Georgia Invasive Species Task Force

Sudden Oak Death

James K. Johnson, Coordinator, Georgia Forestry Commission, Forest Health Accomplishment Report 2004

The Sudden Oak Death monitoring program continues and Georgia now has 17 nurseries that sold plants that had plants on the premises that were likely infected with SOD fungus (Phytophthora ramorum). Georgia has also had 14 homeowner samples that tested positive (in the state lab). These sites have been checked with perimeter surveys and native vegetation has been sampled but no positives have been found. All infected plants (along with the soil, and mulch) have been removed from the homeowner sites also. The GFC is helping fund the labor associated with operating the plant pathology lab at UGA that does all the testing for Georgia. Approximately 3,100+ samples have been processed through this lab.

The best estimate is that 28,000 potentially infected (Monrovia) plants entered Georgia and that 10,000 of these were intercepted at the nurseries and destroyed. The other 18,000 were sold and have already been planted by homeowners and landscapers. Georgia nurseries also received 8,000 Means nursery plants and 31,000 Hines plants that were potentially infected. A proactive plan is in place to inform the public and green industry about getting plants checked (if they meet certain criteria), and if positive finds are located, infected plants will be removed and adjacent areas will be surveyed. Training has been given to all GFC foresters on P. ramorum, and about half of the GFC foresters have been trained on sampling vegetation for nursery perimeter and homeowner sites. Our ultimate goal is to retrieve every infected plant before they infect native vegetation. To provide more information to the public, a SOD brochure has been written and printed and distributed to the public as well as state and federal agencies involved with the detection and/or eradication of P. ramorum.

Thirty eight nursery perimeter surveys have been accomplished and almost 200 samples were taken but all were negative for P. ramorum on native vegetation. Homeowners also sent in 221 samples from 166 locations throughout the state, and four of these samples were verified as positive through APHIS testing.