pathogens and Molds Affecting Production and Quality of Cannabis sativa
This is one for the science-junkies out there. Put out by the U.S. National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health (NCBI) in its Frontiers in Plant Science, this resource recaps research carried out to determine the prevalence of root-infecting, foliar-infecting, and flower-infecting fungi affecting cannabis plants grown under indoor environments, in greenhouses, and under field conditions to obtain a better understanding of the diseases affecting this plant.
Top Pests to Watch for in Your Cannabis Crops
The BugLady, also known as Suzanne Wainwright-Evans, shares some of her well-versed entomological expertise with cannabis growers in this well-written article that covers three top pests that plaque cannabis crops.
Colorado State University’s Hemp Insect website
This website is developed and managed by Whitney Cranshaw and Melissa Schreiner of Colorado State University’s Department of Agricultural Biology and funded in part by the Western Region IPM Center and the Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station. It includes several hemp insect fact sheets and hemp insect images.
Horticultural Research Institute (HRI)
HRI, the research affiliate of AmericanHort, is one to watch for some of the latest research coming out on pest and disease management. Two funded research topics for 2020 include enhancing the performance of SSG as a biocontrol agent for ornamental plant disease mitigation and biocontrol agents for the vector of rose rosette virus. But that’s not all HRI offers, check out current and back issues of its Journal of Environmental Horticulture for more great articles updating you on the latest research with pests and diseases, as well as other peer-reviewed papers on topics of relevance to the green industry.
HRI also recently came out with extensive information and a fact sheet on new best management practices following new findings from ongoing boxwood blight research.
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