#brown rot

[wilderbas]

rot

[travelling-my-little-pony]

Applejack is visiting the apple orchards of Cotehele.

In Cornwall, England.

Here is Applejack learning about diseases that can afflict apple crops - Brown Rot, in this case.

This is photo 37 of 365.

[scrumpyfan43]

[microcosmicobservations]

Teeny tiny mushrooms on a stump crumbling from brown rot

6/16 in Flambeau River State Forest, Wisconsin

[matti-frueh]

Plums, Plums, And More Plums -- The End Is Here!

Plums, Plums, And More Plums — The End Is Here!

Hard to believe, but I finally finished picking the last of the plums from our plum tree this afternoon. Grace and Zeb helped me drag the 10-foot ladder from the garage and after two and half hours we’d picked the final 29 pounds and two buckets of rotten fruit.

The one drawback to having a plum tree is how much work it is. Plum trees are very susceptible to a fungal infection called Brown Rot…

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[scinote]

Entomovectoring Research is the Bee’s Knees

Brown rot, a disease caused by the fungus Monilinia fructicola, is a major problem for cherry farmers in Australia. It can be prevented by spraying cherry blossoms with a fungicide, but that's very costly. In fact, spraying costs around $150 million a year, not to mention the fact that run-off could have devastating environmental impacts, contributing to Colony Collapse Disorder in bees.

Enter Dr. Katja Hogendoorn, a postdoctoral research associate with the University of Adelaide’s School of Agriculture, Food, and Wine. Rather than using insecticides, Dr. Hogendoorn and her team have adopted a technique called “entomovectoring” (yes, literally “insect-moving”) to stop the spread of brown rot by using bees.

The process is actually pretty simple. On their way out of their hive, bees are dusted with a biological control agent that contains spores of a parasitic fungus. These spores get captured in the bees’ body hair and, in a process startlingly similar to pollination, get left behind on whatever flowers the bees visit. These spores then prevent brown rot from colonizing the flower, allowing for a much more accurate and eco-friendly method of fungus prevention. Entomovectoring is currently used in Europe to control grey mold growth in strawberries, but this is the first time it has ever been used in Australia and also the first time in the world it has been used on cherries.

Hopefully, this leap forward in agricultural science will allow for benefits to bees as well as humans. Bee numbers have been depleting at an alarming rate in recent years because of the widespread use of pesticides and fungicides, which lower bees’ immune responses and cause an easy target for parasites. If entomovectoring is adopted around the world, that means a lot more farmers may begin keeping bees, and a lot fewer pesticides will be used. And that can only bring good things to our buzzing friend, the bee.

To read more, please click on the picture above.

If you’re interested in reading the original paper about bees being used to prevent grey mold in European strawberries: http://statisticalconsulting.org/Shafir.pdf

If you’re interested in learning more about Colony Collapse Disorder: http://qz.com/107970/scientists-discover-whats-killing-the-bees-and-its-worse-than-you-thought/

Submitted by Nick V., Discoverer.

Edited by Margaret G.

[xanthipp]

Fungal Blights and Organic Sprays

Hi folks- I have been, and am, really busy with the spring garden as well as life so I have a lot…

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