By Sharon Omahen

University of Georgia

There’s nothing like watching a tomato plant grow and
anticipating the ripe, red tomatoes it’s going to produce. That
is, until the fruit begins to rot on the vine.

To help farmers and home gardeners quickly head off problems like
this, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension
has developed a guide to Georgia vegetable diseases and
conditions.

Pocket-size guide

The pocket-size guide, which sells for $15.95, has 55 pages of
vegetable disease descriptions, complete with photographs. The
guide covers diseases and conditions commonly found on
cabbage, cantaloupes, corn, onions, peppers, squash, tomatoes and
many other vegetable plants.

“There are gardening books galore. But what makes this guide
stand out is the fact that it’s specifically geared to our
state,” said Glenn Beard, a UGA Extension agent in Colquitt
County, Ga. Printing the guide was Beard’s idea.

Beard and UGA plant pathologist David Langston and other UGA
Extension specialists had been collecting disease images for
years. They shared them through the university’s Distance
Diagnostics through Digital Imaging system.

The Web-based DDDI system is open to anyone at www.dddi.org. But
farmers continue to request hard-copy photographs and
descriptions of diseases.

Meeting growers’ needs

“The growers don’t like digging through scientific publications
for information,” Beard said. “They want something they can use
quickly and understand easily.”

To accommodate his growers, Beard began printing a makeshift
disease-identification booklet in his office. It was geared
specifically for Colquitt County and the problems vegetable
growers face there.

“I was using tons of ink and paper to print my version in-house,”
he said. “So when the head of UGA Cooperative Extension suggested
we provide information for growers across the whole state, we
decided to have the guide professionally printed.”

Langston and a team of Extension specialists worked with Beard to
create the new statewide guide. To reward his growers for their
part in the project, Beard provided them a free copy.

“The commercial growers in my county think it’s a very useful
tool,” he said. “They especially like that it’s small enough for
them to just toss on their dashboards.”

For home gardeners, too

Although the guide was created to meet commercial growers’
needs, homeowners will find the information useful, Beard said.
Insurance adjusters and farm consultants also say the guide helps
them conduct field identifications.

Beard cautions growers not to rely totally on the guide to
self-diagnose plant problems. “The guide is, after all, just
that,” he said. “It will help you get it the ballpark. But you
still have to confirm the condition with your county agent or
other professional.”

When a commercial grower is spending thousands of dollars to
treat hundreds of acres, he can’t afford to be wrong, Beard said.
“The guide will help them narrow it down to this or that,” he
said. “When this disease is truly defined, then they can go ahead
and tailor their fungicide applications.”

Beard and his colleagues are planning a future version of the
guide that will include insect photos.

To order the guide, send a $15.95 check payable to the University
of Georgia in care of the UGA Ag Business Office, Room 215 Conner
Hall, Athens, GA 30602.