Scouting Notes - September 2007

Cycad scale discovered in Florida . The Poliaspis cycad scale, Poliaspis cycadis Comstock, was recorded in Florida for the first time from specimens collected on a cycad in Homestead on May 2 by University of Florida senior biological scientist Holly Glenn. After initial identification at the state’s Division of Plant Industry, specimens were confirmed by the Systematic Entomology Lab in Beltsville , Md.

For more: Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, (352) 372-3505; www.doacs.state.fl.us.

Be on the lookout for downy mildew. Growers are advised to check both coleus and basil plants for downy mildew during cool, damp conditions. Michigan State University Plant Diagnostic Laboratory confirmed the disease on coleus this past spring. MSU plant pathologist Mary Hausbeck said symptoms include yellowish or pale-green foliage; downward curling of the leaves; distortion of the leaves; white to light-gray fuzz on the undersides of leaves; emerging leaves that are small and/or discolored (yellow or pale green); plants may be stunted and leaf drop. The most obvious sign of the pathogen is the white, grayish fuzz that develops on the underside of the leaves. Don’t confuse this disease with powdery mildew, which infects some floral crops and has white fuzzy growth.

For more: Michigan State University Plant Diagnostic Laboratory, (517) 355-4536; www.pestid.msu.edu.

Control herb pests. “Pest Management for Herb Bedding Plants Grown in the Greenhouse” is a 16-page manual available online that provides information on common herb insects and diseases. The manual, written by University of Connecticut extension horticulture and greenhouse IPM specialist Leanne Pundt and University of Massachusetts extension floriculture specialist Tina Smith, discusses how to manage these insects and diseases using production practices and biologicals.

For more: Leanne Pundt, University of Connecticut , (860) 626-6240; www.hort.uconn.edu/ipm.

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Clarification. North Carolina State University plant pathologist Colleen Warfield asked if we’d run a clarification about the sweet potato chlorotic stunt virus, which appeared on Page 94 in the GMPRO July issue, and involved an Official Pest Alert from the North American Plant Protection Organization (www.pestalert.org). The two isolates of SPCSV mentioned were collected in North Carolina in 2001 and 2003 from separate fields of the edible cultivar Beauregard. Warfield said the virus was not found in association with ornamentally grown sweet potatoes and it has not been linked to ornamentals.