TMV Prevention Starts with Worker Training
Historically when a call would come into the office about
yellowing petunias I would load up my pH meter and my box of calibration
solutions and would head out to the greenhouse operation to confirm the grower’s
suspicion that they were having a media pH issue. Unfortunately, over the last
several years the yellowing observed by growers in their petunias was not media
related and instead could be linked to a virus issue in the greenhouse.
Plant viruses like Tobacco Mosaic Virus (TMV) make even the
heartiest of growers shudder since confirmation of its presence in the
greenhouse can translate into the disposal of thousands of dollars of plants.
Tobacco Mosaic Virus can readily be transmitted to plants through the use of contaminated
pruning knives, scissors, workers’ hands, and even on workers’ clothing. While
the initial source of a TMV infection could be attributed to contaminated seed
or infected plugs and cuttings I seem to be visiting the same operations over
and over again to deliver the same diagnosis. So, either these greenhouse operations
have very bad luck or is there an underlying cause that makes these operations
more susceptible to TMV infections.
In each of these operations the workforce is very transient
and the owners makes no investment in training or coaching their employees. The
employees smoke outside the greenhouse and never wash or sanitize their hands
between handling their tobacco products and handling the plant materials. In
addition, the scissors used to cut plants back are blackened with plant sap and
have never been dipped in alcohol or even a bath of milk to deactivate the TMV
virus.
Labor management experts state that “profitability starts
with people”. This is true even when working with a transient workforce. If
your workers are not trained and motivated to practice good sanitation in the
greenhouse they can become the weak link in your defense against plant virus
diseases like TMV. A few hours of employee training is a small investment to
make when considering the ramifications of a TMV outbreak in your operation.
Thomas Ford
Commercial Horticulture Educator, Penn State ExtensionTom has worked for over 40 years with Cooperative Extension in Maryland, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. During his career he has worked intensively with vegetable and fruit growers, greenhouse and nursery operators, landscape and turf professionals and area farmers with their production and pest management issues.
Tom is a native of Central Maryland and resides with his wife, Laura and their four sons in Duncansville, PA. Tom has a B.S. degree in Ornamental Horticulture from the University of Maryland and a MBA from Frostburg State University in Frostburg, MD. Tom currently serves as a Commercial Horticulture Educator with Penn State Extension and is housed in the Cambria County Extension Office in Ebensburg, PA.