Christmas tree roots in danger

Trees are a quintessential element of Christmas but thousands of Fraser fir Christmas trees in North Carolina are threatened each year by a root-rotting pest.

With North Carolina's Christmas tree business the second largest in the nation various researchers at N.C. State University have committed the years to finding a cure for Phytophthora.

If discovered a cure would help the estimated 50 million Fraser fir Christmas trees growing on more than 25000 acres of N.C. land which produces more than 19 percent of Christmas trees in the United States.

In Ashe County alone where the disease killed 77124 trees in 2006 growers can pull in about $55 million per year in tree sales and another $7 million with wreaths and garlands said Della Deal the agriculture extension agent for the Ashe County Christmas Tree Association.

Phytophthora presents a potential danger to many growers in the state affecting about 9 percent of fields and causing an estimated $1.5 million in damage each year.

Since 2004 when three hurricanes came through the state the disease has been worse.

The mold which N.C. State plant pathology assistant professor Dr. Kelly Ivors and her research team have been studying for two years is a water mold which attacks the root system of the tree" eventually causing it to die.

""The branches will start growing orange and the grower will realize he has a problem"" said Jeff Owen, an area extension forestry specialist with N.C. State who also researches Christmas trees.

Owen said that once established, the spores of the disease can stay in the soil for years and that the farmer might have to move tracts of land.

Ivors' team began experimenting with a possible breakthrough with mulch to prevent those circumstances.

Owen said the enzymes that break down the mulch also break down the cell walls of the disease.

The mulches seem to be helping in some fields"" said N.C. State plant pathology professor Michael Benson.

The study, however, will not be concluded for another three to four years, he said.

There is also a genetic approach to fighting Phytophthora — methods such as root grafting and looking at natural resistance in other types of fir trees, such as the Turkish fir.

I don't think that one particular thing is going to be the entire answer"" said John Frampton, a professor in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources at NCSU, who has been researching Phytophthora for a decade.

To combine the approaches will help us combat this root rot problem.""

Owen said the research revolving around the mulch is particularly innovative.

""It's exciting because it is an organic approach to reduce a disease problem.""



Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.