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FRANKFORT, Ky. — Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer encourages tobacco growers to act now to prevent or treat blue mold since its discovery in a Hardin County field earlier this week.
“Blue mold and other tobacco leaf spotting diseases can cause severe financial losses to Kentucky growers,” Commissioner Farmer said. “Growers have many weapons at their disposal against tobacco disease. I urge all growers to consult with your Extension agent to determine the best course of action now that blue mold has been found in Kentucky.”
The discovery of blue mold on a farm in the Eastview area of Hardin County was the first report of the fungus in the United States this year.
“It kind of took us all by surprise,” said Rod Grusy, agriculture Extension agent in Hardin County. “We had been looking for it because this is the time of year it normally shows up. But the fact that it came in when it was so hot and dry was rather unusual.”
Blue mold has not been identified on any other farm, but it is possible that it is present and has not yet been detected, said Kenneth Seebold, plant pathologist in the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture.
Grusy and Seebold said some of the blue mold lesions they observed appeared to be as much as three weeks old. Seebold said the age of some of the lesions suggests that the blue mold spores were blown into the area by Tropical Storm Arlene, although, he said, it is more likely that they came from a closer source.
Even in hot, dry conditions, blue mold spores can grow in foggy areas and spread over the wind, Seebold said.
Grusy said growers in Hardin and surrounding counties are encouraged to initiate protective spraying with appropriate fungicides.
Leaves that are treated with labeled fungicides for blue mold remain vulnerable to frogeye and target spot. Target spot can result in even greater losses than blue mold or frogeye because the colonized tissue actually rots and falls out. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved the use of the pesticide Quadris Fungicide for controlling frogeye and target spot in tobacco through Oct. 15.
Tobacco generated farmgate receipts of $431.2 million in 2003, according to the Kentucky Agricultural Statistics Service.
For more information, contact your county Extension office.
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