Climate conditions and Stemphyllium leaf blight development
During the 2017–08 growing season, significant outbreaks of Stemphylium leaf blight (SLB) occurred in commercial onion fields across the main growing regions of Pukekohe, Hawke’s Bay and Canterbury (Wright et al. 2018).
The possibility that climate may have been a contributor to the appearance of SLB was evaluated using hourly temperature and relative humidity (RH) data, and this last growing season (2017–18) was compared with the previous four seasons in Pukekohe, Hawke’s Bay and Canterbury when there are no records that the disease was observed.
