The Emerging Viruses in Cucurbits Working Group will be hosting a webinar series “Cucurbit Viruses in the United States” in April and May. This three-part webinar series will discuss each of the key viruses known to impact or infect cucurbits in the United States. Each webinar will focus on one or more groups of viruses (see below). An introductory presentation in the first webinar will introduce attendees to the EVCWG and the overall cucurbit virus situation in the United States. All subsequent presentations will be approximately 10 minutes in length and focus on a single virus or related viruses and discuss the initial appearance or identification in the United States, the cucurbit hosts affected, and the mode(s) of transmission; the geographic incidence in the United States; virus symptoms expressed on key cucurbit hosts and disease development; methods required for diagnosis; details on virus spread and transmission; epidemiologically important factors for virus spread (e.g., host range, vector prevalence, weather, occurrence in mixed infections); and methods for virus and virus disease management. Webinars will end with a short Q&A session. Webinars are FREE, but registration is required; please note that there are separate registrations for each webinar.
Presentations in these webinars will target the grower/producer audience but will be useful for stakeholders in industry, academia, and government, including Extension agents, crop advisors, and diagnosticians. CCA credits have been requested and are pending for webinars. Specific viruses to be discussed and speaker bios are listed on the registration pages for each webinar (links below).
Webinar #1: “Introduction and Whitefly-transmitted Viruses in Cucurbits”; Wednesday, April 8, 2026 from 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM Central Time (1 hour 40 minutes); Register for Webinar 1 HERE
Webinar #2: “Aphid-, Beetle-, and Thrips-transmitted Viruses in Cucurbits”; Wednesday, April 22, 2026 from 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM Central Time (1 hour 20 minutes); Register for webinar 2 HERE
Webinar #3: “Other Vectored and Mechanically- and Seed-transmitted Viruses and Viruses with Unknown Modes of Transmission in Cucurbits”; Tuesday, May 5, 2026 from 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM Central Time (1 hour); Register for webinar 3 HERE
Rebecca A. Melanson, Ph. D.
Extension Plant Pathologist, Central Mississippi Research and Extension Center
Mississippi State University Extension Service
Extending knowledge. Changing lives.
