Sudden Oak Death Surveys: 2005 - 2019

Since 1995, large numbers of oaks and tanoaks have been dying in California. Since then, many other types of plants have been found to be infected or associated with this disease, referred to as sudden oak death, ramorum leaf blight or ramorum dieback, or by regulation asPhytophthora ramorum. Since April 2004, the disease has been confirmed in  numerous West Coast counties. 

Kentucky has been identified as a high risk area for sudden oak death because of the extensive oak forests within the state.  This could have a severe effect on an economy that depends on the revenue generated from the sale of logs and wood products.  Detections in nurseries that ship widely throughout the United States have increased concerns that this disease could appear in other U.S. nurseries and hence move to susceptible species in the surrounding environment. To address these concerns and because of the potential and documented movement of the disease on nursery stock, we surveyed nurseries in Kentucky for the presence of sudden oak death (Phytophthora ramorum) as part of a national survey for this disease.

We inspected high risk genera (Rhododendron, Pieris, Kalmia, Camellia, and Viburnum) for symptoms such as foliar blight and shoot dieback. Samples taken from suspicious plants were processed at the University of Kentucky Plant Pathology Diagnostic Laboratory in Lexington, KY.

2005

• Number of Nurseries Surveyed: 99
• Number of Positive Samples: 0
• Counties Involved in the Survey: Barren, Boone, Boyd, Boyle, Breathitt, Butler, Calloway, Campbell, Christian, Clark, Daviess, Fayette, Fleming, Franklin, Hancock, Hardin, Henderson, Hopkins, Jefferson, Jessamine, Johnson, Kenton, Laurel, Lincoln, Madison, Marshall, McCracken, Meade, Mercer, Muhlenberg, Nelson, Pulaski, Rowan, Russell, Scott, Shelby, Simpson, Taylor, Warren

2006

• Number of Nurseries Surveyed: 21 (plus samples taken from an additional 14 nurseries)
• Number of Samples Tested:  190
• Number of Positive Samples: 0
• Counties Involved in the Survey: Bath, Boone, Breathitt, Bullitt, Campbell, Clark, Fayette, Franklin, Gallatin, Jefferson, Jessamine, Kenton, Laurel, Madison, Mercer, Nelson, Pulaski, Russell, Scott, Whitley, Woodford

2007

• Number of Nurseries Surveyed: 20 (plus samples taken from an additional 19 nurseries)
• Number of Samples Tested:  149
• Number of Positive Samples: 0
• Counties Involved in the Survey: Boone, Boyd, Boyle, Breathitt, Bullitt, Campbell, Clark, Fayette, Franklin, Jefferson, Johnson, Jessamine, Laurel, Nelson, Oldham, Pulaski, Scott, Shelby, Taylor

2008

• Number of Nurseries Surveyed: 20
• Number of Samples Tested:  91
• Number of Positive Samples: 0
• Counties Involved in the Survey: Calloway, Christian, Daviess, Graves, Hancock, Hardin, Henderson, Hopkins, Jefferson, Oldham, Union

2009

• Number of Nurseries Surveyed: 20
• Number of Samples Tested:  93
• Number of Positive Samples: 0
• Counties Involved in the Survey: Boone, Breathitt, Clark, Fayette, Franklin, Hardin, Jefferson, Jessamine, McCracken, Meade, Nelson, Pulaski, Russell

2010

• Number of Nurseries Surveyed: 40
• Number of Foliar Samples Tested:  197 (including survey, trace-forwards, and samples from regular nursery inspections)
• Number of Water Baiting Samples Tested:  29
• Number of Positive Samples: 0
• Counties Involved in the Survey: Boone, Bourbon, Boyle, Breathitt, Bullitt, Calloway, Clark, Daviess, Fayette, Franklin, Graves, Grayson, Henderson, Hopkins, Jefferson, Jessamine, Kenton, Madison, Marshall, McCracken, Mercer, Muhlenburg, Nelson, Powell, Scott, Shelby, Union, Whitley

2011

• Number of Nurseries Surveyed: 20
• Number of Foliar Samples Tested:  114
• Number of Positive Samples: 0
• Counties Involved in the Survey: Boone, Campbell, Fayette, Jefferson, and Kenton

2012

• Number of Nurseries Surveyed: 50
• Number of Foliar Samples Tested:  255
• Number of Positive Samples: 0
• Counties Involved in the Survey: Boone, Boyle, Bullitt, Calloway, Campbell, Carter, Daviess, Fayette, Franklin, Graves, Grayson, Greenup, Henderson, Hopkins, Jefferson, Jessamine, Kenton, Laurel, Lincoln, Mason, McCracken, Mercer, Nelson, Scott, Spencer, Taylor, Union

2013

• Number of Nurseries Surveyed: 35
• Number of Plants Inspected: 4,738
• Number of Foliar Samples Tested:  284
• Number of Positive Samples: 0
• Counties Involved in the Survey: Boyle, Breathitt, Campbell, Carter, Clark, Estill, Fayette, Franklin, Gallatin, Greenup, Hardin, Jefferson, Jessamine, Kenton, Lincoln, Mason, Nelson, Oldham, Pulaski, Taylor, Washington

2014

• Number of Nurseries Surveyed: 31
• Number of Plants Inspected: 3,015
• Number of Foliar Samples Tested:  164
• Number of Positive Samples: 0
• Counties Involved in the Survey: Boone, Boyle, Campbell, Carter, Clark, Fayette, Franklin, Gallatin, Hardin, Henry, Jefferson, Jessamine, Kenton, Laurel, Nelson, Oldham, Scott, Shelby

2015

• Number of Nurseries Surveyed: 30
• Number of Plants Inspected: 1,658
• Number of Foliar Samples Tested:  123
• Number of Positive Samples: 0
• Counties Involved in the Survey: Boone, Boyle, Campbell, Carter, Christian, Clark, Fayette, Gallatin, Grayson, Greenup, Hardin, Henry, Jefferson, Jessamine, Kenton, Laurel, McCracken, Nelson, Oldham, Scott, Warren

2016

• Number of Nurseries Surveyed: 30
• Number of Plants Inspected: 2,177
• Number of Foliar Samples Tested:  126
• Number of Positive Samples: 0
• Counties Involved in the Survey: Boone, Boyle, Campbell, Carter, Clark, Daviess, Fayette, Franklin, Grayson, Greenup, Henderson, Jefferson, Jessamine, Kenton, Laurel, Mason, Nelson, Pike, Scott, Union, Warren

2017

• Number of Nurseries Surveyed: 24
• Number of Plants Inspected: 1,625
• Number of Foliar Samples Tested:  98
• Number of Positive Samples: 0
• Counties Involved in the Survey: Barren, Boone, Boyd, Boyle, Calloway, Campbell, Carter, Fayette, Franklin, Grayson, Jefferson, Jessamine, McCracken, Nelson, Rowan, Warren

2018

• Number of Nurseries Surveyed: 30
• Number of Plants Inspected: 2,290
• Number of Foliar Samples Tested:  165
• Number of Positive Samples: 0
• Counties Involved in the Survey: Boone, Boyd, Calloway, Campbell, Carter, Daviess, Fayette, Franklin, Greenup, Hopkins, Jefferson, Jessamine, Madison, McCracken, Nelson, Scott, Shelby

2019

• Number of Nurseries Surveyed: 25 (plus two homeowner sites)
• Number of Plants Inspected: 944
• Number of Foliar Samples Tested:  111
• Number of Positive Samples: 0
• Counties Involved in the Survey: Calloway, Fayette, Franklin, Hardin, Jefferson, Jessamine, McCracken, Muhlenberg, Shelby, Woodford