Federal, State Agriculture Officials Confirm the Sudden Oak Death Pathogen in Southern California Nurseries

Plant Protection and Quarantine

March 19, 2004

During a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Cooperative Agricultural Pest Survey, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) officials detected, and a California Department of Food and Agriculture laboratory confirmed, the presence of Phytophthora ramorum, the sudden oak death pathogen, on several varieties of camellia plants at a wholesale horticultural nursery in Los Angeles County on March 8 and at a nursery in San Diego County on March 12.

All host plants at the nurseries have been placed on hold. Host plants within 10 meters of the infected lots will be on hold for 90 days and inspected twice for symptoms of the disease before being released.

State and federal officials have obtained shipping documents and trace-back and trace–forward surveys are underway to determine the extent of host material distribution. For more information, visit the APHIS Web site at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/issues/sod/sod.html, or call the sudden oak death hotline at 1–888–703–4457.

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