Butternut (Juglans cinerea) decline question. - Chestnut Blight Thread

[Mike the Tree Doctor]

Ed:

I have in fact seen some of these bizarre tree-sized trees in the NJ
piedmont - one solid canker from the ground to 25' tall, and bearing fertile
nuts no less!!

The reason I asked re: the spread of hypovirulence is that a colleague told
be that he believes that the hypovirulizing virus/virion is quite motile in
the environment and is bound to spread widely in time.

Thanks!

Mike the Tree Doctor
www.treedoctors.com

Ed <ceengr at usit.net> wrote in message
news:9Eri4.10$886.1775 at news1.usit.net...
> Mike the Tree Doctor <mlamana at bestweb.net> wrote in message
> news:68hi4.652$Ug3.59671 at newshog.newsread.com...
> > Ed:
> >
> >My impression from speaking with a couple of pathologists is that
> > hypovirulence may be becoming more prevalent in the wild. Any thoughts??
> >
> > Mike the Tree Doctor
> > www.treedoctors.com
>
> Under the right conditions for the tree and continued cycles of blight,
> hypovirulence reportedly spontaneously appears.  The right conditions for
> the tree would be an ideal site plus being released from competition in
full
> sun.  This may occur in areas of clear-cut so it may very well be more
> prevalent.
>
> I haven't seen much of it, but according to Dr. Anagnostakis at the
> Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES), hypovirulence is much
> more prevalent in the south.  Swollen blight cankers on American Chestnuts
> may indicate some resistance by the tree and/or a weakened version of the
> blight.
>
> Hypovirulence does not always allow an American Chestnuts to survive and
may
> revert to killing cankers without warning.  Killing and hypovirulent
strains
> of the blight may exist on the same tree resulting ultimately in its
death.
> Hypovirulence can be innoculated into some cankers and change them to
> hypovirulent cankers, but not all strains of blight will convert.
However,
> American Chestnuts with some resistance, combined with hypovirulent blight
> can result in timber size trees.
>
> Griffin, G. J.  2000.  Chestnut Blight Control and American Chestnut
> Restoration. Journal of Forestry.  accepted for February publication will
> have more details.
>
>
> Ed
> --
> Ed Greenwell
> ceengr at usit.net
> http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Canopy/1436/
> http://www.angelfire.com/tn/americanchestnut/
>
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