Increased profits from disease-free garlic planting stock

Increased profits from disease-free garlic planting stock

Summary

Importation of seed stock and exchange of live plant material has contributed to new pathogens being imported and distributed in Maine. Because growers need pathogen-free seed garlic to be sustainable, garlic will be put into tissue culture and garlic seed stock free from pathogens will be produced. The resultant pathogen-free planting stock will then be field grown by garlic farmers in Maine and Massachusetts. The tissue-culture generated garlic seed stock will be assessed against traditionally produced garlic seed stock. The farmer-grown replicated trials will be duplicates of those performed on the University of Maine Aroostook Research Station. In this proposal, several grower workshops and twilight meetings on identification and management of garlic pests and diseases will be presented. Follow up grower workshops on growing great garlic pathogen-free garlic bulbs will be presented. As a result of this proposal, 100 farmers will recognize major garlic diseases and realize their importance in garlic production and 30 farmers will adopt the new technique of planting pathogen-free garlic bulbs and their crop losses from introduced pathogens will be eliminated as will the spreading of these pathogens through their seed sales.

Objectives/Performance Targets

30 garlic farmers will adopt and implement the new technique of planting pathogen-free garlic bulbs. These 30 garlic farmers will reduce crop losses from introduced pathogens by 90 percent and eliminate spreading these pathogens through their seed sales. 30 garlic farmers will increase their garlic sales by 25 percent by being able to market their entire crop.

Year 2

An additional 100 Maine and Massachusetts garlic growers will receive material on an intense workshop on Identification and Management of Garlic Pests and Diseases.

Over 300 garlic growers received information about workshops.

Of these 100 growers, 25 will attend an intense workshop on Identification and Management of Garlic Pests and Diseases.

171 garlic growers attended workshops on Growing Healthy Garlic.

Ten of these growers will change their management strategies and commit to measuring the impacts of their management change.

Pre and post workshop surveys reveal a 100% increase in garlic grower’s ability to identify diseases. Crop rotation, disease identification, and rotation were topics reported by attendees as will be implemented.

130 growers submitted samples for pathogen testing. Garlic bloat nematode, white rot, Botrytis porri, and Fusarium, spp. were identified and information delivered to the grower on how to deal with the pathogen found on their sample.

October

2000 pathogen-free garlic bulbs are used for planting by three key garlic growers. One grower is from Massachusetts and two are from Maine. These growers will monitor the pathogen-free garlic planting and compare it to their traditional planting.

This is delayed a year as inadequate stocks of planting material were available. Several hundred bulbs of four varieties were planted at one location this fall. Additionally, lab production has been dramatically increased in an effort to produce a large quantity of bulbs ready for spring planting. This spring planting is to produce bulbs for fall planting in 2014.

Accomplishments/Milestones

Seven presentations were given in 2013 with around 150 garlic growers in total attendance. Five publications were written in 2013. To date, 1326 page views have occurred on the three UMaine Extension on-line publications.

Presentations:

Johnson, S. B. 2013. Growing Healthy Garlic Diseases and Storage Issues. Presented in Deer Isle, ME on December 4, 2013.

Fuller, D. 2013. Growing Healthy Garlic. Presented in Deer Isle, ME on December 4, 2013.

Johnson, S. B. 2013. Growing Healthy Garlic. Presented at the Cape Elizabeth Garden Club Meeting in Cape Elizabeth, ME on October 24, 2013.

Johnson, S. B. 2013. Bloat Nematode in Maine Garlic — A New Pathogen in Maine. Presented at the 73rd Meeting of the Northeast Division of the American Phytopathology Meeting in Southbury, CT on October 24, 2013.

Fuller, D. 2013. Growing Healthy Garlic and Dealing with Old and New Diseases. Presented in Lowell, ME on October 17, 2013.

Fuller, D. 2013. Growing Healthy Garlic and Dealing with Old and New Diseases. Presented in Rangeley, ME on October 1, 2013.

Fuller, D. 2013. Growing Healthy Garlic and Dealing with Old and New Diseases. Presented at the Farmington Seed Savers 3rd Annual Winter Conference on February 2, 2013 in Farmington, ME.

Publications:

Fuller, D. F. and Johnson, S. B. 2013. The Maine Garlic Project: A Participatory Research and Education Program. Journal of Extension [On-line], 50(5) Article 5TOT8. Available at: http://www.joe.org/joe/2013august/tt6.php

Johnson, S. B. and Fuller, D. 2013. Blue Mold of Garlic. University of Maine Cooperative Extension Bulletin, 1206, 2pp. Available at: http://umaine.edu/publications/1206e/

Fuller, D and Johnson, S. B. 2013. Growing Hardneck Garlic in Your Maine Garden. University of Maine Cooperative Extension Bulletin, 2063, 3pp. Available at: http://umaine.edu/publications/2063e/

Johnson, S. B. and Fuller, D. 2013. Botrytis Neck Rot in Maine Garlic, 1207, 2pp. Available at: http://extension.umaine.edu/publications/1207e/

Johnson, S. B. and Fuller, D. 2013. Bloat Nematode in Maine Garlic — A New Pathogen in Maine. Phytopathology 104: accepted for publication (abstr.).

The response to the workshops was larger than we had expected. We continue to be amazed at the amount of garlic grown and the number of garlic growers. Many garlic growers are aggressive in implementing strategies and practices that improve their crops and their profitability. Many, many have requested to be included in the tissue-culture portion of the project. In fact, there are more offers than can be properly accommodated.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

Many growers reported that they could not sell their garlic for seed had they not attended workshops, learned about pathogen testing, and had their crop tested. Seed buyers were asking sellers if their garlic had been tested before buying. The two largest garlic seed resellers are now requiring their growers to have their garlic tested before they are willing to market it.

Collaborators: