Sudden Oak Death

I am guessing many of you already saw this article, but they found it in a Viburnum @ SEARS in Portage, IN shipped from Oregon. Here is the yahoo link:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060801/ap_on_sc/oak_killing_fungus

Bill

Yeah, with the big production nurseries in California continuing to ship their stuff all over the map, it's just a matter of time until we find out just how adaptable SOD is to the rest of the country.

Guy S.

Why are the SODs still permitted to send stuff outside the infected area???

Resin

Answer: Money. It would be more effective if other states would refuse to allow shipments in. I thank willis_mckenna for the information. I plan on contacting the Ohio Department of Agriculture, who would be the controlling authority here, and ask what plans they have in place for another potential tree disaster. We are currently dealing with Emerald Ash Borer, Oak Wilt and Gypsy Moth. The economic costs of the current devastating pests and diseases has already run the state out of funds for effective programs. Another problem would meet with no resistance if it became established.

I didn't think nurseries in areas with SOD were allowed to ship to areas outside unless they got some sort of certificate that they were SOD-free? Not that this'll catch 100% of cases obviously but I thought there was some sort of protective measure in place.

I think they need such certification, but how many inspectors would it take to look at every plant coming out of a place like Monrovia, and how many of them would miss the early stages (or even active spores) of the fungus? I agree with Resin and Snapple, even though it would deal a huge and possibly blow to some of the biggies in the California nursery industry.

Guy S.

They are required to get certification. BC nurseries are also required to get certification but the cost puts small nurseries "off-the-map". We had a shipment of Camelias from California that were infected. I've also heard a nursery in California uses soil made of SOD succeptible plant chippings. Aggie officers are refusing to phyto shipments as they can be sued.

I have an inquiry letter off to the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources regarding Ohio's position on importation. As I am an elected official in these parts the letter will get answered. However, the State is not forward looking on these types of issues. My experience with those at the state level is that they are historically reactive, not proactive. This is so serious however, and since the powers that be are catching a lot of heat for the failed EAB strategy, that I think maybe, just maybe they might take steps to avert the spread of SOD. We shall see.

I hope it works -- keep us posted!

I try to be optimistic and I sure hope this doesn't turn out to be like chestnut blight. I am still cautious about planting too many oaks. This is yet another reason to avoid monocultures. What's next, some kind of big maple or pine disease? The list of safe trees to plant sure is getting short.

snapple, if this is any help here is the link to the Sudden Oak page for Plant Health on Imports for Canada: http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/plaveg/protect/pestrava/sodmsc/sodmsce.shtml The host list is at the bottom of the page and is getting longer by the month.

Thank you growin, There are several more state agencies to contact and this will help get their attention.

I think it's interesting (and somewhat ironic) that CA is so careless about plants that are leaving the state when they are so picky about plants coming in--there are a number of mail order nurseries that won't ship to CA because they don't want to deal with the hassle/expense of the phyto certificates that are required, and then there's the ag inspection stations on all the highways coming into CA, trying to catch you sneaking in some sort of foreign plant material. I would think they would be more considerate of the fact that other states don't want our plant diseases any more than we want theirs!

Ecrane,
I was thinking the exact same thing. Well said.

Scott

I don't think it's anything new. The inspectors got sued by a shipment of strawberry plants to Canada a few years ago and they haven't been as cooperative since. After all, what goes out of the state doesn't matter as much. We can't ship bamboo, anything related to citrus, palms or anything on the SOD list to the US.