Phytophthora lateralis found at Loch Lomond

[scotspine1]

BBC News - Deadly P lateralis tree disease found at Loch Lomond

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

good post, thanks for sharing.

[Bundle 2]

Not good news is it?

[Stephen Blair]

i was just looking for that mate, my wife told me about it today. Very close indeed, bad news

[Bundle 2]

PRA dated 2006.

lateralis.pdf

[scotspine1]

I've recently just dealt with a 3rd site near Loch Lomond where I suspected P. lateralis was the culprit, the Lawsons were either killed outright stone dead or infected by the pathogen, it seems to be spreading fast. Forestry Commission visited the site twice and took samples, definitely P. lateralis.

 

If it does take hold in a big way it will see the loss of probably to most important garden conifer in the UK.

[tarzan]

I did a job on a clients place in south london and it had it. It's not a big conifer. At closer look it as seem to have happened strait after some cowboys had topped it

 

 

Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.

[treeseer]

I've recently just dealt with a 3rd site near Loch Lomond where I suspected P. lateralis was the culprit, the Lawsons were either killed outright stone dead or infected by the pathogen, it seems to be spreading fast. Forestry Commission visited the site twice and took samples, definitely P. lateralis.

 

If it does take hold in a big way it will see the loss of probably to most important garden conifer in the UK.

 

Unless treatments are done by arborists unhindered by "kill all the hosts and then the problem is solved" approach by government agencies that follow the fire-fighting model. This approach tried and failed with Emerald Ash Borer in the US, and set back field research for years.

 

Treatments from the textbook Diseases of Trees and Shrubs, p. 356-366: In the soil, increase aeration, drainage, calcium, and microbial activity. On the tree, prune out dead tissue and heat infected areas.

 

This is not rocket surgery, with no bogeyman of chemical usage involved. re that aversion, it seems a curious for an agency to shrink from soil drenches, citing general environmental concerns, whilst advocating, even mandating, the removal of perfectly functional trees that are temporarily colonised.

 

Where's the calculation of the environmental damage caused by the loss of the tree? Not to mention the oil and smoke spewed by the machines, and the soil disturbance needed to get the job done. How's all that compare with dilute fungistats?

[Gary Prentice]

Unless treatments are done by arborists unhindered by "kill all the hosts and then the problem is solved" approach by government agencies that follow the fire-fighting model. This approach tried and failed with Emerald Ash Borer in the US, and set back field research for years.

 

Treatments from the textbook Diseases of Trees and Shrubs, p. 356-366: In the soil, increase aeration, drainage, calcium, and microbial activity. On the tree, prune out dead tissue and heat infected areas.

 

This is not rocket surgery, with no bogeyman of chemical usage involved. re that aversion, it seems a curious for an agency to shrink from soil drenches, citing general environmental concerns, whilst advocating, even mandating, the removal of perfectly functional trees that are temporarily colonised.

 

Where's the calculation of the environmental damage caused by the loss of the tree? Not to mention the oil and smoke spewed by the machines, and the soil disturbance needed to get the job done. How's all that compare with dilute fungistats?

 

Guy, are you quoting from Sinclairs 'Diseases of Trees and Shrubs'? I'm still waiting for it to arrive.

 

You've alluded to heating dead tissues in other posts and I've seen one or two youtube videos where you advocate it. I don't believe that I've read this anywhere else, in the mainstream literature. Is this a personal practice of yours or something that is gaining momentum in the States? If it is, can you provide some suggested reading.

[TimberCutterDartmoor]

We informed the FC of a case of this recently (see previous thread); they took so long to register their interest that the customer (private) got fed up waiting so we felled it but didn't chip it. It went for incineration.