Haven't done any research into this yet.

Saw a news report just now...

Had a couple ignorant pansies playing the, "Oh my gosh, what have we done?!" roll.

Is this an Earth Hugger ploy to close more land from human use, or is this for real?

BTW, I can Google like the best of 'em, so don't bother with the uneducated links:

http://camfer.cnr.berkeley.edu/oaks/

http://cemarin.ucdavis.edu/index2.html

http://www.suddenoakdeath.org/

http://danr.ucop.edu/news/MediaKit/SOD.html


First time I've heard of this, haven't had time to read at all. Wanna know if any of you are in the know about this.

they seem to be real serious about that here in chico. they are asking for people to wash their tires on bikes cars what have you, and shoes before u go into the park but it is voluntary.

Drew

Looks like a lot of non profit ;) organizations being formed on the subject. Which means someone is getting rich. I honestly have never heard of it, but I'll ask my pop he'll know.

First off, chit-chat?

Second, SOD is a legitimate concern in some places. The fungus-like critter (Phytophtora) that causes it is spread easily via soil carried from one place to another (even on your hiking boots). Its effects seem to vary from species to species (and there are a lot of hosts, over 20 different species, not all oaks). Tan-oaks get nailed, up to 100% mortality in some places. Other species of oaks don't get hit with the same intensity, but it does cause up to 20% mortality of coast live oak in some infected areas. Everything we know on it has really only been discovered in the last 20 months, so all these reactions are a CYA reaction, to be cautious until they know what the actual impact of this will be.

In Marin Co.,We've had alot of it.My father in law had to cut down his tree(s),chop and stack it,then store it under platic for a year before he could even throw a log in the fireplace...Corey.

I question EVERYTHING that comes out of berkely especially since this whole coffee bean thing. But since UC Davis is also stating it I will lean towrads "it's the real thing". This is the first I have heard on the subject so I am still a little wary. Definately put in a call to your local nursery and ask them if it's real.

Yes, Sudden Oak Death is very real. There was a good article on this in the SF Chronicle dated May 11, 2002, that I read. It said it was first discovered in tanoaks growing on a Marin homeowner's property in 1995. Phytophthora ramorum (the fungus-like pathogen that causes SOD) is related to organisms believed to be responsible for the Irish potato blight in the 1840s and also to the huge destruction that is currently happening to the eucalyptus trees in Australia and the oak trees in Europe. This is some serious shit!

Over the past few years, Sudden Oak Death has been responsible for the demise of more than 10,000 trees in Marin County. Right now, 10 counties from Monterey to Sonoma are known to host Sudden Oak Death. Sudden Oak Death is killing off the tanoaks in Big Sur. While mortality is linked primarily to oaks and madrones, other trees and shrubs can host the pathogen. Three hosts (bay laurel, madrone and rhododendron), are the most dangerous for spreading Sudden Oak Death because the pathogen sporulates on their leaves. The madrone may be the most susceptible species. Sudden Oak Death host plants are, bay laurel, bigleaf maple, buckeye, California honeysuckle, California coffeeberry, California black oak, coast live oak, huckleberry, madrone, manzanita, rhododendron, shreve oak, tanoak, toyon, and viburnum.

There is also concern that redwood forests may become infected but the role of the pathogen is still not known. It is suspected that it affects redwood regeneration but does not kill adult redwoods. There is no known cure for Sudden Oak Death.

Sounds kinda like the chestnut blight. Now they aint around anymore

We've been having a problem with SOD up here. Affecting the Black oaks primarily but also the bigleaf maples, we've had a lot of trees die. I can say that this post has been more helpful than UC Davis when I asked them about it 2 years ago.

We've had limited success using "Fungo" in multiple applications. The problem is how do you apply it to a 60 or 70 foot tree? We've been using our 1000 gal. fire trailer which will shoot a verticle stream 50 feet high. Because the top 10 or 20 feet get missed, there is still evidence of the fungus. Any thoughts on aplication methods? Thanks to those who know or can help me out.

I can say that this post has been more helpful than UC Davis when I asked them about it 2 years ago.

I can assure you that when you asked about it 2 years ago, Davis wasn't helpful because they didn't know jack squat. I attended a talk by the head guy at Berkeley (they're not all hippies) and he said they literally didn't know what was causing this as of 20 months ago. It's all brand new, even to the big heads in botany, and they're still working like mad to characterize this thing and figure out how to deal with it. Just for fun, burning infected trees is apparently one good way to quarantine the infection. That should make for good times...

Luke,
Not OT; consider the cross-pollenation potential, of rigs going from an infected region to a non-infected region, with the fungus all over the rigs... Maybe more suited for the Land Use Issues forum, but it's not an "issue"...yet, and apt to get more visibility here.


Thanks for the input folks. The news stories I've heard/seen lately about SOD had kind of an Eco-nazi feel to them, so I was skeptical.