Frequent heavy rains in the last month have increased disease pressure on specialty crops in the Midwest.
University of Illinois Extension Specialist and Plant Pathology Professor Mohammad Babadoost tells Brownfield he is seeing severe vine infection of phytophthora blight in their pumpkin research plots.
“We usually see symptoms of the disease in mid to early August, but this year, just last week I saw it in my plots.”
He says considering Illinois is the top producer of pumpkins in the US, this does pose a threat to final yields and harvested fruit.
