Plum pox virus sampling progress

Editor’s note: This article is from the 2007 archives of the MSU Crop Advisory Team Alerts. Check the label of any pesticide referenced to ensure your use is included.

Plum pox sampling in southwest Michigan is progressing well. The MDA sampling teams collected their 40,000th southwest Michigan sample of the summer on July 31. All orchards located within five miles of last year’s positive find as well as farms from across Berrien, VanBuren and Allegan counties are being sampled in southwest Michigan this summer. Sampling will continue through mid-August. Additionally, MDA is looking at stonefruit statewide with another sample team collecting samples in West Central Michigan, primarily in Mason and Oceana counties.

Samples are collected and processed at the MDA and MSU laboratories in East Lansing within seven days of collection. Samples from the Southwest are going to the MDA lab, while samples from West Central are going to MSU. All results reported out of the labs have been negative in 2007.

As has been the case for many years, Michigan's stone fruit growers have been very cooperative in the plum pox virus sampling process. We've been most fortunate to be able to coordinate our sampling efforts around the grower’s spray schedules, and the communication has been very good.

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