On January 10, a revised USDA order takes effect as the latest step toward ensuring clean, disease-free nursery plants in the U.S. market. The order strengthens safeguards for the fungus-like plant disease Phytophthora ramorum, commonly known
On January 10, a revised USDA order takes effect as the latest step toward ensuring clean, disease-free nursery plants in the U.S. market. The order strengthens safeguards for the fungus-like plant disease Phytophthora ramorum, commonly known as SOD. Many in the industry are wondering why and how the order happened, and what it is intended to achieve, according to ANLA.
USDA’s Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service first took quarantine action for SOD in 2002, soon after it was found to potentially affect many plants common in gardens, landscapes and the natural environment. The initial regulations focused on the counties where the disease was known to occur in northern California and extreme southwestern Oregon. Nurseries were inspected and tested for P. ramorum.
In April, 2004, USDA announced emergency measures for all of California, in the wake of a few detections of the disease in nurseries outside the counties where it occurs in the natural environment. Limited detections also occurred in Oregon and Washington.
During the summer of 2004, USDA held a series of reviews and meetings with scientists, state officials, industry groups, environmental groups and othe