A Strange Story of Plant Devastation in the South

A blogger friend sent me this link yesterday. It is quite disturbing. If anyone knows more about it or speculates upon causes, please comment.

Mystery Crop Damage Threatens Hundreds Of Acres

A TV report from Memphis Tennessee (dated June 1st) reports (with video):

Something is killing crops, trees, even weeds and nobody can explain why. Farmers are scratching their heads and some are worried their crops may be lost to the mysterious plague. It's happening along a large swath of land near the Shelby and Tipton county border along Herring Hill Road and elsewhere near the Mississippi River bottoms.

Tiny dots appear to have burned onto leaves of all types of plants, and they appear different depending on the plant. On corn stalks, the dots seem to turn white in the center. On other plants, a white dust speckles the leaves and then destroys the green life underneath.

"We found it all in the herbs, in the flowers, in the plum tree, in the weeds," said organic farmer Toni Holt. "It's apparently in everything." Holt grows organic produce that she sells at area farmers' markets. As she and other farmers inspect the new growth covered in the perplexing plague, they fear their entire crop may be lost.

Less than ten miles from Holt's crops, the damage could possibly hit hundreds of acres of corn at Wilder Farms. It appears to have hit everything in its path. There does not seem to be anything in common with the affected plants.....continue reading and watch video

(h/t Tom)

And DEAD BABY BIRDS, too???
Yikes.