We are living in Haiti in the mountains. We’ve had plenty of rain this year so far (>1.5m). The local farmers are seeing fields of corn dry up and die for no clear reason. Not all zones are hit though. It’s effecting fields adjacent to other effected fields but not touching fields a kilometer away. I can’t see any sign of insects. Ideas?
I would suggest that a sample of the plant and soil be taken to the ministry in charge in the state
to ascertain the root cause of the mishap.
Looks like tar spot disease. You mentioned it was really rainy. This disease happens when there is a lot of moisture and hot humid conditions.
1 Like
This really isn’t possible in Haiti. Even at the best of times I don’t know if this would be possible in Haiti but definitely not now. I can barely even get out of the country without passing through gang controlled areas.
I looked into this possibly. It looks possible but so does southern blight. Do you know if either of these would effect napier grass too? The grass seems to have the same disease. I wonder if it could have been the source of it.
Hi Rose,
I agree with David that the photo of the leaves are consistent with tar spot which is a fungal disease spread by water that is common in the Caribbean and Central America. Poor kernel fill is another common symptom of tar spot. It could very well could affect napier grass as well as there are various Phyllachora species that host mainly in grasses, but feel free to send a photo of the leaf spotting and we can look at it. How wide-spread is the disease in your crop so far? If you can feed affected plants to animals, that’s one option to reduce the local inoculum if it hasn’t spread too far yet.
Thanks Stacy, following
So what would the organic/IPM control method be for tar spot?
Hi Chris,
Great question! In rainy contexts, it can be difficult to control the spread of tar spot as the spores reproduce in about 21 days. Early detection and management is key to keep the disease from spreading rapidly. The main thing that you can focus on once you identify the presence of tar spot, is to manage the residues that have spots (or spray a fungicide early on). Remove residues with symptoms (whole plant if possible) and either feed it to livestock which will not be affected by the fungus, or bury crop residues to kill the fungus. If the whole field is already infected, this may not be possible.
Crop rotation is an important part of tar spot management. Tar spot infects grass species and can carry over from season to season if grass species are continually planted in the same place (e.g. corn, sorghum, millet). Rotate among different plant families to prevent long-term buildup. Here’s an example of family rotation:
Area-wide management is also important for sustainable tar spot management because spores can travel for miles! This is why there are maps and apps for tracking tar spot in the United States. At the community level, farmers should discuss and share tips for monitoring and early management. Farmers or individuals should also let other community members know when they have identified tar spot in the area so that others can be more actively looking for it.
1 Like
Many thanks, really useful
On looking at corn diseases online I agree that this looks like Tar Spot. This is pretty sad news. Probably already half the regions’ crop this year has been decimated.
Our corn is only mildly effected but we’re only about half a km from fields of dead corn. We’ve diversified our crops because we know these things can happen and part of our work here is experimenting with new crops and alternative farming methods.
Sadly, the people here really don’t work together as a community. We’ve tried to hire men to fix the roads and individual farmers will then undo our work and pick their fields into the road. We’ve tried to encourage the community to fix this problem but the idea of work for the betterment of the community is just a foreign concept here. The problem is really deep. They would have to develop law and order on a regional basis to start making some of the necessary changes. This doesn’t exist right now. If someone’s cow eats another person’s crop there is usually nothing that can be done. The farmer could kill the cow but then he might be killed. At this point I think that it would take adults starving to death before some of these things are worked out.
We’ll start encouraging people to plant other crops but I feel gloomy about the outlook. We’ve been preaching all sorts of agricultural reform ideas, like not burning all plant residue, yet people are very resistant to trying anything new even when we’ve shown them good results. Residue is usually left to dry in the fields. Animals freely browse during the dry season and what’s left is usually used as fire wood. There is almost no chance they will bury any of it.
Farmers have been planting more than a normal amount of sweet potatoes this year but normally they just plant corn and beans intercropped together every single year. Sometimes they have a small plot of yams or cassava but by and large they live on these corn and beans. Sadly this probably means we’ll be seeing more starving children in the next year. My heart breaks at the thought of this. We had a neighbor seek help from us this week for her starving 10 year old boy. He died the next morning on the way to a malnutrition clinic. It’s really sad here.
1 Like
Hi Rose,
A google search reveals that one can apply fungicides to control tar spot.
- Are fungicides available?
- Are you familiar with crop spraying?
Some fungicides need to be applied preventatively, in some cases it may be too late. If they are available I would encourage them. Being organic may not be a luxury they can afford.
Many of the problems in countries such as the one you are working in are “deep”…
I liken them to a knot, things are interconnected, hard to work out and it not easy to know where to start. That goes for the spiritual problems as well as the physical…
The deeper you go the closer you get to peoples hearts and minds, their motivations and beliefs… what level are you focusing on… field level or deeper?
Is there news people need that’s better / more urgent, more necessary than what will get them a better corn crop? May you know what you are called to do and be diligent in it.
Every blessing as you seek to serve.
1 Like
If you can get to a town safely you may be able to buy a simple fungicide substitute. I am willing to send you some if you can get mail from the United States. Copper Sulfate is cheap and widely available, but there are drawbacks. It is available in most hardware stores in the US as root killer for your drainage system - which speaks to the biggest drawback. Too much is very toxic to the plants, and in anything other than very deep, very sandy soils copper will build up over time. That being said, you might want to look up Bordeaux Mixture which has long been used successfully to control fungal and bacterial diseases. There are other, perhaps easier to synthesize compounds like tetraammine copper(II) sulfate and of course just plain copper sulfate itself, but Bordeaux mixture has a long history of reasonably safe use. jrancken@yahoo.com
For community buy in, you need to transition the thoughts beyond their neighborhood. The road makes sense as it increases market, school, and healthcare access. As you have conversations, begin creating a demand for improved access to those things, or other things of value, and let the community find the solution that a road meets the need. Then they will defend it.
if the Bible is of value, change the narrative and leverage it as book of wisdom. When working there, it took a year of workshops on GBV with pastors before one finally stood up and said “it is wrong to beat women, and when I see that, I should stop that and talk to the husband”.
It is not quick or conventional in Haiti converting the thought process of what they want most to what they want now…not easy for me either for that matter. But when you can create a vision for “what could be”, Haitians will be just as enthusiastic about solutions as they currently are about not letting one person get ahead of the rest. Can we sell our crops for higher prices? Can our kids get an education and, help our farm/family? Can we get medicine for our goats, children, and mothers? Perhaps a road will let us do these things?
Nothing is easy there and building anything is harder than in most places, but keep trying to create value and sharing solutions.