If you’ve spotted yellowing melon plants in Yuma recently, that may be the result of a recent virus outbreak. The early warm weather is providing suitable conditions for pest problems.
A colder winter is ideal as it prevents silverleaf whiteflies from carrying the viruses. However, the warm winter caused the whitefly populations to increase and spread viruses among crops.
“So the whiteflies were present in high numbers, they were carrying these viruses that affect melons, and they infected these melons very, very early in the season," he said.
Affected melons will have a lower sugar quality, which can affect sweetness.
Christopher Detranaltes is a plant pathologist with the University of Arizona’s Yuma County Cooperative Extension.
“Once the plants are infected with these viruses, there's no cure for them. The main thing is to make sure that we're preventing the introduction of these viruses into our melon production systems," he said.
According to UA, Arizona makes up nearly 25%t of the country’s cantaloupe production. Detranaltes says the infected melons lead to a decrease in production and higher costs for consumers.
A group of researchers, growers and other experts plan to meet soon to discuss the outbreak, according to Detranaltes.
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