Unknown source. Memphis news Does anybody have anything on this. It may be tradeable, but not in a good way.

http://www.wreg.com/news/wreg-mystery-cr....

TIA

Might be related to the toxic dispersal agent used by BP in the Gulf. Take a look at the GUESS WE ARE DEAD thread.

That looks really bad... Especially because it's affecting everything, not just one specific crop.

We have little white dots on our fruit trees (upstate New York)

Can't get you pictures until the weekend.

Rmon, probably not. Too far away, up river and nothing in between seems to be affected.

When was the last time it rained there?

It looks like it last rained there on May 25th. That is about enough time for a chemical to be absorbed and attack a plant. I really hope this didn't come from the Gulf.

http://blog.memphisweather.net/2010/05/p....

Hmm. The article is worth reading, and the comments, too. Dead birds?!?!

Short DuPont?

Here is one of the comments:

Quote:

On May 25th, the Lucite facility next to Dupont on Hwy 51 and Fite Road in Millington had a chemical leak of sulfur trioxide. The chemical could easily have evaporated in our local atmosphere then recondensed as acid rain on nearby plants. Chemical burns can cause that kind of spotty damage. Sulfur trioxide combined with H2O results in sulfuric acid (SO3 + H2O = H2SO4) Wikipedia defines Acid Rain as ... "caused by emissions of compounds of ammonium, carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur which react with the water molecules in the atmosphere to produce acids..." WREG carried that story but I'd like to see the two stories linked.

Goodlander just chimed in on this via email.

Goodlander wrote..

I don't have gold status so no posting in softs until 8 (don't do the pay-pal thing anymore so tough to donate). I have tried mailing cash to Karl however these seem to end up funding the usps christmas party.

What is there looks like a fungus, downey mildew was my first thought. When they showed some "white stuff" preceding the "burns" it really sounded like mildew (fungus). What makes this not sound like a fungus is that it is affecting plants crossing multiple families. Fungus should only affect one specific crop/plant at a time. Occasionally you will find a leaf "rust" in the wheat crop affecting some grasses beside the field but even this is rare to see. The "after" pictures in the clip also look like a fungus, the plant is not burnt right through, there is a light tan inside of a brown ring. Bugs generally eat right through the leaf and there is nothing else there that looks like insect damage.

The other possibility is, like the people talked about, a pollution reaction. The problem with this theory is that if it was pollution it is not normal for you to get a white substance first which morphed into a "burn." I also did not see many holes that went right through the plant. If it were a result of the dispersant I would expect to see white edges to the affected areas, however not knowing exactly what is in the dispersant it is impossible for me to make a definite statement about the resulting colour.

The dead birds could be coincidence (hopefully). Some fungus is poisonous however so is some pollution.

It is impossible for me to say exactly what this thing is for sure. I would need to actually be in the field and take a look at it for myself. A map of where it has been found with dates would make it a whole lot easier too. you can usually tell the difference between fungus and pollution by a map showing the spread.

Trying here to not be too dramatic but if this is a fungus god help us all. I have been saying for years that we are so far beyond the planets natural carrying capacity that something is going to come up and bite us in the ass, I fully expect that to come out of the plant kingdom. Thanks to hollywood we are ready for zombie or martian attacks, not 4 billion people starving to death.

Cross your fingers that this is pollution, not fungus. The repercussions of this being a fungus in the world's bread basket is something you don't want to think about.

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If it hasn't rained much, it should be fairly easy to check the pH of the damaged leafy areas, especially on the organic farms. Might help to at least narrow down if the culprit is a chemical or an organism.

Any widespread incidence of dead birds in the affected areas would make this a five alarm emergency, imho.

edit: good comments from goodlander. Thx, Asi.

And here I was thinking an organism would be good news...

I have watched the video a few times again. There is the possibility that this is not from a single cause or a single fungus. There is the possibility that the conditions were just right this year for every fungus present in the soil to become active. that would explain the different effects on the different plants. I have never seen every plant become affected as they are in this area, this does not mean it can not happen. For everyone's sake I hope this possibility is the correct one.

Looking again at the damage to the leaves it does not really look like a pollution reaction. if it were an acidic rain issue I would expect some "tracers" from the plants circulatory system.

