[Pollinator] Fwd: phytoplasma....disease on milkweed in MN

[Ladadams at aol.com]

FYI - Milkweed
 
 
  
____________________________________
 From: bonnielore at comcast.net
To: lda at pollinator.org,  buchmann.stephen at gmail.com
Sent: 8/30/2011 4:00:26 P.M. Pacific Daylight  Time
Subj: Fwd: phytoplasma....disease on milkweed in MN




Here is the answer to what is happening to our  milkweed populations this 
summer.  
Apparently, nothing can be done about it.  Seed pod production is  
diminished.
In spite of the disease I have seen 4 monarch caterpillars...more than  
last year:)
Bonnie Harper-Lore









Begin forwarded message:


From:  Karen  Oberhauser <_oberh001 at umn.edu_ (mailto:oberh001 at umn.edu) >

Date:  August  22, 2011 12:42:56 PM CDT

To: Bonnie Harper-Lore  <_bonnielore at comcast.net_ 
(mailto:bonnielore at comcast.net) >

Subject:  Fwd:  phytoplasma


Hi Bonnie,

It was fun to talk  with you this morning.  Here is some information on the 
milkweed  phytoplasma, as promised.

Karen


 
 
 

Begin forwarded message:


From:  Ba  Rea <_barea at basrelief.org_ (mailto:barea at basrelief.org) >

Date:  June  20, 2011 8:47:05 AM EDT


I posted a couple of pictures on my facebook  account last  night.  This is 
a public link: 
_https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2043124112256.2118258.1068950715&
l=d7ec28d7dd_ 
(https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2043124112256.2118258.1068950715&l=d7ec28d7dd)   
There are a variety of ways that the plant shows that it is  affected.  
They are always pale, the spindly feature is pretty common  too especially if 
it is second year. The extra branching on milkweeds that  normally don't 
branch is also pretty symptomatic.  

I had  heard that phytoplasma was used to make pointsettas branch out so 
there  would be many blossoms on a plant and was curious what it would do with 
my  milkweed when it showed up.  Also the patch it first showed up in had  
numerous clones and lilies all growing intertwined so I wasn't sure how to  
get it out of there.  It was an interesting experiment that I will  NOT 
repeat.  The originally robust, well established milkweed clones  continued to 
send up ramets for three years, but each year they were more  deformed.  The 
last year they were short and extremely numerous and  very pale and 
spindly.This year that patch is virtually milkweed free.  

I have found that if I cut the affected plant to the ground  a couple of 
times it simply dies off on its own and it available for the  planthoppers to 
feed on, pick up the disease and spread it.  I lost a  lot of milkweed along 
the way including plantings of A.exaltata, A.  incarnata, A. purpurascens, 
and A. tuberosa.  

Ba











-- 
Karen Oberhauser
Associate  Professor and Director of Graduate Studies, Conservation  Biology
Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation  Biology
University of Minnesota
_612  624-8706_ (tel:612%20624-8706) 
_http://fwcb.cfans.umn.edu/oberhauser/_ 
(http://fwcb.cfans.umn.edu/oberhauser/) 





-- 
Karen Oberhauser
Associate Professor and Director of  Graduate Studies, Conservation Biology
Department of Fisheries, Wildlife,  and Conservation Biology
University of Minnesota
612 624-8706
_http://fwcb.cfans.umn.edu/oberhauser/_ 
(http://fwcb.cfans.umn.edu/oberhauser/) 






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