Wednesday, April 7, 2004

State Agriculture Dept. partially lifts quarantine

In response to the United States Department of Agriculture taking action to stop shipments from 11 nurseries in southern California suspected of being infected with Sudden Oak Death fungus, the Georgia Department of Agriculture has partially lifted a quarantine it put on all nursery plant shipments from California earlier this week. 

“We are still blocking shipments on any genus of plants that we know can serve as a host for this fungus,” said Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture Tommy Irvin.

Irvin issued a total quarantine on all nursery plant shipments from California Wednesday following notification that the Sudden Oak Death fungus (Phytophthora ramorum) had been discovered on camellias at Monrovia Nursery, Azusa, Calif., a major supplier of many kinds of plants to garden centers across the country. The disease has also been discovered in Specialty Plants, Inc., San Marcos, Calif.  There were 11 other nurseries from which high risk samples were taken. Irvin closed Georgia’s borders to any nursery plants from California until these nurseries were identified or shipments from them were halted.

The genera of plants still blocked from entering Georgia from California are: Acer (maples), Aesculus (buckeyes, horsechestnut), Arbutus (strawberry tree, madrone), Arctostaphylos (bearberry, manzanita), Camellia (camellias, sasanquas), Heteromeles (toyon), Lithocarpus (tanoak), Lonicera (honeysuckles), Pieris (pieris, andromeda), Pseudotsuga (Douglas fir), Quercus (oaks), Rhamnus (buckthorns), Rhododendron (rhododendrons, azaleas), Sequoia (coast redwood), Trientalis, Umbellularia, Vaccinium (blueberries), Viburnum (viburnums, snowball bush, laurustinus), Abies (firs), Castanea (chestnuts), Corylus (hazelnut, filbert), Fagus (beeches), Kalmia (mountain laurel), Pittosporum (pittosporums), Syringa (lilacs), Toxicodendron, Rubus (blackberries, raspberries), and Taxus (yews). (Common names and representative plants from each genus are listed in parentheses after the genus name.)

“Sudden Oak Death is an extremely serious disease.  This has the potential to be more devastating than Chestnut Blight, which wiped out virtually all of the native American chestnut in the 1930s.  The cost to lumber companies, homeowners, gardeners, and cities would be overwhelming and the damage to wildlife and our landscape would be heartbreaking,” said Irvin.

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