#coffee rust

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Devastating Coffee Rust Hits 70% of Central America's Arabica Plants

A “devastating” disease is spreading across Central American coffee plantations and threatening global coffee supply.

it’s the end of the world as we know it.

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Coffee rust is caused by a fungus, Hemileia vastatrix. Like coffee, H. vastatrix is native to Ethiopia, but in a natural ecosystem its spread is constrained by climate control.

"Plagues Upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History" - Kyle Harper

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Common Plant Diseases: How to Identify and Treat Them

Plant diseases are usually caused by an infection brought by harmful organisms or parasites. While it’s hard to accurately know what kind of pathogen has infected your plant, you can still identify the disease through its symptoms. In early cases, you can still save your plant from further damage or even death; however, this requires correct diagnosis. This is to ensure that you will be applying the proper cure for the infected plant.

To help you properly diagnose your plant, here are some of the most common plant diseases, their causes, and ways how to treat them.

#1 Blight

Blights cause the sudden death of plant tissue; this will be apparent on the plant’s leaves, stems, and flowers. When a plant suffers from blights, leaves, stems, and flowers suddenly wither. They will also stop growing and will eventually result to the plant’s death. This disease is usually caused by wet and humid conditions.

Alternaria Blight (Early Blight)

This is a fungal blight that infects different types of plants: vegetables, fruit and shade trees, and even ornamental plants. It is called early blight in tomatoes, potatoes, and peppers. It is characterized by brown to black spots in leaves and sunken spots on fruits, stems, and branches. These spots enlarge and join together over a period of time; this results to the plant withering and eventually dying.

To counter this problem, dispose of the infected plants and spray potassium bicarbonate (baking soda) solution to the remaining plants.

To prevent plants from being infected by the Alternaria fungi, apply Trichoderma harzianum to the soil before planting.

Phytophthora Blight (Late Blight)

Phytophthora fungi usually infects lilacs, rhododendrons, azaleas, and holly. Symptoms of this disease include shoot diebacks, which make it a little difficult to distinguish from canker. This disease, however, starts showing signs on the leaves and crawls down to the stem, unlike cankers.

To control it, snip infected branches. This will help increase air movement in the plant.

On tomatoes, potatoes, and peppers, this disease is called late blight. It manifests through water soaked spots on the lower leaves; this will be mirrored with a formation of white hairy-like lesions on the undersurface of the leaves.

For late blight control, iit is important to remove and destroy infected plants. Snip off cankered shoots from shrubs as well. Eliminating infected plants is essential for this disease is highly infectious.

For preventive measures, keep the foliage as dry as you can. During humid weather conditions, frequently examine plants for any signs and symptoms. Early detection can help a lot to prevent further spreading of the disease. You can also opt to use preventive sprays of compost tea or Bacillus subtilis.

Fire Blight

This is a bacterial disease that infects fruits like apples and pears. An indication of a fire blight infected plant is reddish lesions on branches or stems. Limbs also tend to ooze an orange ooze during warm weather conditions. Symptoms start at the top part of the plant and crawls downwards, so it is important to look out for the early signs which are found in leaves and branches. It is characterized by brown or black spots on the tips of the leaves and branches. To counter fire blight, you can try to prune off infected branches at a late blight’s early stage. However, if disease has spread all throughout the plant, you might have to remove it to make sure the disease will not spread to neighboring plants. You can also use Streptomyces lydicus spray to reduce the spreading of bacteria.

Bacterial Blight

This type of blight is caused by cool and wet weather conditions. This disease is particularly severe on legumes in North America. Early symptoms show large, yellow spots on leaves, which eventually turns brown. It is also characterized by long, dark colored lesions on the stems.

To control bacterial blight, remove infected plants and give proper spacing between new plants. You may also plant resistant cultivars to prevent widespread of the disease.

#2 Canker

Cankers usually form on stems. It is identifiable by a discoloration on the plant’s stem. This disease causes shoots, stems, or trunks to wilt, which results to everything above it withering as well. Diebacks caused by cankers are a little difficult to distinguish from blights, but an important note to consider is that cankers start decaying from the stem, not  the leaves. To treat it, you should prune branches or stems with cuts and remove infected branches

#3 Rust

Common rust is a type of fungal disease that attacks roses, snapdragons, beans, tomatoes, and lawns. Symptoms usually start showing on leaves in the lower part of the plant.

During the early stage, the stem and underside of the leaves develop white, slightly raised spots. Over time, red orange spores will start to manifest on the leaves.

