Due to impatiens downy mildew (IDM), the wholesale value to impatiens dropped 32% from 2004 to 2015. This downy mildew kills its host, garden impatiens (Impatiens walleriana) with telltale symptoms of plants dropping their lower leaves.
As part of grant funding from USDA-NIFA SCRI, a team of researchers compiled known information on impatiens downy mildew, including information developed through a series of cooperative agreements sponsored by USDA-APHIS. Since this disease rarely occurred prior to 2003 when it became quite problematic in greenhouse production worldwide, very little information was available prior to the concerted efforts of this research team and others since the mid 2000’s. The result is a dossier covering primarily recent research results on plant and fungal biology, disease epidemiology and symptoms, host range and geographic distribution along with management options and genomics.
See below for a link to this dossier.