Georgia officials found two new kudzu patches with soybean rust in urban Valdosta during scouting, making Lowndes County the fifth in the state and 15th in the U.S. with rust so far in 2007.

Kudzu were scouted for soybean rust in Atkinson, Berrien, Clinch, Lowndes and Ware counties, located in south central to southeast Georgia, bordering Florida, the state commentary said.

No rust was found, except for two new locations in Valdosta, Georgia. These two sites had never been scouted before and were located in urban/industrial areas of the city.

The first kudzu site was located behind an abandoned white building, which may have reflected some heat and kept the tissue living. The tissue was old and appeared to have survived through the winter, so rust ‘over-wintered’ at this particular location.

Officials reported that most of the infected kudzu leaves were removed where possible, but some vines were too high to reach. However, most leaves were bagged and destroyed at these sites in an attempt to eradicate any existing inoculum, they said. Scouting continues across southern Georgia.

To date in 2007, there are five counties positive for rust in each of three Southeast U.S. states: Alabama, Florida and Georgia.

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