Alabama On Offensive Against Sudden Oak Death Syndrome

Auburn, March 26, 2004 --- The Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries has issued 
an emergency rule to stop the shipment of some nursery plants from California and other states 
into Alabama in hopes of reducing the potential spread of a devastating disease known as 
sudden oak death syndrome.
	
A plant pathologist with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System said the department chose 
to quarantine nursery stock from California, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia because 
the fungus that causes SODS was discovered in a shipment of camellias to a Tuscaloosa area 
facility.
	
“In the last several weeks, Phytophthora ramorum was confirmed in six container-grown camellia 
cultivars from two large commercial nurseries in California,” said Dr. Austin Hagan, Extension 
plant pathologist.
	
“It’s certainly a prudent call by Ag and Industries Commissioner Ron Sparks,” said Hagan.
	
“There is a concern among forest professionals and others that SODS could be the next dogwood 
anthracnose, chestnut blight or Dutch Elm disease.  This disease has caused the death of tens of 
thousands of oak trees in northern California forests since it was identified in the mid-1990s.”
	
Oaks are the primary targets of the disease, but Hagan added that other trees and shrubs are 
susceptible to SODS.  
	
Because the disease can affect a number of trees and shrubs, the quarantine order prohibits the 
shipment into Alabama of all plants and plant parts of the following genera:

	Abies (firs)
	Acer (maples)
	Aesculus (buckeyes, horsechestnut, etc.)
	Arbutus (strawberry tree, madrone, etc.)
	Arctostaphylos (bearberry, manzanita, etc.)
	Camellia (camellias, sasanquas, etc.)
	Castanea (chestnuts)
	Corylus (hazelnut, filbert, etc.)
	Fagus (beeches)
	Hamamelis (witch hazel)
	Heteromeles (toyon)
	Kalmia (mountain laurel)
	Lithocarpus (tanoak)
	Lonicera (honeysuckles)
	Pieris (pieris, andromeda)
	Pittosporum (pittosporums)
	Pseudotsuga (Douglas fir)
	Quercus (oaks)
	Rhamnus (buckthorns)
	Rhododendron (rhododendrons, azaleas, etc.)
	Rubus (blackberries, raspberries, etc.) 
	Sequoia (coast redwood, etc.)
	Syringa (lilacs)
	Taxus (yews)
	Toxicodendron
	Trientalis
	Umbellularia
	Vaccinium (blueberries)
	Viburnum (viburnums, snowball bush, laurustinus, etc.)

	
It also bans any other plant genera found to be susceptible to this disease and associated soil. 
This includes nursery stock, logs, lumber, bark chips, mulch, firewood, sawdust, other plant 
products that may contain pieces of bark and associated soil.
	
Hagan said the risk of SODS appearing in Alabama landscapes now is quite low.
	
“Unless some container grown camellias or other host plants from California or the Pacific 
Northwest were established in a landscape, the risk of a disease outbreak is extremely low.
	
“More likely is that we will have homeowners who have oaks and woody shrubs die attribute 
those deaths mistakenly to SODS.  Oaks and woody shrubs can succumb from a wide range of 
diseases, disorders and insect pests that have symptoms very similar to sudden oak death 
syndrome.”
	
Dr. Ken Tilt, an Extension horticulturist, said most consumers will not see a change in the amount 
of plants available at the state’s garden centers.
	
“It may become a problem later on for the state’s wholesale nurseries who buy tree liners (small 
trees that will be grown into larger sizes for retail sale).  Many of those tree liners come from the 
Pacific Northwest,” said Tilt.  “Oregon is one of the largest producers of maple liners.  Nurseries 
will have to find new suppliers, and demand is already outpacing supply.  It could mean fewer 
trees available to consumers some time in the future.”