[aroid-l] Biocontrol (originally fusarium)

[George R. Stilwell, Jr.]

I'm forwarding Steve's message from Aroid-L for the benefit
of AEG members not on that list. This is the first I've heard of
a possible cure for Arisaema rust. Let's hope it works.

Now if they only had stuff for Phytophthora Root Rot I could stop my
Rhododendrons dying. Subdue helps but doesn't eliminate the sad process.

Ray

>Date: Tue, 26 Nov 2002 22:51:08 -0600 (CST)
>From: Steve Marak <samarak at arachne.uark.edu>
>To: "'aroid-l at lists.ncsu.edu'" <aroid-l at lists.ncsu.edu>
>Subject: Re: [aroid-l] Biocontrol (originally fusarium)
>Sender: aroid-l-owner at lists.ncsu.edu
>Reply-To: aroid-l at lists.ncsu.edu
>
>With a bit of spare time around the holiday, I'm going back to a note of
>Harry Bryant's on Oct. 25 of this year, on the possible use of biocontrols
>- using one microorganism to control another - against such things as
>fusarium.
>
>Harry mentioned Agraquest, which also caught my interest as I've been
>watching them. They market a wide-spectrum biofungicide, Serenade (also
>mentioned by Harry).
>
>One of things that jumped out at me back when I was going through the data
>on Serenade was the mention of a uromyces species. Arisaema growers will
>take interest because a uromyces, U. aris-triphylla, is responsible for
>arisaema rust. This particular species is not mentioned, but I wouldn't
>expect it to be - it's not a large scale pest and would not have been
>tested. Given the wide activity of Serenade, and the lack of effectiveness
>of any other treatment so far for arisaema rust, it seems well worth a
>test.
>
>It's on my to-do list, but then so are thousands of other things.
>
>Has anyone else had any hands-on experience with Serenade or similar
>biocontrol products? If so, how would you rate them for ease of use,
>effectiveness, etc?
>
>Thanks,
>
>Steve
>
>-- Steve Marak
>-- samarak at arachne.uark.edu
>
>