Laurel wilt: the fungus threatening Florida’s avocados

The citrus industry has been feeling the squeeze here in Florida for a number of reasons, the most destructive one being a disease known as laurel wilt.

Avocado farmers are dealing with the issues caused by this disease, with new studies showing the estimated final avocado production this season will reportedly be 6.6% lower than the previous year.

WINK News reporter Paul Dolan spoke with experts about potential solutions to combat the disease.

Jonathan Crane, an Associate Center Director Professor at the University of Florida told WINK, “It is potentially devastating or eliminating an avocado industry, which is one of the larger tree crop industries in Florida.”

Laurel wilt is a fungus that’s spread by the ambrosia beetle to avocado trees, causing them to die off.

However, experts can build a strategy by tracking when the insects move. Researchers discovered if the avocado trees start to look like a forest, the beetle activity is much higher than where producers prune their trees every year.

“We’ve been recommending for the past eight years or more that people should be pruning their trees regularly to tamp down the activity of the beetles,” said Crane.

An active solution to combat laurel wilt is using a fungicide infusion on the avocado tree.

This would stop the deadly disease from replicating inside the tree and taking over. However, that is only in theory, and it has some drawbacks.

Crane explained, “It’s very expensive from a labor standpoint and an equipment standpoint if you’re going to do it efficiently. There is the potential that the pathogen could become resistant to the fungicide.”

Prices! That’s how laurel wilt impacts avocado buyers.

A report from the University of Florida said the effect of laurel wilt might be felt at the checkout counter.

However, according to Crane, we have time to solve the issue, and repercussions will not happen for a long time.

“There’s a lot of avocado acreage, but prices would rise, the availability would decrease and I’m looking far out, but there’s that potential in the long run,” said Crane.

Laurel wilt was first detected in Florida in 2005 and has been a growing problem for researchers to solve to keep avocados plentiful for all of us.