I'm back from a conference on sudden oak death. The most pertinent
information for the bonsai grower is that most states have standardized
their quarantine procedures for plants coming out of California so they
conform to the national guidelines. This is very good news, since each
state having different rules was hard on California nurseries. For
more regulatory information, go to:
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppq/ispm/sod/

Otherwise, not much is new. A lot of work is being done on pesticide
efficacy. There's a lot of concern because rose has been named a host
plant (which explains what the "Jackson and Perkins" guy was doing at
the meeting!).

Europeans among you have a new disease to worry about: Phytophthora
kernovii. It was discovered in England while people were looking for
SOD, and it attacks beeches. It is more of a threat than SOD for
England, which is why they are paving over Cornwall (! not much of an
exaggeration!). No one knows where it came from and where else it
might be, so check your beeches. For more information:
http://www.defra.gov.uk/planth/pkernovii.htm

A lot of us east coasters at the meeting were wondering what we ought
to be doing to prepare for SOD being found established in the East,
which will happen sooner or later. For now, all you guys should keep
an eye on your Rhododendrons and Camellias. It is known that one case
of SOD in PA was traced to a California bonsai nursery, so it could
happen to you.

Nina

I dunno, Nina. Every year there's a new plant enemy. Has this always been
the case, or is the cause increased accessibility? Are we too civilized?
Sooner or later, each of these insects and diseases seems to win out over
the best efforts to control them. That's why I think we should concentrate
on developing disease-resistant varieties rather than focusing on
preventative measures. IMHO we have very little choice.
Marty
----- Original Message -----
From: "Nina"
To:
Sent: Monday, January 24, 2005 11:01 AM
Subject: [IBC] Sudden oak death: updates


I'm back from a conference on sudden oak death. The most pertinent
information for the bonsai grower is that most states have standardized
their quarantine procedures for plants coming out of California so they
conform to the national guidelines. This is very good news, since each
state having different rules was hard on California nurseries. For
more regulatory information, go to:
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppq/ispm/sod/

Otherwise, not much is new. A lot of work is being done on pesticide
efficacy. There's a lot of concern because rose has been named a host
plant (which explains what the "Jackson and Perkins" guy was doing at
the meeting!).

Europeans among you have a new disease to worry about: Phytophthora
kernovii. It was discovered in England while people were looking for
SOD, and it attacks beeches. It is more of a threat than SOD for
England, which is why they are paving over Cornwall (! not much of an
exaggeration!). No one knows where it came from and where else it
might be, so check your beeches. For more information:
http://www.defra.gov.uk/planth/pkernovii.htm

A lot of us east coasters at the meeting were wondering what we ought
to be doing to prepare for SOD being found established in the East,
which will happen sooner or later. For now, all you guys should keep
an eye on your Rhododendrons and Camellias. It is known that one case
of SOD in PA was traced to a California bonsai nursery, so it could
happen to you.

Nina

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Marty said:
I dunno, Nina. Every year there's a new plant enemy. Has this always

been the case, or is the cause increased accessibility? Are we too
civilized? Sooner or later, each of these insects and diseases seems
to win out over the best efforts to control them. That's why I think
we should concentrate on developing disease-resistant varieties rather
than focusing on preventative measures. IMHO we have very little
choice.

I reply:

The problem in England is the "Historic gardens". For about a hundred
years, intrepid gardeners have gone exploring and bringing back plants
without thought to the diseases they might harbor. The world is now a
very small place, and there are few parts of it that don't interact
with the rest. We haven't found the native habitat of SOD yet;
probably China. At any rate, we can expect to see a faster and faster
rate of introduction of exotic diseases.

It's fine to develop resistant stock of cultivated plants, but SOD and
now P. kernovii are not simply attacking nursery stock, they are
killing native forests where neither spraying with fungicides or
resistant stock will do any good. To protect forests, you need
preventative measures or ugly clean-up measures.

Just as a history lesson: Chestnut blight took out the Northern
chestnut forests, but Phytophthora cinnamomi, introduced into the US in
the 1870's, wiped it out in the South. None of us remember this, but
the chestnut was the dominant tree in eastern forests and its timber
and nuts were a major economic force in Colonial America. It was a
major food source for birds, deer and swine. Now, the chestnut has
vanished. Cultivars resistant to chestnut blight have been bred, but
none of them can survive for long in the south, because P. cinnamomi is
still in the soil, and nothing has resistance to *it*. Our Eastern
forests can never go back to what they were.

