Last summer , Mark Van Bourgondien , cobalt - possessor of CJ Van Bourgondien Wholesale Greenhouses in Peconic , on Long Island , note white flecks and flimsy discoloration on a few of his young poinsettias . He cursorily found the perpetrator : tiny white Lewis mites , which he and others in the industry had dealt with before . But this time , the usual control condition , a miticide , did n’t figure out .
Van Bourgondien called Cornell ’s Long Island Horticultural Research and Extension Center ( LIHREC ) – his go - to when job arise . Dan Gilrein , associate USDA computer programme director and entomology specialist for Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County ( CCE - Suffolk ) , collected samples – from Van Bourgondien and others in the part facing the same problem ; back at LIHREC ’s greenhouse , he confirm the mites ' resistance and recover an substitute treatment that could accost the problem .
" We ’ve been able to make out it with Dan ’s assistance , " said Van Bourgondien , whose family has been in the greenhouse business since 1916 . " There are always new challenge , and the masses at LIHREC are always willing to avail with whatever problem spring up . "
Lewis mites are just one of many potential threat and challenges to acquire Euphorbia pulcherrima , the colourful cosmetic plant that is ubiquitous in holiday displays . The plants require careful standardization of the greenhouse environment – low humidity with temperate temperatures – and are susceptible to multiple case of root rot , poinsettia mosaic virus , foliar fungal diseases called poinsettia scab , powdery mold and botrytis blight , bacterial folio spots and plague of unlike species of white flies and mite .
Many of these threats are put in from cuttings shipped from overseas and show up at various point of a long season , with ample metre for problem to arise – agriculturist plant in early summertime and ask the harvest in peak shape for an extremely narrow-minded windowpane of sales in late November and early December .
" There ’s a substantial art to grow Christmas flower , and the mass who are doing it have often been doing it for contemporaries , " said Margery Daughtrey , fourth-year reference associate and plant pathologist in the School of Integrative Plant Science in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences . " They really manage about the crop and do everything they can to protect it . "
LIHREC , which is part of CALS and houses both CCE and academic section faculty and staff , is situated in a major hub of horticultural activity : Fifty to 60 % of New York state ’s greenhouses are in Suffolk County . The Center help agriculturalist diagnose problems – with poinsettias or any other crop – and find solutions inform by research .
" affair are always changing . Even thing that have been around for a tenacious time – if you bring in a new cultivar or change , they might be more or less susceptible to any given trouble . Or the pathogens or the insects themselves alter , " said Nora Catlin , farming program director and floriculture medical specialist for CCE - Suffolk and interim manager at LIHREC . " It ’s always a very dynamic process . "
net tolerance for poinsettias are thin , and their production in New York has go down over the last three decennary . But growing poinsettias allow for year - rhythm work for the 120 to 130 full - sentence employees of Emma ’s Garden Growers , a Long Island works wholesaler , and allows the business to maintain a connecter to its customers , as well as encourage income going into the newfangled year .
" A lot of mass depend on this patronage – they need to be employed class - round of golf – so that means : poinsettias , " said co - possessor Eric Keil , whose family has been in the gardening concern on Long Island for four generations . " The services at LIHREC are absolutely essential to our industry – I do n’t know how agriculturalist in other res publica really get by without this kind of backing . "
When further investigation is need , the LIHREC squad collaborates with New York State Integrated Pest Management ( NYSIPM ) in CALS and researchers on Ithaca ’s campus . In the causa of this time of year ’s Lewis mites , Gilrein is continuing work with on - campus partners to translate the underlying mechanism of the mites ' resistance , how it could sham future time of year and other crops , and what optimum controls could be used .
" We finger there are some newer controls that we have n’t try on , so we ’re engaged in seeing how those perform and whether or not a biological control could work or could make sense , " Gilrein state .
Elise Lobdell , professional scout and teacher for New York State Integrated Pest Management ’s Greenhouse Scout School , scrutinise a poinsettia .
" It ’s a true collaboration across aspect at Cornell , from extension and research , with New York State IPM , and then with the growers . That ’s really what makes it work , " said Betsy Lamb , senior extension associate and ornamentals coordinator for NYSIPM .
Solving a trouble – or finding a culprit and ways to outwit it – is fulfil , Daughtrey said .
" And then it ’s good to provide that real data to the growers , where you ’re not just guessing but really solving problems and aid , " she said .
The stunning stunner of the harvest can also be its own reward . " When the plant are in the nursery , and they ’re line up absolutely in their dustup , all the same height and in full bloom , with all variation from white to peppermint to deep red – it ’s just awfully beautiful , " Daughtrey said . " Especially on a snowy twenty-four hour period , to take the air in and see all that color . It ’s marvelous . "
Van Bourgondien said only one thing is more beautiful : " At the end of the season , an empty terrace is better looking than a full judiciary . "
informant : Cornell Chronicle
