As you know, the "sudden oak death" pathogen got shipped around the
country this spring on Monrovia nursery plants. If you've bought a plant
that has a Monrovia tag on it, especially a camellia, you might want to
take that plant to a Cooperative extension office, on the off-chance that
they've instigated a whole-state search for it. If you've already planted
the plant, just call them and tell them. The state Ag departments can
trace the plants all the way to retail nurseries, but often nurseries
don't keep records of who they sold each plant to, and the trail goes
cold.

Other than that, be calm. Go to http://www.suddenoakdeath.org/ if you
have questions, and certainly check out the list of hosts, and the
pictures of symptoms.

Unless you have a tanoak or a live oak bonsai, your trees are not in any
danger from this pathogen, which doesn't do a lot of damage on most of its
hosts. The problem is that it might spread off an infected plant into the
ecosystem, and there's no way to know (at this point) what that would
mean. In Australia, Phytophthora cinnamomi got loose and has
significantly altered the forest structure on that continent (any Aussies
want to comment?).

The government is trying to regulate the spread of the pathogen through
"official" channels, doing inspections of nurseries, etc. The only
concern I have is that bonsai travel through very unofficial channels;
friends trade bonsai, sell them at shows, etc. Be careful: don't move
host plants out of California, don't buy host plants from California. If
you have questions, but don't want to incriminate yourself, you can ask me
and I will tactfully get an answer for you.

Nina, your friend in the government, unless that's an oxymoron.

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Nina,

I have purchased Monrovia plants this year. Some
before the announcement and one after. I live in
California where we already have this pathogen in the
soil. Do I have to do anything?

Kits

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to see us act just once, with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything that
frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that needs our
love." -- Rainer Maria Rilke

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Nina,

I have purchased Monrovia plants this year. Some
before the announcement and one after. I live in
California where we already have this pathogen in the
soil. Do I have to do anything?

Kits

If they aren't host plants, you have no worries. We don't want to shun
Monrovia, which has done nothing wrong and deserves no blame! If you
bought host plants, you might want to look around your yard and see if you
have any large, glorious oaks sitting around that you cherish and want to
keep healthy. Oaks don't get this disease from other oaks: for the most
part, they catch it from California bay trees (Umbellularia californica).
So if you plant an infected rhododendron or camellia, it might spread it
to bay trees, which will spread it to oaks.

Nina

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If they aren't host plants, you have no worries. We don't want
to shun
Monrovia, which has done nothing wrong and deserves no blame!
If you
bought host plants, you might want to look around your yard and
see if you
have any large, glorious oaks sitting around that you cherish
and want to
keep healthy. Oaks don't get this disease from other oaks: for
the most
part, they catch it from California bay trees (Umbellularia
californica).
So if you plant an infected rhododendron or camellia, it might
spread it
to bay trees, which will spread it to oaks.


Q virginiana??????????

ALL oaks?

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Only where
people have learned to appreciate and cherish the landscape and
its living cover will they treat it with the care and respect it
should have - Paul Bigelow Sears.

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Other than that, be calm. Go to http://www.suddenoakdeath.org/
if you
have questions, and certainly check out the list of hosts, and
the
pictures of symptoms.


Gee. The indication that _all_ Rhododendron species are affected
is a bit worrying. Going to the page that is linked, however,
gets to a listing for a single native California Rhododendron.

Is the remainder of the genus Rhododendron listed by inference,
or has it shown up on all Rhodies?

I probably bought a Monrovia Satsuki LAST year. Do we assume
that the nursery was NOT infected then? Or do we assume the
infection merely had not been discovered?

I note that not all maples, or all blueberries, or all Pieris
(tho many) are listed as carriers.

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Nature
encourages no looseness, pardons no errors. Ralph Waldo
Emerson - HOW TRUE!

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Gee. The indication that _all_ Rhododendron species are affected
is a bit worrying. Going to the page that is linked, however,
gets to a listing for a single native California Rhododendron.

The host list is based on observances in the wild, not inoculation
studies. So although we have tested dozens of cultivars of Rhododendron,
those cultivars are not listed. I can tell you, however, that lots of
cultivars are susceptible.

I probably bought a Monrovia Satsuki LAST year. Do we assume
that the nursery was NOT infected then? Or do we assume the
infection merely had not been discovered?

We don't know.

I note that not all maples, or all blueberries, or all Pieris
(tho many) are listed as carriers.

For "wild" or noncultivar plants, susceptibility is on an individual
basis, because the genetic population may be very diverse (whereas most
cultivars are clones). Some tanoaks in affected areas are doing fine.
Also, some plants are only susceptible to a huge spore-load; for instance,
if they are growing under an infected California bay, they will get the
disease, otherwise they wouldn't. I suspect most species of maples will
turn out not to be hosts, but we have to wait for someone to test them.

Nina

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