Momol MT, Simone GW, Dankers W, Sprenkel RK, Olson SM, Momol EA, Polston JE, and Hiebert E. 1999.  First report of  Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus in tomato in south Georgia.  Plant Disease 83:487.

MOMOL MT, MOMOL EA, LAMBOY WF, NORELLI JL, BEER SV, and  ALDWINCKLE HS.  1997.  Characterization of Erwinia amylovora strains using Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA fragments (RAPDs).  Journal of Applied Microbiology 82: 389-398.

OTTEN L, DE RUFFRAY P, MOMOL EA, MOMOL MT, and BURR TJ.  1996.  Phylogenetic relationships between Agrobacterium vitis isolates and their Ti plasmids.  Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions 9 (9):782-786.

Investigator: Tim Momol

Bacterial diseases of vegetables and woody ornamentals are serious problems in northern Florida. The goal of this project is to develop disease management strategies that will protect vegetables and woody ornamentals from diseases. 
 

Investigators: Jeff Jones, Tim Momol, and Steve Olson
Collaborators: Dave Mitchell, Henry Grant and Lee Jackson

    Tomato is the most important vegetable crop in the southern U.S with a farm gate value of $781 million in which $625 million of it is for Florida.  Currently most tomato growers in the southern U.S. are facing important changes due to complete methyl bromide phase-out in 2005 and FQPA.  In Florida, losses resulting from bacterial spot and wilt epidemic for fresh market tomatoes were substantial. Based on a needs assessment survey for tomato IPM carried out by multidisciplinary IPM teams from seven states in the southeastern U.S., bacterial spot of tomato was identified as a major problem by more than 66.7 % of the respondents from Florida and South Carolina. Bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum, can be ranked as one of the most important diseases of plants caused by phytopathogenic bacteria in the tropical, subtropical and warm temperate zones of the world.  This research project will use several strategies to develop integrated management of the bacterial leaf spot and wilt of field grown fresh market tomatoes in the southeastern US. 
     The proposed research will be carried out by a team of plant pathologists and a horticulturist,  and will include the involvement of extension personnel to insure that the results will be readily implemented in commercial tomato production. 
 The results of the investigation will be presented orally or by poster at grower and extension educator meetings, in bulletins and trade journal and county extension newsletter articles for growers, and in scientific format for the use of IPM educators and researchers.  This work will produce economic, practical and effective management of these economically important diseases on tomato that are impossible to control at present or management strategies need to be improved.  Our proposal supports the national goal of having high percentage of US agriculture acreage under IPM by the year 2000 and beyond, and will enhance the sustainability of tomato production in the southeastern US.
 

Investigators: Joe Funderburk, Tim Momol, Steve Olson (University of Florida)
Robert McPherson (University of Georgia)

This is an integrated (research and extension), multi-state and interdisciplinary project. Thrips and tomato spotted wilt tospovirus are serious problems on solanaceous crops. Growers rely on high-risk organophosphate insecticides for control of the thrips vector of tospoviruses even though the insecticides are not effective in preventing disease spread. This project examines the environmental and economic benefits of newly developed reduced-risk tactics for managing thrips and tospoviruses on tomato, pepper, and other solanaceous crops. 
 

Investigators: Joe Funderburk, Stuart Reitz, Tim Momol
Collaborator: Irma Cabrera (University of Puerto Rico)

Thrips and tomato spotted wilt tospvirus are serious global challenges to the production of many crops worldwide, including the Caribbean Basin. This project examines the effectiveness of the thrips natural enemy Orius insidiosus to reduce populations of thrips and also the transmission by thrips of tomato spotted wilt tospovirus to crops in the Caribbean Basin. 
 

Investigators: Jeff Jones, Tim Momol, Prakash Pradhanang, Stve Olson, Sally Miller and Jay Scott
Collaborators: Josh Mayfield, Brian Staskawicz, Lee Jackson

Bacterial spot and bacterial wilt are devastating diseases of tomato and are extremely difficult to control This project is being initiated to develop integrated control strategies using biological control, changes in cultural practices and novel reduced-risl compounds to achieve adequate control of these two important diseases.