Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 11, 1992 TAG: 9202110333
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: FLOYD LENGTH: Medium
BOUCHER PUTS FEDERAL GRANT UNDER TREES
When Elmer and Sadie Underwood first heard about the root disease that was killing Christmas trees, they sprayed their Floyd County crop with a potent insecticide."We'll do it again this year, if they don't come up with something better," said Underwood.
"They" are a team of Virginia Tech researchers who landed a federal grant of $24,000 to continue studying the problem.
It's called procerum root disease, a fungus that attacks roots of evergreens, particularly Eastern white pines, the favored crop of many Christmas tree growers.
The Underwoods were among 20 or so folks who gathered Monday evening at the home of fellow-growers Dave and Gaynell Larsen.
Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, was on hand to announce the grant, earmarked specifically to study the tree disease, and to answer questions.
"Is it money that could come every year?" asked one grower. Boucher said he intends to keep asking for money as long as the Tech researchers need it.
"What can we do to help you at the federal level?" Larsen asked.
"Send Jamie Whitten a Christmas tree every year, just like you have been doing," Bouhcer said, referring to the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.
This year's grant will be used to continue field studies, the third year the Tech team has used test plots at different Floyd County farms.
Floyd County is the country's largest producer of Christmas trees, which, along with other landscaping plants, is the backbone of the county's economy.
In 1990, procerum root disease struck 800,000 trees in Virginia, valued at roughly $8 million. Last year, the problem seemed to have leveled off, but it's not gone.
"It's all over the place in Southwest Virginia, where people are growing Christmas trees," said plant pathologist Jodi Carlson.
Researchers have also found the fungus in many species of pines in forests of the Southeast, in Douglas firs in the West and in Norway spruces in Europe.
After almost 12 years of research on the previously unknown disease, they've discovered that procerum is carried by weevils, which like to munch on pine trees.
The trees actually die from dehydration, Carlson said. In trying to stop the fungus from spreading, they produce excess resin, which clogs the wood and prevents the trees from getting water.
Signs of trouble include shortened needles, delayed budding in the spring and uniform discoloration, Carlson said. But by then it's too late.
Often, within just a few weeks, "You can see them go from green to almost completely dead," Carlson said. "You can't cure the tree once it has it. The trick is prevention."
So far, the only control measure is lindane, a restricted-use pesticide that can be costly.
But such methods take much more time - and money - to develop and implement, and Floyd County growers can't afford to wait.
"We're very conscious of the fact that we can't come up with something that will cost you a car and three tractors," said Sam Alexander, who has headed up the study project.
Already, growers are diversifying into other types of trees, said Michael Zeigler, farm manager at Brookfield nursery which the Larsens own.
They've started planing Fraser firs and blue spruces, because procerum seems to mostly hit the white pines.
Virginia Tech is the only university studying the problem and possible cures, she said.