Significant Invasive Plant Disease and Insect Events and Noteworthy News from 2012.

First Finds & First Submissions, New Leadership & New Sites
A Look Back at Notable Events of 2012

(Taken from NPDN Newsletter:  Volume 7 Issue 11, December 2012)

Rachel McCarthy, Department of Plant
Pathology and Plant Microbe-Biology,
Cornell University

Last year ended with the announcement of some rather significant news. APHIS confirmed that boxwood blight, caused by the pathogen, Cylindrocladium pseudonaviculatum, was present in North Carolina, Connecticut and Virginia. This news created a stir in several of our labs and a buzz throughout the network, because it was the first time it had been confirmed in the United States. 

As 2012 draws to a close, let’s take a moment to reflect on some other significant events and noteworthy news from the year. In January 2012, Maryna Serdani, Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oregon State University (OSU), reported butternut to be a new host for thousand cankers disease and the walnut twig beetle. Suspect black walnut branch samples with signs of the disease and the beetle vector were dropped off at the OSU Plant Clinic. Scientists confirmed that the branches were those from a butternut, Juglans cinerea, and not a black walnut, Juglans nigra. The Oregon Department of Agriculture confirmed the beetles to be Pityophthorus juglandis and the OSU Plant Clinic recovered Geosmithia morbida, from the canker margins. This was the first time G. morbida and P. juglandis were detected on butternut in North America. 

On January 13, the Texas Department of Agriculture and USDA-APHIS confirmed the first detection of citrus greening in Texas. The disease was discovered in a tree in a commercial orange grove in San Juan. Texas is the second-leading state in grapefruit production and ranks third in orange production with approximately 28,295 acres in commercial citrus production in the Rio Grande Valley.

In February, APHIS announced that eight new plants – Ilex cornuta, Illicium parviflorum, Larix kaempferi, Magnolia denudate, Mahonia nervosa, Molinadendron sinaloense, Trachelospermum jasminoides, and Veronica spicata syn. Pseudolysimachion spicatum – would be added to the list of Phytophthora ramorum regulated articles as of March 1, 2012. Inaddition, APHIS moved Cinnamomum camphora species from the associated host list to the proven and restricted host list based on new information received from the state regulatory agency in California. These changes brought the total regulated hosts for P. ramorum to 137.

In early March, APHIS, in cooperation with the California Department of Food and Agriculture, expanded the regulated area for the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP) in California. The detection of ACP in San Clemente, California, resulted in expansion of the ACP regulated area to include the Camp Pendleton area of San Diego County. APHIS applied restrictions on the interstate movement of regulated articles from the expanded regulated area that are parallel to the intrastate quarantine that had been previously imposed by CDFA. ACP is considered to be present only in some areas in California and subject to official control via parallel State and Federal quarantines. 

On March 16, APHIS announced a revised Federal Order to expand the regulated area in Florida for Guignardia citricarpa, the causal agent of citrus black spot (CBS). Due to additional detections of CBS during ongoing surveys by APHIS and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Plant Industry, the regulated area was expanded by eight sections in Collier County and 31 sections in Hendry County. 

Later in March, the Ohio Department of Agriculture confirmed boxwood blight in Lake County in Ohio and plant pathologists at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station identified Pachysandra terminalis as a new host for this disease.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture confirmed the state’s first detection of huanglongbing, or citrus greening on March 31.

APHIS launched the new Hungry Pests website in April and announced that the month will be dedicated to sharing information about the threat invasive plant pests, diseases and harmful weeds pose to America’s fruits, vegetables, trees and other plants — and how the public can help prevent their spread.

On May 24, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture will support 321 projects in all 50 states, plus American Samoa and Guam. The 2012 Farm Bill submissions aim to prevent the introduction or spread of plant pests and diseases threatening U.S. agriculture and the environment.

On June 15, APHIS announced the first detection of South American palm weevil (SAPW), Rhynchophorus palmarum, in the state of Texas. APHIS previously confirmed the detection in Alamo, Texas on May 3. This detection was the result of a multi-state delimitation survey initiated in response to detections of SAPW in California in 2011. 

On May 11, 2012, a second SAPW was detected in the same general geographic area of Alamo, Texas. Both detections were found within 5 miles of the U.S.–Mexico border. In July, regional access to data within the National Repository was opened up to several users across the NPDN network. This level of access provides users the ability to view reports, maps and charts for their entire region. One of the greatest benefits of regional access is the daily first submission by state e-mail report. This e-mail report represents pest/pathogens by state that have been uploaded to the National Repository as confirmed for the first time.

On July 20, the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station and the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection announced that the emerald ash borer (EAB) was detected in Prospect, CT. On August 29, EAB was again found by the Kansas Department of Agriculture and USDA staff during a survey being conducted as a result of the July 2012 confirmation of emerald ash borer in Platte County, Missouri.

On August 6, Dr. Jeff Jones, SPDN Director and Professor of Plant Pathology at the University of Florida,assumed the role of NPDN Executive Director and on September 1, Dr. Marc Fuchs, Associate Professor of Plant Pathology and Plant Microbe-Biology at Cornell University officially replacedDr. George Hudler as the NEPDN Director.

In October, the British environmental secretary announced a ban on the importation of all ash into the U.K. as reports of trees showing symptoms of ash dieback disease caused by the fungus Chalara fraxinea have popped up across the country. Ash dieback disease has been moving across mainland Europe with countries like Denmark reporting losses of up to 90% of their ash trees. In February 2012, ash dieback disease was found in British nursery tree stocks, but the new reports in October represented the first occurrence of the disease in a natural area in the UK.