Might be of intrest to someone (p.ramorum)

[Ian Leach]

Don't know if been posted before might be of intrest to someone

 

 

 

Dear All,

 

FYI - Further information about P. ramorum is available in a question

and answer factsheet available from a link on the Forestry

Commission’s website at Forestry Commission - Plant Health - Sudden oak death - phytophthora alert

 

NB: Bilberry is found to be susceptible to the disease (see below).

 

Best regards,

 

Jenna

 

-------

 

The following account is copied and pasted from the Forestry

Commissions Website:

 

Forestry Commission - News - phytophthora ramorum infection spreads to trees in wales

 

Phytophthora ramorum infection spreads to trees in Wales

 

Forestry Commission experts are working to contain the spread of

Phytophthora ramorum infection to Japanese larch trees in South Wales.

 

Phytophthora ramorum (P. ramorum) is a fungus-like pathogen that kills

many of the trees and plants that it infects. Japanese larch trees

infected by P. ramorum were first found in South West England last

year, the only place in the world where it has attacked large numbers

of a commercially grown species of conifer tree.

 

This development was a step change in the pathogen’s behaviour. Since

first being identified in Britain in 2002, on a viburnum plant in a

garden centre, it had affected mostly shrub and ground-cover plants

such as rhododendron, viburnum and bilberry. Fewer than 100 infected

trees – mostly beech - had been found, and most of those were standing

close to infected rhododendron bushes.

 

Although it has been confirmed in only one area of larch forest in

Wales so far, Forestry Commission Wales expects to find more as ground

inspections follow up the aerial surveys that have pinpointed suspect

areas of woodland. Scientists at the Commission’s Forest Research arm

believe it likely that the spores that spread the disease have been

spread to the larch forests in rain, mists and air currents carried

across the Bristol Channel from the South-west, where it was confirmed

in Japanese larch last September.

 

Roddie Burgess, Head of the Forestry Commission’s Plant Health

Service, said the Commission and its partners are taking the

development very seriously, but hope to be able to contain it.

 

“Given the damage it has caused elsewhere, we were very concerned when

P. ramorum turned up in Britain in 2002, and we and our partner

organisations have moved quickly to deal with it and prevent it from

spreading wherever it has appeared. We managed to fell most of the

infected trees in the south-west before this year’s new needles formed

and therefore before new spores could be produced. This appearance and

spread into larch trees in Wales adds to our concern.

 

“However, based on our scientists’ knowledge of local weather patterns

and how it spreads, we remain hopeful that by taking quick action now

in Wales as well we might still prevent the infection from the larch

trees from spreading further north and east outside South Wales and

South West England.

 

“Working with our partners in Forest Research, Defra, Fera and the

Welsh Assembly Government, we have set up a programme of action to

enhance our survey effort, both in the air and on the ground, and to

fell infected trees and destroy other infected plants as fast as we

can.

 

“We are also appealing for the help and support of forest owners,

forestry workers and woodland visitors. Woodland owners and managers

should be vigilant for and report signs of the disease to us.

 

“Forestry workers and the visiting public are being asked to take some

simple biosecurity measures, such as washing their boots, equipment

and wheels, to reduce the risk of inadvertently spreading the disease.

Signs have been erected at forest entrances advising visitors what to

do to.”

 

To minimise the economic impact on the forest and timber industries,

the Commission is permitting logs from felled infected trees to be

moved to specially licensed sawmills, provided certain biosecurity

measures are taken. These include stacking the logs on bearers to keep

them off the ground while awaiting removal from the forest, and

pressure washing timber trucks before they return to the road.

Sawmill residues are also being destroyed or used as woodfuel.

 

Further information about P. ramorum is available in a question and

answer factsheet available from a link on the Forestry Commission’s

website at Forestry Commission - Plant Health - Sudden oak death - phytophthora alert.

 

NOTES TO EDITOR:

 

1. Pictures are available from the media contacts below.

 

2. Suspected infections should be reported to:

 

*

in Wales - Forestry Commission Wales, Clawdd Newydd, Ruthin,

Denbighshire, LL15 2NL; tel: 0300 068 0300, e-mail:

[email protected];

*

in South West England - Forestry Commission England, Mamhead

Castle, Mamhead, Nr Exeter, Devon EX6 8HD; tel: 01626 890666; e-mail:

[email protected];

*

in woodland elsewhere – the Forestry Commission’s Plant Health

Service on [email protected]; tel 0131 314 6414;

*

in non-woodland trees such as those in gardens, parks, streets

and farmland - Forest Research’s Disease Diagnostic Advisory Service

on [email protected]; telephone 01420 23000.

