Update from the south: Plant pathologists always talk about needing all three components of the disease triangle (host, pathogen, and environment) for disease development, and that is holding true early this spring. So far in the south, there is susceptible soybeans and kudzu and plenty of perfect weather for rust development, but apparently there is not enough inoculum to get soybean rust spreading. There was one new report of rust from a kudzu patch in Georgia during the past two weeks, but that infestation was at very low levels. With ideal weather now for rust development, pathologists in southeastern states expect rust to be more of a problem as the 2009 season progresses.

Update from Mexico: High temperatures and the harvest of several of the soybean rust host crops continue the unfavorable conditions for rust development in Mexico. I finally did confirm that the “red” regions in Mexico should not be “red”.  There is no reported and confirmed soybean rust infestations in Mexico.

Early projections: X.B. Yang’s models predict limited spore movement for the next month because of weak sources of inoculum in the Gulf Coast areas.