Tropical storm Alberto moved across drought-plagued areas of Florida last week and had the potential of moving soybean rust spores, but only one case of the disease has been reported.

The sentinel plot in Martin County, near West Palm Beach, in which soybean rust was documented is near sites where spores were known to have over-wintered.

Though plots in the Florida panhandle had similar levels of over-wintering spores, no active rust has been detected in any of those sentinel plots. After the brief respite from tropical storm Alberto, hot dry weather returned to Florida and other areas of the lower Southeast affected by the storm.

Spore counts in Florida remain low and no movement has been recorded, even at kudzu sites in Florida, Georgia and Alabama.

Unseasonably hot and dry weather in the region is expected to continue to blunt development and movement of the disease.

Email: rroberson@farmpress.com