To treat it during its early stage, you can apply neem oil on the infected leaves to eliminate the spores that sprouted. But if the disease has considerably spread to some areas of the plant, you will have to remove all infected leaves and stems. Afterwards, you can apply copper spray and sulfur powder to reduce the growth of rust spores.

For More Information Please Visit Us At: BioNovelus

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Coffee Rust: Its Impact on Coffee Industry and What to Do About It

The coffee leaf rust, also known as “La Roya”, is probably the most famous coffee disease because of how it had devastated susceptible coffee farms in almost every coffee region in the world.

Coffee is the second most popular beverage (next to water) with an industry that’s worth over a hundred billion dollars worldwide.

This makes coffee an integral part of the economy of many countries in Central and South America, Africa, and Asia.

Coffee rust has been the worst enemy of coffee farmers across the world for more than a century now. The earliest record of coffee rust epidemic was in 1869 at Sri Lanka. It was a huge outbreak as it reached every coffee-growing region in the world.

Fast forward to the first decade of 2000s, a critical cluster of outbreaks broke across the Americas. Since 2008, outbreaks began to cause major losses in Colombia, ultimately causing a 31 percent drop in coffee production. In Central America, production fell 17% in 2011 to 2014. According to the International Coffee Organization, coffee rust has cost Central America more than $616 million!

The day laborers were not also spared. Because of this drop in production, the demand for coffee workers also dropped as much as 30%.

Coffee farmers continue on their quest of pursuing major strategies to manage the detrimental effects of coffee rust. This global coffee issue challenges researches to developing ecological and economical control strategies for coffee farmers.

Chemical control is one option for the coffee producers. While it is highly effective in managing the coffee rust, applying it incorrectly could contribute to the development of resistant strains of rust.

Moreover, this strategy can be too costly for farmers.

Bionovelus’ solution, the CR-10 At BioNovelus, we work with farmers to understand their needs.

We offer these farmers a healthier alternative to help them combat bacteria, fungi, and the plant diseases that ruin their crops—none other than the CR-10.

Our product is an eco-friendly biopesticide, biodegradable and safe to use at recommended dilution. Our proven formula kills the coffee rust fungus by being sprayed on the contaminated leaf. It also creates a protective barrier that will prevent (re-)infection.

The farmers don’t have to cut down the trees anymore!

Order now!

For More Information Please Visit Us At: BioNovelus

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Postharvest Technology: Key to Food Security

One of the most crucial global issues today is food insecurity. By the year 2050, the world must feed 9 billion people and the demand for food will be 60% greater than it is today.

Today, according to Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, up to one third of all food, or around 1.3 billion tons of food, is spoiled or squandered before it can even be consumed by people every year. This is very alarming, knowing the fact that nearly one billion people across the world suffers the effects of food insecurity.

This is why it is a global call for improved postharvest crop management.

Postharvest food loss (PHL) is the measurable qualitative and quantitative food loss along the supply chain from the time of harvest until its consumption or other end uses. Food waste can be defined as the loss of edible food due to human action or inaction. ON the other hand, food loss is the inadvertent loss in food quantity because of management limitations of a given food value chain.

The factors that contribute to the total food loss range from harvest to handling and processing, to transportation, weather conditions, and availability of financial markets.

After being harvested, agricultural produce requires proper protection, packaging, distribution and marketing to meet the food and nutritional standards for human consumption.

According to studies, the impact of postharvest losses vary depending on the stage of economic development of a country. In less developed countries where the supply chain is less mechanized, the losses incurred are more massive.

In order to reduce postharvest food losses and ensure the future global food security, postharvest technology needs to step up no matter how developed a country is.

Here at Bionovelus, we offer farmers, packers, workers and exporters one powerful solution—none other than, the CR-10.

CR-10 is an organic, non-toxic, and biodegradable product that may be able to combat postharvest losses and therefore contribute to food security. Order now!

For More Information Please Visit Us At: BioNovelus

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Plant Disease Management: What You Need to Know About Using Organic Fungicides

Farmers and people in agriculture have been all out into researching for the most effective solution and strategy in reducing the losses caused by plant diseases. After discovering the roots of plant diseases, we have come up to a wide range of measures to control specific plant diseases.

Through years of research we have come to learn how specific plants react to specific species of pathogens. From this, we get to decide which is the best treatment for a certain plant disease.

Today, one of the most popular choices when it comes to plant disease management is by using organic products. People nowadays have become conscious of the environment’s condition and their health as well. They believe that using organic products could keep them and their plants away from harm.

