California crops infected due to water mold

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CBS, KYMA/KECY) - This winter battered California with rain, and flooded out farms across the state.

"Because of climate change, there is more moisture in the atmosphere," Dr. Michael Hoffman of the Cornell Institute for Climate Smart Solutions.

Crops like an almond tree branch is now covered in this gumming-being attacked by the pathogen "Phytophthora."

"They're known as water molds," said Alejandro Hernandez Rosas, PhD Candidate of Plant Pathology at University of California-Davis.

Attacking the roots of trees

Experts say Phytophthora is usually a soil-borne disease that attacks the roots of trees. But now, the water mold is attacking the leaves, branches and fruit itself.

"It was able to swim sort of up the trees and cause diseases in different parts of the trees that you would never see otherwise," Hoffman described.

"These leaves are curled in; that's a response to the warmth. It's not because this tree isn't healthy," said James Chinchiolo, Owner of Lodi Blooms

Chinchiolo's cherry trees in Lodi are thriving, but he's paying attention to leaf size, leaf color and fruit size.

"Direct risk of pathogens to humans is minimal," Hoffman explained.

Working on better drainage

The tree is instead at risk-producing a smaller, less desirable crop.

"People like big, plump, juicy cherries," Chinchiolo detailed.

So the more infected trees, the less crops available-equaling higher prices at grocery stores.

"If the orchard becomes flooded, then that pathogen can essentially swim from one tree to the next," Chinchiolo exclaimed.

Farmers are working on better drainage to avoid the future spread of this water mold.