Bob Mulrooney, Extension Plant Pathologist; bobmul@udel.edu
Hurricane Ike did not turn out to be a transport event for us. But it did provide more favorable weather for soybean rust in the Gulf Coast states and now it has progressed into AK. On September 17th, soybean rust was reported in Hinds County, Mississippi on soybeans. On September 16th, soybean rust was reported in Jefferson and Lincoln Counties, Arkansas on soybeans; Clarke and Washington Counties, Alabama on kudzu; Jefferson County in Mississippi on soybeans; and in Thomas County, Georgia on kudzu. On September 15th, soybean rust was reported on soybeans in Autauga County, Alabama; and in Bolivar County, Mississippi (previously detected in Bolivar County in January on kudzu but was destroyed). With no more hurricanes or tropical storms in the forecast we may have dodged soybean rust again. We continue to monitor our sentinel plots for soybean rust infections that may have resulted from Hurricane Hanna, but the probability is very low. If anything changes we will be contacting WCU subscribers by email and the county agents who can distribute the information as best they see fit.
