Strawberry growers across the country aren’t just tending fields – they’re often running a quiet race against fast-moving plant diseases. When trouble strikes, their first call is often to the plant pathologists at the Gulf Coast Research and Education Center (GCREC), the mighty hub where suspicious leaf spots and wilting plants are treated like high-stakes mysteries.
The latest culprit has entered the scene in the form of Fusarium wilt disease, which is popping up along the East Coast.
Fusarium wilt can survive in soil for years and spread through infected plant material and equipment, said Natalia Peres, professor of plant pathology at GCREC. Current strawberry varieties show limited resistance to the disease, and there are few effective fungicides, making the disease especially difficult to control.
Peres and Marcus Marin recently discovered the disease in Florida, North Carolina, New York, Connecticut and Virginia. They confirmed their findings through testing at the Plant Disease Diagnostic Clinic at GCREC, part of the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS).
Strawberry farmers from 22 states send their samples to the lab in Balm (in Hillsborough County), Marin said. They know they can count on the expertise and technology at GCREC.
“Because our program is largely focused on strawberries, we have been able to develop and implement molecular methods that allow for rapid diagnosis,” said Marin, an assistant professor of plant pathology at GCREC. “That way, we can provide preliminary results to growers within 24 to 48 hours after receiving a sample, while it would normally take seven to 10 days, using traditional methods.”
Marin boils the diagnostic process down to simple language.
“When sick plants arrive at our clinic, we first look for the parts that seem sick,” he said. “Then we test those plant pieces in the lab to find out what is making the plant sick.”
The current clinic was established in Balm in 2005, but plant pathologists at the former site in Dover diagnosed crop diseases going back through the 100-year history of GCREC.
Peres likens the clinic to “an X-ray of what is going on in growers’ fields.”
“I would say it pretty much helps us guide the priorities of our research program,” Peres said. “Every season is different, and we never know what diseases to expect, so we have worked on them all, from Botrytis to anthracnose, crown rots, Neopestalotiopsis and now the threat of Fusarium wilt.”
Marin, a former doctoral student and post-doctoral researcher under Peres’ supervision, said he has worked on developing diagnostic tools for Neopestalotiopsis.
“Early detection and accurate diagnosis are critical for managing this devastating pathogen.” Marin said. “I have also been expanding our rapid diagnostic services and implementing new assays for Fusarium wilt and Verticillium wilt of strawberry. Although neither disease had previously been reported in commercial strawberry fields in Florida, our proactive efforts and the establishment of these diagnostic systems enabled the detection of Fusarium wilt during the 2025–26 season in multiple farms along the eastern seaboard.”
The clinic at GCREC is among the five diagnostic labs of UF/IFAS Extension serving different regions of the state. The main clinic is in Gainesville, but plant pathologists statewide help growers of many crops find out what’s ailing their produce. In addition to Gainesville and GCREC, other clinics are at the North Florida Research and Education Center (NFREC), Southwest Florida Research and Education Center (SWFREC) and the Tropical Research and Education Center (TREC).
Indeed, last fall, UF/IFAS made plant pathology history. Its Plant Diagnostic Center — along with the NFREC Plant Disease Diagnostic Clinic — became the first university-based lab in the nation to earn accreditation from the prestigious National Plant Diagnostic Network (NPDN) — a recognition likened to receiving a “gold-medal seal of approval” for plant health.
“UF/IFAS plant diagnostic labs are considered among of the best, globally, due to the high level of expertise in diagnosing hundreds of plant pathogenic fungi, bacteria and viruses,” said Mathews Paret, chair of the plant pathology department. “When coupled with expertise in predictive tools (e.g. the Strawberry Advisory System developed at GCREC) and rigorous field-testing of new approaches, this provides the much-needed knowledge supporting Florida and U.S. agriculture.”
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ABOUT UF/IFAS
The mission of the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) is to develop knowledge relevant to agricultural, human and natural resources and to make that knowledge available to sustain and enhance the quality of human life. With more than a dozen research facilities, 67 county Extension offices, and award-winning students and faculty in the UF College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, UF/IFAS brings science-based solutions to the state’s agricultural and natural resources industries, and all Florida residents.
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