Blog | Forest Pathology
Analyses and observations on tree diseases
The greatest success story in the history of forest pathology is just around the corner — if it doesn’t get buried in red tape. If you’re familiar with the story of chestnut blight, and more importantly what American chestnut was and the bounties it provided before the disease all but eliminated it from American forests, … Read more
The Pacific Northwest of North America (Oregon, Washington, southern British Columbia) experienced a heat wave far hotter than any previously recorded in late June 2021. In Vancouver, Washington, where I live, the official high temperatures on June 26-28 ranged from 41 to 46° C (106-115° F). At our home, temperatures were a bit higher, peaking … Read more
It’s rare that tree diseases show up in fiction, so it’s surprising that one television series mentions more than one. The Sinner is a moody crime series originally on USA Network, but found on Netflix and probably elsewhere. In an interesting twist, it is a “whydunnit” rather than “whodunnit” — the perpetrator is clearly revealed … Read more
Red ring rot is a hugely important stem-decay disease, certainly the most important one on conifers in the northern hemisphere. In preparing the page on red ring rot, I found that current knowledge of the pathogens involved was complex and uncertain. Here are the details, including my conclusions (opinions) based on the literature. But certainly … Read more
Having moved to Vancouver, Washington two years ago, I’m running into some new and interesting things. Like this Pacific tree frog that amazed us about 5 feet up on one of our tomato plants. I’m surprised it survived the weeks of toxic smoke from forest fires that we had earlier in the fall. But also … Read more
The last few weeks have been a real eye-opener with respect to Porodaedalea pini. In my four years in the Colorado area, I had only seen the stem decay fungus on Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii). However in the last two weeks I have seen it on lodgepole pine, subalpine fir, and Douglas-fir. The new finds … Read more