Winter still beating back soybean rust

From USDA's soybean rust web site:

National Soybean Rust Commentary (updated: 02/14/07)

Miller and Thomas counties in Georgia have been set to "confirmed, no longer found" after the recent scouting activity in that area. The pathogen continues to overwinter on kudzu in parts of Florida, and in a few, small kudzu patches in urban areas in Georgia and Alabama along the border with Florida. Rust has also been detected in the Mobile area of Alabama as well in the city of Montgomery (the furthest north the disease has successfully overwintered). In some cases these overwintering sites have been destroyed. There have been no reports of soybean rust surviving the winter in South Carolina, Mississippi, Texas or Louisiana. In 2007, soybean rust has been reported on kudzu from five counties in Alabama and Georgia, and from eight counties in Florida. Scouting efforts are continuing in many southern states for both SBR overwintering sites and signs that kudzu is breaking dormancy in these Gulf Coast States.

On a related note, Boyd Padgett, LSU AgCenter plant pathologist, said that Asian soybean rust does seem to be emerging earlier since it was first found in the United States more than 2 years ago. So far this year, he said, it has been detected in five counties in Alabama, eight in Florida and five in Georgia. That tends to suggest weather patterns have kept the disease away from Louisiana, Padgett said, but it’s not known whether Asian soybean rust spores are present in Mexico, which could affect Louisiana.

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