Washington nursery update

Washington has had 10 confirmed positive nurseries to date in 2012, the most in a single year since 2006. Counties with detections include King, Pierce, Thurston, Lewis, Clark, Clallam, and Skagit. Eight of the nurseries are repeat positives and six are certified interstate host shippers, three of which have shipped host and associated host plant material in the past six months. Positive plants have included Rhododendron, Viburnum, Camellia, Magnolia, two Pieris, and one Gaultheria. With most of the positive nurseries in Washington catering to the landscape trade, and the housing industry slow, at least four of the 10 sites have had some of the currently positive plants in the nursery yard for over a year. It is unknown how long they have been infected on site.

From the July 2012 COMTF newsletter

Stream monitoring update

A stream in western Washington and one in northern Georgia have been found P. ramorum positive for the first time as a result of the National Early Detection Survey of Forests, bringing the total number of positives to date for this year to 14. Both new stream positives are in urban areas with current or formerly positive nurseries in the vicinity. Stream baiting will continue in an effort to identify the inoculum sources. In addition, the eight eastern sites in MS, AL, GA, FL, and NC found positive in the past have been confirmed positive again in 2012.

from the July COMTF newsletter

Fourth genetic lineage of Phytophthora ramorum pathogen identified

The increasing intensity of the P. ramorum outbreaks in the UK led researchers to analyze samples from the new findings further, which resulted in the discovery of a fourth genetically distinct lineage of the pathogen.
Announcing this at the Fifth Sudden Oak Death Symposium in California recently, Clive Brasier, an emeritus professor with the Forestry Commission's Forest Research agency, said he believed, based on genetic analysis, that the previously unknown European Type 2 (EU2) lineage had been recently introduced into south-west Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Read the full article here