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  • From: VBGarden@aol.com
  • To: gwl-g@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [gwl-g] Sudden Oak Death
  • Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2004 06:05:47 EDT

From the GMPro online news service:
* Expert: SOD hysteria is unwarranted. The presence of Phytophthora ramorum
at S. California nurseries caused a wave of quarantines this spring, both
state and federal, and has cost growers millions. All this is unwarranted,
said Ralph Zingaro, who in 1994 originally discovered in California forests
the tree decline that has become known as sudden oak death (SOD). Zingaro,
consulting arborist at Bioscape Inc. in San Francisco, said P. ramorum is a
secondary pathogen that attacks only trees weakened by unhealthy
ecosystems. "If you look at the data, you'll see that many of the declining
trees don't even have the Phytophthora." He blames soils with rising pH due
to acid rain for the forest decline more than P. ramorum. He said the
fungus is likely naturally prevalent in forest ecosystems throughout the
country, but no one has known to look for it. P. ramorum became an easy
scapegoat for forest decline and this has been reinforced by inflammatory
press releases from Univ. of Calif.-Berkeley, he said. "Let's stop focusing
on punishing the nurseries and start focusing on fixing our forests,"
Zingaro said. ralph@bioscape.com

Sybil
www.paradisenursery.com





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