News Update: Gladiolus Rust in Florida

from the Bradenton Herald (FL)

Fungus destroys Manatee farmer's flowers
TILDE HERRERA and RICHARD DYMOND
Herald Staff Writers
PAUL GONZALEZ VIDELA/The Herald

A local gladiolus grower plowed under his crop after a rust fungus from South Africa was detected for the first time in the United States on his west Manatee farm.
Now, Florida agricultural inspectors are knocking on neighborhood doors this week within a three-mile radius of Whiting Preston's 1,400-acre farm. Preston is one of the leading gladiolus growers in the Southeast.
The inspectors are asking for permission to destroy any gladiolus they find to stop the spread of the airborne infection.
The fungus was found in April on Preston's farm at the corner of 75th Street West and 53rd Avenue West, according to a pest alert posted by the Florida Department of Agriculture and confirmed by FDOA spokeswoman Denise Feiber.
The fungus found on Preston's farm - Uromyces transversalis - had never before been found in the United States.
Preston, the president of Manatee Fruit Co. and Manatee Floral, had to plow under his fields. The quarantine on his land was lifted Monday, Feiber said.
"It will take a number of years to build back the gladiolus bulb stock," said Preston, who had to downsize his operation. "That takes years to develop the number of bulbs we had at one time."
Preston endured a similar blow two decades ago.
Officials discovered citrus canker in a Palmetto grove owned by Manatee Fruit Co. in the 1980s. A significant portion was destroyed.
Nearly a decade later, there was a resurgence of the fruit-killing disease across the county. It was also found in the same Manatee Fruit Co. grove.
It forced Preston to slash and burn the grove, one that held nostalgic significance for his family.
Now another family crop has nearly succumbed to a different villain.
For four months, the majority of Preston's gladiolus farm has lain dormant because officials discovered the fungus that can cause a total yield loss if left unchecked.
In the short-term, the gladiolus crop of Manatee Floral, Manatee's sole producer, will measure just a shadow of harvests past.
"It caught us in the middle of the season," Preston said. "It has a fairly significant impact on us. It did cut the production dramatically from where we hoped to be."
Since the agriculture department began its surveys in a three-mile radius around Manatee Floral in May, 600 homeowners have been approached and 87 homes were found to have gladiolus, Feiber said.
The department will finish surveying residents this week, she added.
About 90 percent of the 87 homeowners allowed the department to destroy their gladiolus without complaint, said Feiber.
"We went door-to-door and asked residents if we can destroy their plants because they are a host to the gladiolus rust we are trying to eliminate from the area," Feiber said.
About 10 percent said "no" or were not at home, she said.
Eight of the 87 were found to be infected with the fungus and were sent to a lab, Feiber continued.
Unlike with citrus canker, where a law was passed allowing the department to remove all citrus in residential yards within a certain distance to try to stop the infection, the department can remove only infected gladiolus with permission, she said.
"This is a voluntary program," said Feiber. "We are asking for their cooperation and we are getting it."
The healthy plants are pulled up, put in a plastic bag and thrown out with the garbage, Feiber said.
There is no compensation, she added.
Hawaii pathologists reported finding the disease April 7 in cut flowers coming from Manatee Floral, according to an FDOA pest alert.
In May, the fungus was found 100 miles southeast in Hendry County and in three residential sites in San Diego County, Calif., the pest alert said.
The Florida surveys indicate that gladiolus rust is limited to Preston's 1,400-acre commercial site, the 700-acre site in Hendry County and four private residential gardens in the area around Manatee Floral in Manatee County, the alert said.
If unchecked, the fungus could wipe out gladiolus in counties neighboring Manatee, Feiber said.
"What we want residents to know is we are hoping to eradicate this," she said. "The best way to do it is to remove host material while there still might be spores around. If people can wait four months or so to replant, it would greatly benefit the effort."

for more information - http://www.doacs.state.fl.us/pi/enpp/pathology%5Cgladiolus-rust.html