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Strange bumps/marks on rainbow chard stems and veins. #771975

Asked September 16, 2021, 5:12 PM EDT

I'd like to know what is happening to the stems and some veins of some of my rainbow chard. Everything written that I found was about foliar diseases or pests that eat the leaves. This is not that; the plants look otherwise fine; they are giant and healthy. And not all of them have this, mostly just the yellow ones but some of the red ones as well. These look kind of evenly spaced lesions, they are bumpy with little crater-like indentations. I ate some of the other chard but avoided eating these since I was not sure if it could be fungal.

Chittenden County Vermont

Expert Response

Great pictures! This is damage from a pest called the tarnished plant bug. It has piercing sucking mouthparts and "stings" the ribs and this damage results. It is a hard pest to deal with since it has a wide host range (alfalfa, fruit crops, veg crops, etc) and is around all summer. You could try row covers to exclude the pest or the organic insecticide Pyganic but you would have to spray all summer. The good news is that is more unsightly than damaging so you can still use the foliage. https://ag.umass.edu/vegetable/fact-sheets/tarnished-plant-bug
https://extension.psu.edu/tarnished-plant-bug

Ann Hazelrigg

Plant Diagnostic Clinic

An Ask Extension Expert Replied September 17, 2021, 9:43 AM EDT

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