ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, May 25, 1990                   TAG: 9005250294
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A11   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                LENGTH: Short

DISEASE THREATENS PINE TREE GROWTH, RESEARCHER SAYS

A disease that kills white pine trees has reached epidemic proportions and threatens Christmas tree growers throughout Virginia and the East Coast, a Virginia Tech researcher says.

Procerum root disease has wiped out thousands of valuable white pines this spring, threatening nursery plantations and timber stands as well as Christmas trees.

The disease has been around for some time but this year "has just exploded," said Sam Alexander, a Virginia Tech forest pathologist.

Produced by a fungus, the disease isn't limited to any specific area in Virginia and has been found around the state. Researchers believe it is carried by weevils.

One sign of the infection is large amounts of sap on the outside of a tree's trunk near the ground and the tree's crown may gradually change to brown.

More than 1,400 Virginia growers produce $20 million worth of Christmas trees each year, making the state the nation's seventh largest producer. 


 by CNB