Jim Dandy to the rescue!
Posted on 05/12/2005 8:18:06 AM PDT by dware
Plant lovers in the South are being asked to watch their camellias, rhododendrons and other ornamentals for signs of Sudden Oak Death, a fungal disease that has already killed thousands of trees on the West Coast.
U.S. Forest Service officials say the disease — which shows up with spots on leaves and dead twigs — was carried to the region in ornamentals shipped last year from nurseries in California and Oregon. The ornamentals serve as hosts and wind-borne spores can infect nearby oaks, which often die within two years.
The fear is that the fungus could have the same effect on oaks in Eastern states as the chestnut blight did in the early 1900s. Spread by a fungus from Asia, chestnut blight virtually wiped out one of the East's major tree species within 50 years.
"It's a regional concern; it's a global concern," said William Jones, a plant pathologist with the Forest Service's forest health protection unit in Asheville, N.C. "The threat to the Appalachians is basically as large as it was from chestnut blight."
Twenty-three states, including Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida, received some of the infected plants. Georgia alone received 59,000 of them and officials destroyed 10,000 after 53 plants tested positive. But by then, retailers and nurseries had already sold about 49,000.
Those are probably already growing in yards and landscapes, so officials are asking residents to monitor ornamentals for the symptoms and submit samples for testing.
Other Southeastern states have mounted similar monitoring programs, although scientists are still not sure if the disease will cause as much damage as in California because of climate differences.
"We don't know how susceptible our natives are going to be to this," University of Georgia forester Dave Moorhead said. "If it turns out there is some degree of susceptibility, it's too late."
If it spreads into the South, it could cause significant damage to region's forest industry. In Georgia alone, forestry is a $20 billion forest industry. About half of the state's 24 million acres of forest are made up of hardwood trees, including oaks.
The Georgia Forestry Commission, which is responsible for the state's forests, has launched a statewide educational effort to alert consumers. The Georgia Department of Agriculture, which regulates the state's nurseries, also has stepped up inspections.
James Johnson, the Forestry Commission's forest health coordinator, said Sudden Oak causes cankers around the trunk that cut off the tree's supply of water and nutrients.
Since its discovery in 1995 in California, Sudden Oak has killed thousands of native oaks and tan oaks. It thrives in the cool, damp climate along the West Coast.
The entire West Coast is classified as a high-risk area, along with a large chunk of the East that has similar weather, stretching from southern Pennsylvania to northeastern Alabama.
Mark Stanley, chairman of the California Oak Mortality Task Force, said the disease was discovered in Germany and has now turned up in 12 countries, including England, Belgium, Poland, Spain and the Canadian province of British Columbia.
Florida and several other states banned shipments of California ornamentals last year, but lifted the ban when the federal Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service began requiring nursery inspections in California, Oregon and Washington. All plants that could host the disease have to be certified disease-free before they can leave any of the three states.
The disease has been a major setback for California's $3.2 billion nursery industry, which is the nation's largest.
"It's a problem and it's recognized and we're taking care of it," said Rick Dominge, president of the Nursery Growers Association of California.
Are the laurels in danger? And I thought the worst of it would be the agleid threat to the hemlocks.
Garnener's grrrr over the lack of specifics!
The Appalachicans are a rain forest, but the rainfall is different here than is in Seattle--when it rains here, you can feel it. If it rains an inch in a weekend in CA, the hills start melting. And it gets plenty hot in the summer in the South.
This was scrolling on the news ticker this morning, on one of Austin's local news channels. I guess it's a pretty serious problem.
I believe this is from the incident last year where Camellias, rhododendrons and a few other plants were shipped by Monrovia from their nursery in California. If you bought woody plants from Monrovia last year you should contact the nursery you bought them from and find out if they're involved in the recall.
I don't know if Monrovia was the only distributor, I know they were the main one. It might pay to ask the nursery about that as well.
Jim Dandy to the rescue!
Do you think this guy in Asheville is on the level? It's times like these that I really detest those junk-scientists (like the Global Warming Chicken Littles) who have made it so difficult to recognize a genuine threat. So many PhDs are out for "face time"...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.