Many farmers choose organic fungicides to prevent plant problems such as rust, mold and dark spots because they are environmentally friendly and at the same time effective in preventing plant diseases from occurring.

Agricultural Plant Management

A strong plant health management strategy must be established in order to maximize the effectiveness of fungicides. While the traditional integrated pest management program focuses on dealing with the pests or pathogens, an effective plant health management strategy will involve identifying the right kinds of plants for a certain area, utilization of plant varieties and the implementation of measures to keep the plants as healthy as possible and avoid plant diseases.

Fungicide Resistance

With extensive use of chemical fungicides for disease control, fungal pathogens develop resistance to fungicides. This is less likely an issue with organic fungicides provided that they are applied correctly.

At BioNovelus, we work with farmers to understand their needs. In the field, we listen to them. We offer the farmers a healthier alternative to combat bacteria, fungi, and the plant diseases that ruin their crops. With our product, we help them in reducing the need to use toxic chemicals as bacteria and fungi develop resistance.

For more information please visit us at:

BioNovelus http://bionovelus.com/

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Coffee Farming | Coffee Plant Pests and Diseases

Just as all agricultural crops suffer from pests and diseases, the coffee plant can get attacked as well. In this article, we’ll get to know the various pests and diseases that affect the normal growth of the coffee plant.

DISEASES

1. Fungal Diseases

There can be many fungal diseases that can attack coffee plants such as: algal leaf spot, bark disease, berry blotch, leaf spot, coffee berry disease, coffee rust and warty berry.

– Coffee leaf rust (Hemileia vastatrix) is a type of fungal disease that attacks coffee leaves. Its color varies from yellow to orange. It was first documented in Kenya in the 1800s. It has now been known to almost every susceptible coffee farm worldwide.

– Leaf and berry blotch (Cercospora coffeicola)

The cercospora coffeicola fungus attacks both the leaves and the coffee berry. This fungal disease caused defoliation as well as damage to the coffee berry. Leaves that are infected can show brown spots with grayish centers.

The green berries can have brown sunken lesions and also grayish centers.

2. Parasitic and Viral Diseases

A parasitic disease is called a root knot while a viral disease is called a blister spot.

3. Bacterial Diseases

Bacterial blight (Pseudomonas syringae) is one type of plant disease caused by bacteria. These are water-soaked spots on leaves which dry out over time and become brown and necrotic with yellow halos.

PESTS

1. Black twig borer (Xylosandrus compactus Eichhoff)

At first, it was the all-time nemesis of Robusta coffee, but as it spread worldwide, it has come to attack Arabica coffee as well. They damage the coffee plant by boring its branches and twigs.

2. Coffee Borer Beetle

The coffee borer beetle is a tiny black beetle that bores into the coffee fruit where it lays eggs in the seed endosperm.

BioNovelus offers coffee farmers a healthier alternative to help them combat bacteria, fungi, and the plant diseases that ruin their crops. Learn more about our product here.

For more information please visit us at:

BioNovelus http://bionovelus.com/

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10 Interesting Coffee Plant Facts for the Aficionados

If you’re a coffee lover, you probably won’t be surprised to know that coffee ranks as one the most valuable and widely traded commodity crops in the world. In fact, it is one of the most important export products of several

countries such as those in Central and South America, the Caribbean and Africa.

Does the coffee geek inside you want to read more? We have here some facts about the coffee plant that you may find fascinating.

 Coffee plants are native to Africa and Southern Asia.

 While they may be often called “coffee trees”, coffee plants are actually shrubs.

 They belong to the Rubiaceae family and they can grow over 20 feet.

However, coffee farmers usually prune them to around 8 to 10 feet in height.

 It will take about five years for a coffee plant to grow and finally produce our precious coffee beans.

 On average, a coffee plant produces around one pound of coffee beans every year.

 Coffee plants also produce blossoms which are very small and fragrant.

 Coffee berries are produced after the blooming period. These coffee berries are usually around six inches in length. They are initially green in color. As they ripen, they change to yellow, then to orange and finally to a bright red to dark red color.

 Did you know that there is actually an area called the “Bean Belt” where most of the world’s coffee plants are grown and harvested?

The Bean Belt can be found between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn on the globe.

 Coffee plants can outlive us humans given that they live in ideal conditions. They can live up to whopping 100 years!

 There are three main types of coffee plants that are commercialized.

These are the Arabica, Robusta and Liberica. Among the three, the Arabica Coffee plant produces the most of the world’s specialty coffees.

For more information please visit us at:

BioNovelus http://bionovelus.com/