March 2021 - 20

BLOSSOM
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 18
Although there are no established
economic thresholds for blunt-nosed
leafhopper, Verhulst said leafhoppers
feeding on vines can cause twisted
and deformed leaves. In high enough
numbers, the damage leads to aborted
flowers, pinheads and fruit, she said.
Not all blunt-nosed leafhoppers
carry the disease. Working with
Ocean Spray agriculture scientist Dave
Jones, Verhulst submitted a sample of
leafhoppers from a cranberry marsh
that has cranberry false blossom
present, but the insects tested negative
for the disease.
" It is possible that only a small
fraction of the 100 plus leafhoppers
we provided Ocean Spray actually
carried the phytoplasma and during
the random selection for the test,
those that were selected for testing did
not carry the disease, " she said.
When false blossom is found, its
spread can be minimized by controlling
the blunt-nosed leafhoppers. Verhulst
said blunt-nosed leafhoppers seem to
be attracted to diseased plants, feeding
on them and spreading the pathogen to
healthy vines.
Holland said phytoplasmas require
living tissue to survive and multiply
and will not persist in dead plants,
soil or water. The disease is not
spread by irrigation or flooding
cranberry beds, she said.
Holland and UW-Extension fruit
crop entomologist Christelle Guedot
hope to do research this coming
growing season to determine the
prevalence of cranberry false blossom
in Wisconsin and what steps growers
can take to minimize the incidence of
the disease.
" I don't think there's a large
presence of cranberry false blossom
in Wisconsin. So far, we've confirmed
through the diagnostic lab that it is
present on a few marshes. But that's
part of the research that myself
and Christelle are proposing we
do to investigate how widespread
false blossom is here in Wisconsin, "
Holland said. FGN
Holland Joins
University of
Wisconsin fruit team
By Lorry Erickson
FGN Correspondent
Leslie Holland is the new
University of Wisconsin (UW)
Extension fruit pathologist. She
joined the University of WisconsinMadison
Department of Plant
Pathology and the UW Fruit Team in
August 2020.
Holland holds a Ph.D. in plant
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pathology from the University of
California, Davis, and has over six
years of experience studying fungal
canker pathogens of perennial fruit
crops. She graduated with a master's
degree in plant pathology from
Washington State University and
earned her
bachelor's
degree in
biology at
New Mexico
State
University.
Despite
completing
her college
education
in the West,
Holland is
an Ohio native and said she is excited
to be back in the Midwest. " Although
those 10 years out West seems to
have thinned my blood, so I'm finding
Wisconsin's cold winter weather is
taking some adjustment, " she said.
Holland said she has always been
LESLIE HOLLAND
fascinated by plants and took a lot of
horticulture classes when starting
her undergraduate degree.
" Ironically enough I did an
internship at UW-Madison in
horticulture and I worked in
cranberries. It's a unique crop to
work on, " Holland said.
During her internship, Holland
was introduced to plant diseases
by former UW-Extension fruit
pathologist Patricia McManus.
McManus retired from the post
Holland now holds in 2019. McManus
had served as the state fruit
pathologist for nearly 25 years.
" Patty told me you could go to grad
school to study plant diseases. It
sounded insane to me at the time, but
I was intrigued, " Holland said.
Because of COVID-19, Holland was
not able to visit cranberry marshes
as much as she would have liked this
past year. But shortly after arriving in
Wisconsin, Ocean Spray agriculture
scientist Dave Jones took Holland on
a tour of several cranberry marshes.
She was also able to see cranberries
being harvested in October.
" I even got to get into a cranberry
bed that was flooded for harvest. I
was in hip boots and doing great,
but then I decided that I was tough
and could just leap out of the bed
onto the dike. I took a bit of a tumble
and got water in my boots. Nothing
like embarrassing yourself a few
months into a new job, " Holland said,
laughing.
In addition to cranberries, Holland
also will study the biology and
management of pathogens affecting
apples, cherries, grapes and other
specialty fruit crops grown in
Wisconsin.
20 | FruitGrowersNews.com
SPC-2003F Manzate Pro Stick Apples 7.2x10.25.indd 1
2/1/21 3:12 PM
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March 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of March 2021
