11/28/05 Yellow spot virus, next year?

Parma onion grower John Wong saw several fields in southwestern Idaho and eastern Oregon this year that were hit hard by the yellow spot virus. WONG "Its just shuts the plant down to where the plant to where the plant doesn't finish the sizing so you end up consequently with a lot smaller onions, therefore also a lot smaller yields, lighter yields." It did affect this year's crop which was late going in because of spring rains. So what happens next year? Will the virus still be here? Lynn Jensen is with the Oregon State University extension. JENSEN "I do expect the virus to be more and more prevalent because that's kind of the trend that it's been under." Jensen says weather was definitely a factor but in some fields he found abnormally high numbers of thrips, 400 to a plant in some cases. Thrips carry the virus. JENSEN "Why we had the huge number of thrips I'm not sure. We had a warm winter. I suppose anytime we get warm winters we have a lot of insects that can survive the winter." Another warm winter and thrip pressure again could be a big problem for growers next year but Jensen says they simply don't know enough about yellow spot virus to make predictions at this time. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott