Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 28, 1990 TAG: 9006280349
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PETER MATHEWS and AUDREY OSBORNE NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Procerum root disease is a fungus spread by weevils. It was discovered almost 10 years ago in Maryland, West Virginia and Virginia, said Sam Alexander, a Virginia Tech forest pathologist thought to be the only university scientist in the country studying the disease.
"When we sit down and look at how much, what the change has been in the last 30 days, it's pretty scary," he said. "The number of trees infected has doubled in the last 30 days."
The disease has the potential to wipe out half the agricultural economy in Floyd County, said Dave Gardner, a Virginia Tech extension agent there. The problem isn't necessarily more prevalent there, but Floyd's economy depends heavily on the Christmas tree industry and its growers plant a lot of white pines.
The disease affects trees of all ages, and a businessman reported 35-foot white pines next to his office were dying.
Gardner said no surveys had been taken of the specific economic effects. But Alexander estimated that 16 percent of marketable trees in Southwest Virginia tree farms have been killed.
About 400,000 trees had died here. At $6 per tree wholesale, that's a $2.4 million loss.
"That comes out of your pocket," said Mike Hinson, a Craig County grower. Tree crops cannot be insured because of the numerous hazards they face in the eight to 10 years it takes them to grow.
The disease is present to some extent from New England to Florida but has hit parts of Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia particularly hard this year. Alexander said the warm winter enabled the weevils to begin feeding 2 1/2 months earlier than usual and increased their numbers.
Procerum root disease is a death sentence for a tree. Once it is spotted, a grower can do only one thing: turn the tree into kindling.
Besides white pines, Gardner said, the disease affects 12 other varieties of pines.
The first symptoms in healthy-looking trees are delayed bud openings and lack of growth in shoots. Later, resin may be seen on the bark. Eventually, the tree will begin wilting and will turn yellowish green and then reddish brown.
The disease can kill a tree in as little as six weeks.
Growers are instructed to spray with lindane, which kills the weevils. Infected trees should be burned and, if the stump is not removed, the area should be treated with the pesticide.
"My neighbor had the tree disease five years ago, and it spread to my property, said John Torbert, who owns a 25-acre farm in Floyd County and is vice president of the state's Christmas tree growers' association. "That year I lost 50 trees, the next I lost 200, and this year I've already cut 500 to 700 trees. The disease seems to grow exponentially."
Southwest Virginia growers, who are having a series of well-attended meetings on the subject, hope to get state or federal help or raise some money for research themselves.
by CNB