Re: [Aroid-l] Anthurium blight

From: ExoticRainforest <Steve at ExoticRainforest.com> on 2010.01.17 at 21:08:33 Good info!  Thanks! Steve Jay Vannini wrote: Steve:   Glad to have been of service.   Several clarifications appear in order.   - IMO, it is EXTREMELY unlikely that anthurium blight is not already ineveryone's exotic aroid collection who is reading this, either manifestor latent.   - From old lab work I know that I have had at least three separateintroductions into my own, from South Florida nurseries (1999-2000),from a domestic anthurium cut flower source (1998-2000), and from acommercial supplier in South America (this was diagnosed from tissuecollected at port of entry by our Ag Ministry lab in 2003...at thattime Xanthomonas campestris-positive did not require destruction of theplants so they were waived. Needless to say, I quarantined the blazesout of this and all subsequent commercial imports through2006. Following ratification of DR-CAFTA we are now under the regionalone size fits all rule...these plants would be incinerated if thisimport occurred today).    - Based on the protocol I outlined earlier, I grow many flawless, veryblight-sensitive Anthurium spp. in close proximity to other plants withminor blight halos evident on leaf edges and have images to prove it.   - For George Yao's benefit, what I outlined in response to your initialposting IS an IPM-inspired protocol for control of this blight inprivate and public collections.   - Commercial growers have a vastly different set of challenges andrequire a very different protocol for blight management and require asomewhat different approach (see below).   - I have the short form product data sheet for Agri-mycin formulationthat I use (manufactured at Pfizer's Toluca plant in México) before me.A correction to an earlier statement I made...it is in fact 15%streptomycin sulfate and 1.5% oxytetracycline + inert balance, not 17%streptomycin as I wrote. In any event, in free translation the sheetreads that the product is "recommended" for "control of thefollowing diseases": "...bacterias caused by the genera Xanthomonas,Erwinia and Pseudomonas" in the "following crops":"Ornamentals"...Philodendron, Dieffenbachia, Aglaonema."   - At yesterday's market close, Pfizer, Inc. market cap was almost US$160 BILLION.   - If, say, it were revealed that Pfizer, Inc.'s ag-chemdivision was making manifestly false claims regarding the efficacy ofone of their mainstream products then, say, a well-heeled largeornamental plant grower might be tempted to sue their pants (and bigpants they are!) off.   - Agri-mycin can provide very effective suppression (not cure) ofanthurium blight in COLLECTIONS OF ORNAMENTALS when used properly inconjunction with a broader IPM-inspired protocol. It is NOT a panaceanor a silver bullet to eradicate anthurium blight and neither I (norPfizer) would ever claim that it is. However, it certainly can providesuppression to a point where healthy, well-grown plants can prosperwith it latent in their environments. My own fairly largeblight-susceptible aroid collection, plus several publishedsources, proves it.   - IMO, and as diplomatically-put as possible; anyone who claimsotherwise doesn't know what he/she doesn't know.   - If a given grower blithely continues to challenge theirblight-susceptible tropical aroids with environmental (note: IME, lousywater quality aggravates anthurium blight in delicate plants forcertain) or management issues, this critter will ultimately (often inshort order) decimate all those vulnerable plants and nothing short ofDivine Intervention will save them. Don't waste your money on ag-chemif you are not willing to practice clean culture - it won't really help.   Thus, from a hobbyists' perspective, successful management of thisnasty pathogen requires a certain mindset and quite a bit of disciplinewith regard to handling and triage of visibly-affected plants. Believeme, it works. Conversely, commercial growers have, in the past, beenfaced with no other economically viable option other than having todestroy their entire blight-susceptible inventory and start afresh withnew cultivation protocols and blight-resistant stock frommicropropagation. This also works, but at a very steep price.   All those here who are willing to properly dispose of the entirety oftheir exotic aroid collections just because they contain somesuspicious-looking or blight-diagnosed rare plants and start all overwith those handsome (the colors!!!) tissue-cultured,mass-produced, PATENTED (no unauthorized asexual propagation,folks) anthuriums, aglaonemas, alocasias and philodendrons, please holdup your hands.   Didin't think so...     J   --------------070903050901050700090903

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