A more recent history lesson: P. cinnamomi was introduced to
Australia, and has wiped out whole ecosystems. Any aussies who want to
comment, please do, because many people can remember the "before" and
"after" in Australia. Eventually a new equilibrium will be reached,
eventually no one will remember the "before", but Australian forests
will never be the same.

If you're suggesting that we sit back passively and watch the red oak
go exinct as well, well.... I don't think many people will agree with
you. And it's sad to visit California and see the land dotted with
dead oaks, to hear how this is affecting the bird and animal
populations, to hear how it's affecting the risk of major forest fires,
etc. etc. This is not just a problem of gardens. This is a potential
ecological disaster. We have to try and limit spread, even if it is
ultimately futile. At the very least, the study of Phytophthora is
undergoing a renaissance it hasn't seen since potato blight. We are
learning a tremendous amount, perhaps which can be applied to the
*next* disaster.

Nina

Nina,
Thanks for the "new-buzz in your field" post. It is just great to read
something with confidence in the source - EVEN when it is scaring me to
death.
Rose a host plant ?- yegods, I have sent Jackson-Perkins a spendy
order for roses, new weeping tree type, and others that, unlike
old-faithfuls, may be tender hosts if a pest shows up.
(Marty hits the point with his insight on his idea of promoting new
plants with resistance.) I should have picked out old proven ones.
Then add to that the fact that I am surrounded here at the Oregon coast
with rhododendrons and camillia on three sides and within pest flight
distance from my bonsai. And regularly I am presented with large bouquets
of their flowers , their intentions the best, but my recoil is pure fear of
infecting my trees. I could turn into one of those people who spray too
much unless I get a hold here.

Hope to see you in May, Wash. DC .
Lynn
Lynn Boyd, Oregon, USA












Subject: [IBC] Sudden oak death: updates


I'm back from a conference on sudden oak death. The most pertinent
information for the bonsai grower is that most states have standardized
their quarantine procedures for plants coming out of California so they
conform to the national guidelines. This is very good news, since each
state having different rules was hard on California nurseries. For
more regulatory information, go to:
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppq/ispm/sod/

Otherwise, not much is new. A lot of work is being done on pesticide
efficacy. There's a lot of concern because rose has been named a host
plant (which explains what the "Jackson and Perkins" guy was doing at
the meeting!).

Europeans among you have a new disease to worry about: Phytophthora
kernovii. It was discovered in England while people were looking for
SOD, and it attacks beeches. It is more of a threat than SOD for
England, which is why they are paving over Cornwall (! not much of an
exaggeration!). No one knows where it came from and where else it
might be, so check your beeches. For more information:
http://www.defra.gov.uk/planth/pkernovii.htm

A lot of us east coasters at the meeting were wondering what we ought
to be doing to prepare for SOD being found established in the East,
which will happen sooner or later. For now, all you guys should keep
an eye on your Rhododendrons and Camellias. It is known that one case
of SOD in PA was traced to a California bonsai nursery, so it could
happen to you.

Nina

************************************************** ******************************
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************************************************** ******************************
-- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ --
+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++

************************************************** ******************************
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************************************************** ******************************
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On 24 Jan 2005 at 12:35, Marty Haber wrote:

I dunno, Nina. Every year there's a new plant enemy. Has this always been
the case, or is the cause increased accessibility? Are we too civilized?
Sooner or later, each of these insects and diseases seems to win out over
the best efforts to control them. That's why I think we should concentrate
on developing disease-resistant varieties rather than focusing on
preventative measures. IMHO we have very little choice.
Marty

If it were only ornamentals that we need to worry about, we
wouldn't worry that much (and Nina could be jobless).

But as she said, these things wreak havoc in the "wild" (defined
to include city parks as well as wilderness).

Blame the jet plane. And blame e-mail, too.

The jet plane is obvious. More of us are going to more remote
and exotic places and bringing more junk back (both
intentionally and as stealth stow-aways in and on shoes,
clothing and baggage, etc.) to places where its has NO natural
enemies and LOTS of unsuspecting potential prey.

E-mail is more insidious and purposeful (if innocently so).
Imagine a garden list somewhere where Matilda extols the beauty
and other virtues of some native fruit or flower she grows to
members of the list. Somewhere, continents away, listmember
Gertrude starts drooling. She MUST have one, but Wayside
Gardens doesn't carry it (perhaps for damned good reason!).
Gertrude e-mails Matilda who obligingly sends seeds, cuttings or
small bare rooted plants in a manila envelope -- which no-one
checks as it wends its way from M to G. It arrives.
Unknowingly, an excited Gertrude rips open Pandora's box . . .
Again, no enemies but lots of possible prey.

