In the News

Fungal Disease Moved With Soil is Expanding it's Presence in Fresno County

There are now several tools in managing this disease, but there are limitations to the use of any of these. The materials available are partially effective and prohibitively expensive for use on these crops. Because nothing is completely effective, there are many situations in which multiple strategies are needed, which further increases the cost. Current efforts focus on site-specific management of this problem so that even multiple tactics that would not be justifiable on 160 can be used on 1 or 2 acres to reclaim the entire field for these crops.

Soil-borne disease in large scale agriculture

Production systems in western Fresno County are increasing efficient and overall yields generally increases over years in many crops; however, along with these efficiencies have come plagues with the potential of limiting production in our area.  Currently the most visible challenges are white rot garlic, Fusarium wilt of lettuce and a new race of Fusarium that is affecting cotton. However, these are not the only soil-borne diseases affecting crops in this area although many are not the issues that they are in other production areas that are not so far away. In northern California, a new race of Fusarium wilt of tomatoes has been documented as well as a Fusarium that causes a root and crown rot. There are nematodes that are capable of breaking resistance in our tomatoes and causing losses in varieties with nematode resistance, which are present in northern California.  Undoubtedly, there are others that can be an issue in this area, but have not been established to the best of our knowledge. Although not easy nor inexpensive, sanitation practices that would limit movement of soil between fields or areas would be the preferred means of control, because generally there is not an easy solution for these problems once present.
There are materials that can be applied to infested soil that will trigger the germination of the resting structure in the absence of a host resulting in the death of the fungus. However, it is very common that even with substantial reduction in the number of resting structures in the soil profile, there is still a sufficient number to inflict serious damage.