High tunnels provide opportunities for season extension by granting early and late-season protection from cold temperatures. Tomato production is the most common and highest-valued vegetable crop grown in high tunnels. Incorporating another crop that can follow tomatoes in the same…

Black knot is a common, often serious, disease of plums and cherries in Kentucky.  Ornamental Prunus species, as well as wild plums and cherries, may also be affected.  This disease is aptly named for the conspicuous black knotty growths that form…

All crops grown in Kentucky have the potential to become diseased under the right conditions.  A plant is diseased when it is affected by some agent that interferes with its normal development.  Plant pathology, the study of plant diseases, can…

Bacterial leaf scorch is a chronic, eventually fatal disease that has devastated many shade trees in Kentucky landscapes and street plantings since the 1980s. Since then, an increasingly large number of urban plantings and historic trees have been destroyed as…

Wood decay leads to loss of tree vigor and vitality, resulting in decline, dieback, and structural failure.  Wounds play an important part in this process since they are the primary points of entry for decay pathogens. The UK Extension publication,…

Greenhouse and high tunnel environments, which tend to be warm and humid, often create ideal situations for disease development. Because diseases can cause extensive damage, their management is essential to production of high quality, marketable products. While challenging, these environments…