Crops around the world face enormous challenges—from unpredictable weather to destructive pests and diseases. The Insect Allies Program, funded by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), aims to tackle these threats by exploring a groundbreaking idea: using insects… Continue Reading
The Role of Plant Pathology in Modern Agriculture Humans are completely dependent on plants. They provide us with oxygen, clothing, fuel, energy, and food. To increase our yield of these vital resources, humans began cultivating plants, thus inventing farming. There… Continue Reading
This year I was very interested in plant diseases. Why Plant Diseases? Because it is the next logical area that we need to improve. To feed more people, prevent plants from going extinct we need to find solutions for plant diseases. My… Continue Reading
Cypress canker disease threatens cypress trees around the world. The disease causes many of the branches to die and can kill the tree. There currently is no labeled chemical treatment for the disease. And no industry standard for completely curing… Continue Reading
Lethal yellowing is a disease that is devastating to many types of Palm. It is caused by a phytoplasma, a type of parasitic bacteria that lack a cell wall. I have looked at several other phytoplasma diseases and come up… Continue Reading
To prevent an epidemic or disease one of three things has to be removed: Agent, Environment, Host (Read More: About the Disease Triangle). Let’s look at Butternut Canker Disease and find a solution for it by focusing on the Agent,… Continue Reading
Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus or TSWV is one of the most important viruses for horticultural crops. It was discovered in 1915 in Australia. But back then we didn’t know what a virus was. TSWV is a single strained RNA virus. The… Continue Reading
I previously wrote about how a disease outbreak is as good as the transmission or disease vector. A pathogen without transmission isn’t a disease. The example I used was the black plague. That without fleas on rats, or without rats… Continue Reading
Plant Pathology history is important to understand to appreciated what we know about plant diseases. We have come a long way from not knowing about oxygen, or that fungi spread from spores to mapping lifecycle of pathogens and using electron… Continue Reading
I have been reading, thinking, and writing about Elm Phloem Necrosis also known as Elm Yellows a lot this year. I started by coming up with three unusual ideas that could cure it. These ideas to cure Elm Phloem Necrosis… Continue Reading