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Recently, we've been hearing a lot about a disease called late blight that has been found in our region.
It's a devastating disease because once a plant is infected, a quick death is imminent. In addition to a death sentence for individual plants, the disease can also spread quickly over great distances through wind.
With all of the media coverage, you've probably heard quite a bit about late blight being in the area. But if your curiosity is anything like mine, this disease has probably piques your interest in plant pathology (plant disease). There are several different categories of plant diseases — bacteria, virus, fungus, nematode and parasitic.
In addition to these living factors, plant disease can be caused by non-living factors. Some of these include air pollution, nutrient deficiencies and various other environmental conditions. An example of the latter might be leaf scorch from a herbicide or frost damage from cold weather.
A CONSTANT THREAT
Initially, you might not think that plant diseases are as important as studying human or animal ailments. But if you think about it, plants are a vital component of our lives. All of our food comes either directly (grains, vegetables, etc.) or indirectly (grass-fed or grain-fed beef, processed sugars, vegetable oils, etc.), from plants. Wood, bamboo and other plants are important building materials. Cotton and linen come from plants. And ever increasingly, important medicines we depend upon are plant derived.
As a result, plant diseases are a constant threat to our food supply, forests, fiber and our landscape plants that help conserve heat in winter, cool our houses in summer and provide us with beauty. Without a doubt, they have been responsible for the death and suffering of millions of people and countless animals, both domestic and wild.
Some plant diseases that have caused significant problems include late blight, ergot of rye, black stem rust of wheat, southern corn leaf blight, Dutch elm disease, chestnut blight, bacterial canker on citrus and plum pox virus on stone fruit.
Some of these diseases cause food crops to die, such as late blight. Others cause the plant to stop producing crops, such as plum pox virus. And others still, for example ergot of rye, cause severe human health problem or death. Rye plants infected with ergot can cause hallucinations, abortion, gangrene and death.
DO YOUR PART
Because plants are such an integral part of our lives, many people dedicate their professional careers to plant pathology. They study how to control the diseases and how to keep plants healthy. Because the natural world is so complex, the plant pathologist must know much more than which plant diseases exist. They need to understand botany, microbiology, horticulture, crop science, soil science, ecology, genetics, biochemistry, molecular biology and physiology. (What an impressive list!)
So the next time you are out examining your plants for late blight, I encourage you to take a moment and think about how important healthy plants are to us. Pulling up and bagging your late-blight-infected tomatoes and potatoes as soon as you see the first sign of infection and notifying your local Cornell Cooperative Extension Office will help keep the local food supply stable while also helping to protect market growers from financial hardship and home gardeners from food shelves empty of tomatoes, potatoes and peppers.
If you are interested in learning more about common garden diseases, there will be a lunch-hour workshop at the Plattsburgh Community Garden in Melissa Penfield Park from noon to 1 p.m. July 7. The class meets in the community garden for hands-on learning. In the event of rain, find the session under the pavilion next to the garden. Gardeners may wish to bring a folding chair and water for their comfort. Find more information at: http://ecgardening.cce.cornell.edu.
Anne Lenox Barlow is the horticulture educator with Cornell Cooperative Extension in Clinton County. Office phone numbers: Clinton County 561-7450, Essex County 962-4810, Franklin County 483-7403. E-mail questions to: askMG@cornell.edu.
