By ELLIOTT MINOR, Associated Press WriterWed
May 11,10:01 PM ET
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.
(posted 5/13/05)
