PLANTWISE

Dorothy – 03/08/01

A diagnostic service helping organisations and individuals improve the health of their plants

Ian Harvey
Ian Harvey
        Ian Harvey

Meet an enthusiast. Meet Dr Ian Harvey who heads PLANTWISE, and you meet a man who works enthusiastically and tirelessly to meet the needs of his clients. Last summer he worked every day except Christmas Day and New Year’s Day but managed a week on holiday in February. From October to February is the peak season for plant disease diagnosis, pest identification and advice to growers, but Ian is also busy in autumn and winter writing reports and working on plant specimens sent to him during these times.

Ian has spent his working life building up a vast background of knowledge about plants and their diseases. He worked for fifteen years as a plant disease diagnostician for the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF). For the next eleven years he was plant pathologist for MAF and AgResearch. In 1997 he retired from the Government service to set up his own business.

Teamwork in the peak season This business depends not only on Ian’s skills, but on teamwork. In the peak season Ian is assisted by other experienced plant scientists working under contract, and by student field workers.

DuPont – a major client DuPont, one of the biggest multinationals, approached PLANTWISE to work with them on producing hybrid wheat varieties. Ian’s task has been to measure the response of wheat to various treatments when grown in the Southern Hemisphere.

Ian explained that most corn and many brassica varieties are hybrids, but wheat is difficult because it is a selfing plant with both the male and female within the flower. It is possible to outcross if the plant is emasculated which can only be done by chemical treatment. The research programme has been looking at the timing and the dose rate, the assessment of the damage caused by emasculation and the possible damage to the female parts of the plant.

Continuous research

Hybrid wheat trial

There is continuous research on the cultivars, the dosage and the timing. In New Zealand there is much more wind blowing the pollen than in Europe, which results in the better transfer of pollen. The treated wheat is bagged to ensure that no outside pollen reaches it.

The notice on the road beside the trial plantings makes it clear that this research is not a form of genetic engineering.

Email an invaluable asset Being able to communicate by email has revolutionised Ian’s work. The research on the wheat is continuous in a real sense because digital photos can be sent to DuPont during the day, their scientists work on them during New Zealand’s night and the following morning Ian can have their reply and work on their data.

All clients can receive a much more rapid answer to their problems when communication is by email and digital camera. Often the answer is sent in a few hours.

Even in this age of electronic communication at times Ian travels to the site of a widespread problem to add to the scope of his research

Service to farmers Ian works closely with a group which farmers set up at Lincoln – the Foundation for Arable Research. One facet of his work for this group is writing articles which appear on their website.

Working with this group and using email he can give a farmer a response to a query about disease or pest identification within hours – usually within half a day – which can be crucial in preventing a potential spread of the disease within and between crops.

He also does assays of soil for farmers. For instance he checks whether the soil contains spores of a serious pea disease – common root rot. He can then inform the farmers of the potential risk from the disease if they plant peas in that area.

For young farmers he runs courses to teach them about managing their crops and understanding the problems that results from plant disease and the best ways to control disease.

He also does presentations on radio and TV and at field days. He advises not only on diagnosis of diseases, but also on crop health monitoring and plant protection.

Work at Lincoln University Ian is a research associate at Lincoln University and assists post graduates with the identification and control of plant diseases.

The impact of the weather When I asked Ian about the impact that the recent drought in Canterbury had on the research programme he replied that it had been &a very good year in general for cereals&. There was rain in November and early December and the drought took hold after the middle of December, but most crops had sufficient moisture to see them through to harvest. Now, with recent rain, the conditions for sowing are perfect.

Work for nurseries throughout the country Nurseries all over New Zealand, from Kaitaia to Invercargill, use PLANTWISE for diagnosis of plant diseases. The nurseries work with a large range of new species all year and when such plants develop disease they often call on Ian. Often the disease is generic but found on a new host. Sometimes a nursery will be growing a new species for which there is no published list of diseases.

Ian Harvey

Alternaria brassicae – A leaf spot pathogen affecting cruciferous crops, including broccoli and cauliflower

A close client is Trents Nursery at Prebbleton, a large wholesale nursery. Samples of diseased plants are sent by courier to Ian who examines them under the microscope and if necessary sets up cultures to help identify the pathogens.

A computer record of his work Ian showed me digital photographs of plant diseases on his computer. These made fascinating viewing, especially when something like the spores on apples was shown with magnification up to 4000 times.

Ian also showed photos of Ramularia, a major barley disease found most commonly in New Zealand but becoming increasingly important overseas. He also showed photos of a bacterial stripe on barley, found this last season but previously recorded only in 1963.

The range of diseases worked on included ‘black goo’ on grapes in vineyards, brown rot on peaches, dry rot affecting garlic, cercospora (leaf spot) on carrots, bacterial blight on peas, and club root on brassicas, a fungus which causes wilting and death through the formation of massive root tumours. Other fruits and vegetables coming through the laboratory with diseases included figs, pears, quinces, raspberries, nectarines, cherries, onions, lettuces, corn, mung beans and pumpkins.

Among the garden plants with interesting diseases seen recently were clematis affected by a microscopic rust fungus which caused huge galls on the stem, and a disfiguring pathogenic algae on Hardenburgia, an ornamental climber.

Research into diseases affecting olives Ian is part author of a booklet which details all the diseases known to affect olives in New Zealand.

Not only plant problems handled A rather different challenge was presented when discoloration occurred on the conveyor belts at Sealord Fisheries and Ian identified the range of fungi present and helped formulate a programme to eliminate the problem.

After identification comes the remedy If the disease is listed in the New Zealand Agrichemical Manual Ian is safe in recommending the remedy certified in that publication. If it is a new disease he will suggest a treatment to be tried at the owner’s risk. Luckily most diseases are generic and only the host is new, which makes it simpler to suggest a chemical with which to combat the disease.

PLANTWISE meets Ian’s criteria for business success Ian’s criteria for business success are having repeat customers and good holidays. Although he elaborated on this axiom it is worth thinking about yourself!

Contacting PLANTWISE You can contact PLANTWISE at www.plantwise.co.nz From the website you can down-load submission forms and find information about preparing and delivering specimens.

Alternatively you can contact Dr Ian Harvey at Phone 03 3257240 Fax 03 3257241 or ring him on his mobile 025 2227 435

or email him at harveyi@plantwise.co.nz

or write to him at PO Box 8915 Christchurch