Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Natural stem infection of Lawson cypress (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana) caused by Phytophthora ramorum

This is the first report of C. lawsoniana as a natural host of P. ramorum. In November 2010, P. ramorum was isolated from a 4 m long by 60 cm wide aerial phloem lesion on another mature C. lawsoniana in a park near Clydebank, Scotland. There was heavy resinosis at the top of the lesion. Adjacent rhododendrons were also infected with P. ramorum. Ten other large C. lawsoniana at the Clydebank site had dieback and aerial or collar lesions caused by the recently introduced Phytophthora species, P. lateralis (SA Green, CM Brasier and JF Webber, unpublished). Such an overlap between P. ramorum and P. lateralis on C. lawsoniana on the same site is likely to lead to direct physical contact between the two species. Since they are closely related phylogenetically and produce similar fruiting structures (e.g. Brasier et al., 2010), such novel contact could result in their hybridisation (Brasier, 2000). This possibility is under investigation.

Read the full article here.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Webinar - Scheduling Lawn and Garden Watering on your Smartphone or Web Browser

Learn how to plan your watering to eliminate flooding and Phytophthora problems. Attend this free webinar:


“Scheduling Lawn and Garden Watering on your Smartphone or Web Browser”
When do I turn the water on?  How long do I leave it on?  These are simple questions with difficult answers.  This webinar will describe how to use a new irrigation scheduling tool that runs equally well on a Smartphone or any web browser to greatly simplify making these decisions in a way that will result in green lawns and healthy gardens, save you work, and most importantly save on your water bill!

Tuesday May 29th at 7:00 PM go to breeze.wsu.edu/rain and log in as a guest. Dr. Troy Peters, WSU Extension Irrigation Specialist will guide viewers  through the process and answer questions.