Marine shipping also plays a part. Our coastal waters now play
host to untold number of harmful marine plants and animals that
made the journey from somewhere else to the "Promised Land" in
the bilge waters of cargo ships. Most notable (recently) of
these is a tiny stinging jellyfish that swimmers along the east
coast have discovered. But others (diseases, parasites, and
outright predators) also are affecting marine ecosystems that
support an already troubled seafood industry.

I'm easily wound up on this topic. So I'll unwind.

But before someone else says it, the world _probably_ will
adust, but the results in our lifetimes (and our children's)
will be a weak and pale "natural" outdoors.

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

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Jim;

I too am easily wound up on this topic .... having first hand experience
with your "bilge waters of cargo ships" example.
In another life, I was tasked with evaluating the oceanographic efficiency
of the very large outfall at the Alyeska Marine Terminal in Valdez Alaska,
located at the southern terminal of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline.
In brief .... HUGE oil tankers ply the worlds oceans carrying valuable
"Alaska Crude" to dozens of oil refineries all over our ever shrinking
planet.
On the trip back from these refineries, these tankers "tank down" with
millions of gallons of local (often tropical) sea water.
Obviously, the lower they sit in the ocean, the less wind resistance, the
easier they are to steer.
When the tankers arrive back in Valdez, thousands of tons of water are
pumped into football stadium sized holding tanks, and eventually back into
the Valdez Inlet.
Along with this HUGE volume of water are billions of organisms which were
never intended for this climate.
Now, some of you may think .... this cold Alaska water would offer nothing
to support these organisms, but you're wrong.
The waters surrounding Valdez are extremely nutrient rich, and foreign
organisms grow at an amazing rate, to an astonishing size.
I have personally seen (thanks to numerous submarine adventures) HUGE plants
and animals that don't belong in Alaska.

In short, Florida is covered with biota that love the warm moist climate.
The waters surrounding Alaska are filled with creatures who thrive on the
nutrient rich water.

What are we doing to our planet ?
Damned if I know, but it scares hell out of me !


Regards
Mark Hill - Harrisburg PA


-----Original Message-----

Jim Lewis wrote in part .........

snip
Our coastal waters now play host to untold number of harmful marine plants
and animals that made the journey from somewhere else to the "Promised Land"
in the bilge waters of cargo ships.
/snip

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The Pandora Vase os leaking in far too many points .... I guess it is
too late or maybe just a way for nature to grow new species .. after all
nothing is written on granite that will ever exist as we know it ...
not even Granite

Mark Hill wrote:

Jim;

I too am easily wound up on this topic .... having first hand experience
with your "bilge waters of cargo ships" example.
In another life, I was tasked with evaluating the oceanographic efficiency
of the very large outfall at the Alyeska Marine Terminal in Valdez Alaska,
located at the southern terminal of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline.
In brief .... HUGE oil tankers ply the worlds oceans carrying valuable
"Alaska Crude" to dozens of oil refineries all over our ever shrinking
planet.
On the trip back from these refineries, these tankers "tank down" with
millions of gallons of local (often tropical) sea water.
Obviously, the lower they sit in the ocean, the less wind resistance, the
easier they are to steer.
When the tankers arrive back in Valdez, thousands of tons of water are
pumped into football stadium sized holding tanks, and eventually back into
the Valdez Inlet.
Along with this HUGE volume of water are billions of organisms which were
never intended for this climate.
Now, some of you may think .... this cold Alaska water would offer nothing
to support these organisms, but you're wrong.
The waters surrounding Valdez are extremely nutrient rich, and foreign
organisms grow at an amazing rate, to an astonishing size.
I have personally seen (thanks to numerous submarine adventures) HUGE plants
and animals that don't belong in Alaska.

In short, Florida is covered with biota that love the warm moist climate.
The waters surrounding Alaska are filled with creatures who thrive on the
nutrient rich water.

What are we doing to our planet ?
Damned if I know, but it scares hell out of me !


Regards
Mark Hill - Harrisburg PA


-----Original Message-----

Jim Lewis wrote in part .........

snip
Our coastal waters now play host to untold number of harmful marine plants
and animals that made the journey from somewhere else to the "Promised Land"
in the bilge waters of cargo ships.
/snip

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************************************************** ******************************

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