Smith’s provides preventative treatment of Sudden Oak Death in the Bay Area, Santa Cruz County and Monterey County
About Sudden Oak Death (SOD)
Sudden Oak Death is a disease of several species of oaks, and can cause some damage to bay, Douglas fir and coast redwood. These latter species are not typically killed but may play host to the disease. The disease is caused by Phytophthora ramorum. (abbreviated “P. ramorum” which is the causal agent of Sudden Oak death, and Ramorum blight,)
The primary species affected is tan oak, followed by coast live oak and black oak. In California and Oregon there have been extensive losses of tan oak “since the mid-1990’s” (excerpt from www.suddenoakdeath.org)
“Although the first P. ramorum-infested rhododendron nursery plants, were identified in 2001 (in Santa Cruz County, CA), the U.S. nursery industry was not widely impacted by the pathogen until 2004, when a few large West Coast nurseries inadvertently shipped over a million potentially infected rhododendrons and camellia plants throughout much of the United States with detections in 176 nurseries in 21 states. The origin of Phytophthora ramorum is not known.”-(excerpt from www.suddenoakdeath.org)
P. ramorum is well suited on the Pacific coast as it prefers cool moist environments.