N.C. State Professor and Extension Horticultural Science Vegetable Specialist, Jonathan Schultheis, and Research Technician, Stuart Michel, conduct annual cultigen evaluations on cucurbits including pumpkins, watermelons, melons, and squash. The 2021 Eastern North Carolina Pumpkin Cultigen Evaluation Study was conducted at A. J. Smith and Sons Farm in Edenton, NC. with the assistance of Area Specialized Agent, […]
CucCAP Disease Management Team
The Disease Management Team contributions to the CucCAP project include English and Spanish factsheets about cucurbit crop and disease management strategies including images of disease symptoms for crop producers, articles about cucurbit plant pathology, and articles about the team’s research efforts and accomplishments.
CucCAP researchers find that different downy mildew populations have different types of fungicide resistance
Genetic analyses by the Quesada laboratory at NC State found that different clades of P. cubensis vary for the predominant mutations conferring resistance. These findings of clade-specific resistances can facilitate the design of more effective fungicide programs tailored to crop and region.
Fusarium and Pythium cause damping off on watermelon seedlings
Read about two watermelon diseases that can cause post-transplanting damping-off and plant death in an article from CucCAP sceintist and Clemson Plant Pathologist Tony Keinath.
Early Career Scientist Spotlight | Md Ziaur Rahman Bhuiyan
Md Ziaur Rahman Bhuiyan is a postdoc in the vegetable pathology lab in the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology at North Carolina State University. His project leader is Dr. Lina M. Quesada-Ocampo, a professor, vegetable pathologist, and leader of the CucCAP Integrated Disease Management Team.
Improved detection methods for CDM
CucCAP researchers develop improved detection methods for downy mildews infecting cucurbit crops. Management of cucurbit downy mildew relies on an intensive fungicide program. Timely alerts of appearance of sporangia can help growers to determine need to initiate fungicide sprays. Research by CucCAP scientists developed improved ability to detect airborne sporangia and distinguish among types that infect different kinds of crops. This improved methodology could be used as part of an advisory system to time fungicide applications to protect cucurbit crops.
Early Career Scientist Spotlight | David E. Perla
David Perla is a graduate student in the Department of Plant Soil and Microbial Sciences at Michigan State University and is working on a PhD under the guidance of his major professor, Dr. Mary Hausbeck. David is investigating strategies to manage Phytophthora spp. on vegetables in Michigan.
Cucurbit growers support endowment
Growers, packers and producers of cucumber, watermelon and sweetpotato established the Vegetable Pathology Support Endowment on behalf of Dr. Lina Quesada’s vegetable pathology lab at NC State University through Pickle Packers International, Inc. in 2022.
Early Career Scientist Spotlight | Mariana Prieto Torres
Mariana Prieto Torres is a graduate student in the Vegetable Pathology Lab at NC State University and is working on a PhD under the guidance of her major professor, Dr. Lina Quesada
