Canker Debate

GATreeGrower · January 24, 2013, 03:28:23 PM

I'm having a debate with somebody...they say canker pines in a stand can't infect the other pines...I disagree. Can anybody help settle this?

Ianab · January 24, 2013, 04:15:55 PM

As it's a fungal disease it must spread from tree to tree. A tree simply can't become infected unless it's exposed to spores from a nearby infected tree.

QuotePitch canker has been recorded on species of pine (Pinus) and on Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii). The causal fungus Fusarium circinatum was once considered a subspecies of Fusarium subglutinans and can be difficult to distinguish from this or other closely related species. The fungus requires a moist substrate for infection and can be spread by insects or water splash, and where host trees have been wounded by such things as insect attack, strong winds or pruning, can be spread by the wind. None of the known insect vectors are established in New Zealand.

http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/pests/pine-pitch-canker

NZ forestry is 90% radiata pine, so that disease is one that makes the bio-security folks nervous.

Ian

GATreeGrower · January 24, 2013, 08:57:39 PM

A mighty thanks to you sir 8)

WDH · January 24, 2013, 10:40:21 PM

GAtreegrower,

In SYP, there is an alternate host arrangement. The alternate host is oak. Part of the fungus life cycle is to infect pine. In the Spring, you can see the orange spores on the cankers. These spores do not directly infect nearby pines, but rather infect oak, where they form fruiting bodies, and these spores in turn infect the pine. So canker pines can infect other pines in the stand by forming spores that live on nearby oaks, which in turn then provide the infection vector to the neighbor of the canker pine already in the stand. Kinda of a complicated arrangement.