 

3. P. ramorum infection has been confirmed in Japanese larch trees

(Larix kaempferi) in woodland managed by Forestry Commission Wales in

the Afan Valley near Port Talbot, in Garw Valley near Bridgend, and

the Vale of Glamorgan. In South West England it has been confirmed in

a mix of Forestry Commission England and privately owned forests,

including the Commission’s Largin Wood in Cornwall, Plym Woods east of

Plymouth, and Canonteign Woods near Exeter.

 

4. P. ramorum has not been found on any trees in Scotland.

 

5. P. ramorum can be spread on footwear, vehicle wheels, tools and

machinery, by the movement of infected plants, and in rain, mists and

air currents.

 

6. Infected plants such as rhododendron are usually destroyed by

burning or deep burial. Infected trees are usually felled to kill the

living plant tissue on which the pathogen depends.

 

7. Bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) is an ecologically important

ground-cover plant of British woodland and heathland, and known as

winberry in Wales and blaeberry in Scotland. Heather has also been

shown in laboratory tests to be susceptible to P. ramorum, raising

concerns about the ecological consequences if it were to damage large

areas of bilberry and heather. Bilberry is grown commercially and the

disease could have a serious economic impact on growers.

 

8. P. ramorum is a ‘quarantine’ organism under European Union law and

its presence on trees or woodland plants must be notified to the

relevant authorities (Forestry Commission, Fera, Scottish Government,

and the Welsh Assembly Government).

 

9. Infected Japanese larch trees produce particularly high numbers of

the inoculum that spreads the disease – five times the level produced

on rhododendron - meaning the disease can quickly affect a large

number of trees and shrubs.

 

10. P. ramorum has not been found infecting any European larch (Larix

decidua) or hybrid larch (Larix x eurolepsis) trees, but these species

are being kept under close surveillance.

 

11. Complete figures are not available for Japanese larch alone, but

all three larch species together cover an estimated 134,000 hectares

in Britain, or about 5 per cent of total woodland. Individual country

figures are:

 

* Wales – 23,000ha / 8 per cent;

* England – 47,000ha / 4.3 per cent;

* Scotland – 65,000 ha / 5.1 per cent.

(To convert hectares to acres, multiply by 2.47)

 

12. Larch is a durable, versatile timber that tolerates changes

between wet and dry conditions very well, and resists rotting when

used in the ground. It is therefore in demand for outdoor uses such as

fence posts, fence panels, exterior wall cladding, boats, sheds and

furniture, as well as indoor uses such as flooring and chipboard. It

is easily stained, worked and finished.

 

13. P. ramorum causes the disease known as “sudden oak death” in the

USA, where it has killed millions of American native oak and tanoak

trees in California and Oregon. However, laboratory tests have shown

that Britain’s two native species of oak, sessile and pedunculate (or

‘English’) oak, are much more resistant to it than their American

cousins. Fewer than five native oak trees haves been confirmed with P.

ramorum infection in Britain.

 

14. P. ramorum should not be confused with acute oak decline (AOD),

which is a separate disease affecting oak trees in the Midlands and

parts of Wales and South East England, and in which a newly discovered

bacterium species appears to be involved.

 

MEDIA CONTACTS:

 

For pictures, and information about P. ramorum in:

 

* Great Britain overall – Charlton Clark, 0131 314 6500;

* Wales - Mary Galliers or Clive Davies, 0300 068 0300;

* England – Stuart Burgess, 0117 372 1073;

* Scotland – Steve Williams or Paul Munro, 0131 314 6508/7.

 

 

e-mail: [email protected]

[Treewarrior]

An intersting post and good read. Well posted Ian:congrats:

[Jonesie]

Good post Ian

 

I had a chat with someone over the weekend and they have recommended using this for you Silkys and related item.

 

What do you guys think?

Would you use it?

Price would be about £2.00.

 

 

Superior broad spectrum disinfectant for safe effective control of viruses, bacteria,fungi, yeasts and moulds. Non-irritant and non tainting at in use dilutions. Add contents of one sachet (50g) to 5 litres of warm water (approx 1 gallon) to achieve 1:100 (1%) solution. 1% Virkon S solutions are stable for approximately 7 days or until the pink colour fades.

[tommer9]

Thanks for that post Ian. Funnily enough i was chatting to someone in my kitchen today about p.ramorum who was working for defra on the p. ramorum work about 3-4 years ago. He established without doubt the link with waterways and the spread of p.ramorum, but this avenue was sadly not researched very well as he changed jobs around that time. I live very near unity woods in scorrier which is where p. ramorum kerniviae was first found, and ramorum really started hitting the headlines as it were, so this is of great interest to me.