I am not saying that it can not be pollution however from what I have seen it looks more like fungus. Hopefully it is a large number of fungi, not just one nasty spore producing mofo.

More thinking: there is the possibility that the recent fire and leak at the local chemical plant may have released something into the atmosphere that induced a fungal bloom. the timing is a bit suspicious.

Anyone have any more information about this one? I have not seen or heard anything other than the info Livermore posted.

I am 99+% sure this will remain localized and not have international ramifications however there is still that little lingering thought in my head this could be something which does not end well.

Nothing helpful. The two discussions I found on it veered off into chemtrail talk... There's nothing on the TN dept of ag site, nor on the agricultural extension (Univ TN) site...

I just talked to someone else who has seen this report and knows about these things. They concurred that it is pretty much a given that this is a fungus issue. The big question is what caused all of the fungi to come out and play all at the same time. I am sure this is not the first time it has ever rained there, or been some waterlogged areas.

As I said before this is likely a giant nothingburger (unless it is your crop) however I hope that there is some efforts being put into this on the very odd chance this could turn into something bigger. There is enough water in the northern great plains for this to happen in a very very large area (we are soaked) should this not be an isolated freak incident.

Thanks Fidg, The discussions I found went to tinfoil pretty quick too.

Considering it hasn't jumped west over the river...

Looks like someone may have been playing with an old batch of Command or something similar. However, there is a ton of wicked **** across the way from there where regulations and law mean jack ****...

It has been about week now and no extra news or information about this one in the media suggesting this is a localized issue.

It does not look like a herbicide issue to me. A herbicide would cause plants to show signs of systemic damage, not localized like the video shows. It is a reasonable first thought though.

Most likely scenario: leak at local chemical plant causes what people describe as rain that burns the skin. the acid (base?) in the rain damages the cuticle on the leaves. soggy conditions create optimal environment for fungus to propagate in the soil. As all plants are hit with the same acid (base?) rain all plants are susceptible to opportunistic fungi. I have no idea what actually leaked out of the chemical plant so the rain could, in theory, be very basic which would help spur on growth of some fungus.

These are just my thoughts on the most probable cause. I still find it strange that every plant and tree was hit but sometimes strange things just happen.

any other theories? someone must have some (contrails don't count as a theory).

Goodlander, Thanks for the follow-up. This crop thing worried me because I went tinfoil. Breadbasket of the US, Center of the country and not too far from Mexico. Thanks for the Meat call as well. My system got me in and out and it ran through March, April, and out May 6, -long the whole time.

More images: http://anthony77373.shutterfly.com/pictu....

These are apparently from north of houston.

Quote:

I live North of Houston,it rained here last night around 8pm.
This morning I went out to take trash out ( 8 am) and noticed the rain drops were still on some of the plants on the ground. I didnt think nothing of it. I went outside to leave at 11am and the drops were still there. So I went and took a closer look at the plants. There was rain drops and what looked like burned marks. I took so pics and went to the store.
At 12:40 pm , I returned home and looked at the plants again, I figured they would be dry by now.
There was less rain drops and more marks on the leaves. So I started looking at more plants around my yard to notice some had these rain drop burns and some had a white chalky substance on them and on a few the leaves were totally dying.
These plants weren't like this 2 days ago.

I then came inside and did an internet search and found the above link.

I have pics and would like to share, but my internet is really slow and it takes forever to upload. Does anyone have any advise on what i could do to get these pics up the fastest with a slow internet connection.

The link he's referring to finding is the original link in this thread. Here's APPARENTLY the source for the post, but I can't access it because they've blocked my provider for "attacks."

http://www......................./forum1....

I know it's not exactly a dependable source, but I wanted to put it here anyway.

Asi, I checked out that thread. It's a little tinfoilish and everyting is acid rain. No mention of fungus that I saw. North Houston was getting a lot of play.

If the pictures are real, that confirms that it wasn't something local to the memphis area though - and that's important.

hmmm....the only info (anecdotal or otherwise) I can find about any Houston damage is just that one guy on GLP...

If nothing else, there's some more (and much better quality) images for goodlander to check out.

Thanks for relaying, asimov :)