Green timber is not a pathway for spreading Phytophthora pinifolia
As reported in EPPO RS 2009/006, Phytophthora pinifolia causes a new needle blight disease of Pinus radiata in Chile. This disease which has been observed since 2004 causing tree mortality, covered in 2006 an area of approximately 60;000 ha (stretching southward from the Arauco province to the Valdivia province). A study was conducted in Chile to determine whether P. pinifolia could be found in green timber produced from trees which had been exposed to infection for at least 4 years. P. pinifolia could not be detected (isolation, fluorescence microscopy, PCR) in green wood from infected trees, or in samples of green wood exposed to P. pinifolia inoculum. These results provide strong evidence that green sawn timber produced from infected P. radiata trees is free of the pathogen, and that green sawn timber is not a likely pathway for introducing P. pinifolia into new areas.
Sources
Ahumada R, Díaz C, Peredo M, Barría C, González P, Cuevas G (200?) Detection of possible Phytophthora pinifolia infection in Pinus radiata green sawn timber produced in Chile. Abstracts from the 4th Sudden Oak Death Science Symposium, 2009-06-15/18, Santa Cruz, California, USA, p 18. http://nature.berkeley.edu/comtf/sodsymposium4/pdf/book_of_abstracts.pdf