The risk of a national problem with SOD is being taken very seriously. Our goal here at the Texas A&M Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology (linked) is to provide updated information on Sudden Oak Death to the general public, nursery owners, and natural resource managers in the State of Texas. We are also taking part in a statewide nursery survey for the United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA APHIS) and the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) an attempt to monitor the situation to ensure that the pathogen has not been transported into Texas via the nursery industry.

Of major concern is the potential spread of the pathogen from California and Oregon by way of infected plant material. The key word is 'potential', because so far no known cases of this happening have been found. However, because this disease has such a broad host range including many plants available in the nursery trade, and due to the widespread movement of nursery stock across the country, the possibility of further spread of this serious disease exists.

Texas A&M University Sudden Oak Death Nursery Survey

Beginning in the fall of 2002 we began the project to survey nurseries across the state. The survey is scheduled to be complete (August 2003).

Dr. David N. Appel is the plant pathologist and primary investigator for the SOD survey. Sara Service is the technician spear-heading the project, traveling to the nurseries, and collecting the samples. Tom Kurdyla is the technician in charge of the pathology work done on all the samples in the lab.

Overview of Survey Methods:

With the assistance of the Texas Nursery and Landscape Association (TNLA) we are contacting both wholesale and retail nurseries across the state. Nurseries are chosen for our survey to visit if they carry any plant species that are related to known hosts of Phytophthora ramorum, the sudden oak death pathogen. These plants include: azaleas, oaks, maples, viburnums, nandinas, honeysuckles, pittosporums, buckeyes, and cotoneaters. These nurseries are mailed a factsheet describing the problem, and given the URL for this webpage and others for further information.

Nursery owners/managers are then phoned and asked if they would be willing to take a part in our survey by allowing us to come out, inspect plants, and take samples. With no exceptions, the response of the nursery industry in Texas so far has been positive towards our mission and our visits are always welcomed.

Sampling procedures:

When sampling from a nursery we primarily inspected the plants listed above, those that are related to known hosts. Sometimes samples are collected from plants not on the list if unusual or remarkable symptoms were present. Plant species in the smaller nurseries are being inspected in entirety; in the larger wholesale nurseries at least 2% of the total number of listed plants exceeding 100 is inspected. The target number of total samples collected from each nursery is 15, and is based on our ability to process samples in our lab. Samples collected have included: branch, leaves, stems, sections of tree boles, roots, soil, and in some cases entire plants have been brought back. Samples are processed within a few days of collection. The first step is to plate the samples on PARP media and determine if we have Phytophthora growth, and if so, an isolate is made and plated on V-8 agar and cornmeal agar for further investigation.