10-13-2015, 03:29 PM
I recently attended a presentation by Kent Dumlao of the Hawaii Dept of Agriculture on the subject of Ohia Wilt (Rapid Ohia Death). He said that the fungus responsible, Ceratocystis fimbriata is a common fungus that comes in many variants, and the variant that is attacking and killing the Ohia in Hawaii has never been recorded before, and they do not know why it is only effecting Ohias.
He also said that the only effective measure in place to control it is quarantine. Their researchers are exploring a number of anti-fungal products and at least one of them is potentially promising.
For those of you who haven't been following the quarantine, you cannot ship Ohia products from the BI to any other island and starting in January 2016 you also cannot ship soil or products containing soil from the BI without a permit. The permits seem difficult and costly to obtain.
The fungus is basically spread by everything: Insects, wind, shoes, animals, car tires, etc. It is one of their top priorities because the Ohia forests protect watershed areas and when the Ohias die invasives replace them, erosion patterns are changed, basically the entire ecosystem is at risk. They do not know how this fungus variant got here because it's never been seen before. While they continue to research ways to stop the fungus the next best thing they can do is try and contain it. My favorite quote he said was "the quarantine is ahead of the science"... on other words, there isn't enough science data to say DO NOT EXPORT SOIL but they don't want another repeat of science lagging reality causing yet another ecological disaster. And kudos to them for that.
ETA: italics
Also need to add, he also said that while this disease kills trees quickly, it is not particularly fast in being visible. Parts of the tree die as it is unable to take in water and that the leaves stay intact on the dying portions. Eventually the tree starts to appear unhealthy (at this point the tree is already a goner) and as it dies its potentially infecting surrounding trees. Surrounding trees that may appear healthy may actually be infected and are not only dying, but also contagious themselves.
He also said that the only effective measure in place to control it is quarantine. Their researchers are exploring a number of anti-fungal products and at least one of them is potentially promising.
For those of you who haven't been following the quarantine, you cannot ship Ohia products from the BI to any other island and starting in January 2016 you also cannot ship soil or products containing soil from the BI without a permit. The permits seem difficult and costly to obtain.
The fungus is basically spread by everything: Insects, wind, shoes, animals, car tires, etc. It is one of their top priorities because the Ohia forests protect watershed areas and when the Ohias die invasives replace them, erosion patterns are changed, basically the entire ecosystem is at risk. They do not know how this fungus variant got here because it's never been seen before. While they continue to research ways to stop the fungus the next best thing they can do is try and contain it. My favorite quote he said was "the quarantine is ahead of the science"... on other words, there isn't enough science data to say DO NOT EXPORT SOIL but they don't want another repeat of science lagging reality causing yet another ecological disaster. And kudos to them for that.
ETA: italics
Also need to add, he also said that while this disease kills trees quickly, it is not particularly fast in being visible. Parts of the tree die as it is unable to take in water and that the leaves stay intact on the dying portions. Eventually the tree starts to appear unhealthy (at this point the tree is already a goner) and as it dies its potentially infecting surrounding trees. Surrounding trees that may appear healthy may actually be infected and are not only dying, but also contagious themselves.