FYI - I recieved a letter from my State Department of Agriculture warning me that Sudden Oak Death (SOD) fungus Phytophthora ramorum had been found at Greer Gardens in Oregon, and asking me to examine any plants I may have purchased from them. SOD is especially deadly to Red Oak and related species. White Oaks seem to be immune. The disturbing piece that members here need to know is that a number of other plants may be infected by and play host to SOD. These companion host plants are rarely killed by the disease, but are the main culprits in the spread of its spores, which is rapidly destroying forests in California and Oregon. There is currently no cure. Acer circinatum and Acer pseudoplanatus are hosts to SOD, as are all Rhododendron species, including azaleas. Many of us like to pair our JMs with members of the Rhododendron family. If you have made purchases from Greers, I would advise you to arm yourself with information on this disease and make an inspection of your plants. For a comprehensive resource, go to www.suddenoakdeath.org
Feel bad for them. I have no idea what the true story is but thought I would post this reply on the greer gardens website: http://www.greergardens.com/about_us.htm "I have to mention "Sudden Oak Death" which is properly known as Phytophthora ramorum. I am sorry this has become such a political issue, but I can assure you that we do not have the disease in our plant material. We are glad to see both the Oregon Department of Agriculture and the USDA watch this issue closely. The ODA has taken literally 1000’s of samples to watch for this disease. Our nursery has had a very large number of samples taken, and all have come back clean. Any arriving shipments to us will also be tested if necessary, so you can be assured you are receiving plants free of Phytophthora ramorum. Our shipments will be certified with the following official government certification which can only be given to disease free plants from certified nurseries:"
I will ask my State Agricultural Agent to respond to the Greer statement. I'll ask for specific test data that proves they're wrong. However, given the choice between the word of the vendor and the State agency, I would have to pick the State....
About two weeks ago a woman from the USDA came out to my house and took about 10 leaves off of a circinatum cultivar that I'd received from Greer earlier this spring. She said they were going to be sent to a lab at Kansas State to be analyzed, and then she'd get back to me. When I hear anything, I'll pass it along.
Paxi, the Greer Garden article referred to seems to be dated 2006, guess the concern about SOD may be more recent.
The cat is long out of the bag on this one. It will be found here and there in future, indefinitely. It is too late to attempt to confine it. Perhaps it will even become highly prevalent. A retail nursery here was made to dig a deep trench, put some rhododendrons in plastic bags and bury them in it. They had to rent a backhoe. Phytophthora diseases have a large economic impact on the nursery industry. Phytophthora syringae results in more than $1 million in annual losses to shade tree production in Oregon alone. Phytophthora diseases on Rhododendron may affect up to 10% of plants; if a nursery becomes infected with Phytophthora ramorum, it could lose $90,000 to $1.3 million in costs for crop destruction and cleanup plus loss of sales. http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/dce/phytophthora/module1.html The P. ramorum situation across North America is changing rapidly, with both the CFIA and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) harmonizing regulations and certification programs. Canada is currently unregulated for P. ramorum with regard to shipping within Canada or to the USA. The reason for this is that the disease has been found in Canada only in a few isolated incidents in British Columbia following three years of extensive CFIA testing. The BC incidents are at a level considerably below some of the unregulated US states. Consequently, only BC growers are participating in the Certification program; it is voluntary since neither CFIA nor USDA regulations require certification for plant movement from any province of Canada. http://www.canadanursery.com/Page.asp?PageID=924&ContentID=750
BC has indeed been dealing with this for a few years, most nurseries now have foot bath areas for visitors and spray down rigs for the vehicles. spacing of hosts in the nursery, buffer zones etc, its a real PITA and has cost a number of nurseries many, many dollars due to cost of deep burial disposal, loss of product etc. I put it in a thread about phytopthera a while back but here is a link for those with an open mind to consider: http://home.ccil.org/~treeman/shigo/COP.html
Doug, Thanks for the heads up. Does SOD host in palmatums or just circinnatum and pseudoplatanus? What would I look for in a maple bought from Greer that would make me suspicious of SOD? Thanks.
Katsura, If you go to the link I provided on SOD, you'll see a list of host plants. Palmatums are not among them. There is a catalog of pictures showing leaves and stems of infected plants, including circinatums. Its not lethal to circinatums - looks more like a leaf fungus on first glance.
UPDATE: I double checked and SOD does NOT infect palmautms, japonicums, shirasuwanums, etc. Just circinatums and pseudoplanatus. There was only one infected plant found at Greers (a camelia). Other nurseries have also had minor infections in the same general area. Please check the SOD web site for more specifics and to keep abreast of recent outbreaks. The important thing is to be familiar with the signs and symptoms of this disease and the recommended steps to control it. If you do feel like you have an infected plant, contact your State Agricultural Department right away.
I don't think Greers has a problem. There was only one plant with an issue, and most likely it was something they got in from another nursery. My State agent said there had been a number of isolated infected plants found in nurseries all across the country, including Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia. I think the Feds are just playing it safe right now, making sure they catch anything before it gets out of control. You can imagine what would happen if a disease like that got loose in the East, where oaks are the main forest species...
The party that told me the containment stage has passed is an authority on phytophthora. According to them it might have been possible to confine it to the first sites at one time but that time is gone. This assessment was made several years ago.
