By Clint Thompson
A main topic discussed at the recent Southeast Regional Fruit and Vegetable Conference centered on Neopestalotiopsis (neo) disease in strawberry plants.
One of the panelists believes the disease’s impact this year is directly linked to where growers obtained their plants. Phil Brannen, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension fruit disease specialist, discussed the disease’s presence in Georgia fields this year.
“I feel like we are seeing more of it. There are some producers that are having a tremendous amount of it. Again, it’s all based on plant sources. For producers that got their plants from sources where there’s no history of the disease, especially those that are bringing in plants from California, we’re not seeing this at all,” Brannen said. “The source of the plants this year is the story. If you’ve got in plants that came in, the plugs or tips had neo, it’s not gotten any better. In some cases, I would estimate, already 70%, 80%, 90% loss based on what I can see.
“It’ll be another year, probably more so than in the past, where it’s a tale of two cities. You’re going to have people that are really not doing well and people that are doing fine.”
Disease History
Neopestalotiopsis has been a danger to strawberry plants every year since it was first discovered during the 2018–19 season on five farms in Florida. The disease’s initial discovery was attributed to one nursery source in North Carolina. More than 20 farms experienced the disease during the 2019–20 season after it was attributed to two nursery sources early in the season in North Carolina and Canada.
Nurseries may soon feel the repercussions of the disease’s outbreak this year. Producers may not be inclined to trust a nursery source in the future if they receive plants already infected with the disease.
“It’s not a rampant disease everywhere. It’s tied to the nurseries and what’s happening in the nurseries, and it’s unfortunate for the nurseries. They’re doing what they can do, but it has been a really bad year for a lot of nurseries,” Brannen said.
“One of the things that came up in the session is, if we put all of our eggs in one basket, let’s say we start going to California for all of our plants, what if they get another disease? It’s hard to know what to do sometimes. I do think with the current situation and the level of disease we’re seeing come in from some nurseries, there’s just really strong evidence you don’t want to go back to those same nurseries if they’ve already had it. That’s the reality.”