Destructive Tobacco Crop Disease is Back

Source from:  citizen-times.com by John Boyle July 19, 2006 10:33 pm  07/21/2006

The destructive crop disease blue mold is back in the mountains. Capable of devastating entire fields of burley tobacco, the disease has been reported in Buncombe and Madison counties. It spreads through spores on the wind and even fog, and farmers generally consider it one of the more serious problems they fight each growing season. "What's so devastating with this disease is that once you see it, it's been on the plant for 10 days," said Elizabeth Ayers, an agricultural extension agent with the Madison County office of the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service. Ayers recalled an entire field of burley that was wiped out by blue mold in 2003. Ross Young, director of Madison's Cooperative Extension office, said it's hard to know exactly how many of the county's 500-plus growers are affected this year, but he suspects this year's infestation is "fairly widespread." See Thursday's Citizen-Times for more. Enditem