[APWG] Microstegium health questions update

Thu Sep 3 14:25:42 CDT 2009

Hopefully it is one of the following species of rrust:

Puccinia benguetensis, P. polliniae-imberbis, and P. polliniicola 

Cheers. 

Marc

________________________________________
From: marc imlay 
Sent: Thursday, August 13, 2009 8:49 AM
To: 'bclemenson at pecpa.org'
Cc: 'Kyde, Kerrie L.'; 'herbert.t.bolton at us.army.mil';
'William.Bruckart at fdwsr.ars.usda.gov'; 'lydonj at ba.ars.usda.gov'; 'Marc
Imlay'
Subject: FW: Puccinia and Microstegium

Hi Brad,

Here is information on the value of U. S. Representative John P. Murtha
including 
funding in current legislation for USDA research to find a host specific
biological 
control for Japanese Stilt grass. 

The message below from Barbara Bergman is but one in many concerning the
extreme difficulty we are having with Japanese Stiltgrass from Georgia and
the Carolinas to New Jersey and north and west. We are able to control the
other invasives with herbicides and mechanical control in some 15 states
in this region but not stilt grass.   This is the species we most need help
with bio-control. Fortunately, "Invasive Plants Established in the United
States that are Found in Asia and their Associated natural Enemies, volume
1" by the USDA Forest Service, Forest Health Technology Enterprise Team in
Morgantown WV indicates that three species of rust are host specific to
microstegium in Asia. The next step is to verify that they are, in fact,
host specific in America and will not harm native American species. 
 The publication is available from lcress at fs.fed.us

John Lydon and Bill Bruckart are good contacts at USDA for language in 
the legislation.  

John Lydon
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Agricultural Research Service
Sustainable Agricultural Systems Laboratory Bldg. 001, Rm. 227

Beltsville, MD 20705
Tel: 301-504-5379
Fax: 301-504-6491
lydonj at ba.ars.usda.gov

William L. Bruckart, III
USDA-ARS-FDWSRU
1301 Ditto Ave.
Ft. Detrick, Maryland 21702 USA
  Phone: 301/619-2846
  FAX: 301/619-2880
 William.Bruckart at fdwsr.ars.usda.gov

Cheers.

Marc Imlay, PhD
Conservation biologist, Anacostia Watershed Society (301-699-6204,
301-283-0808), Board member of the Mid-Atlantic Exotic Pest Plant Council,
Hui o Laka at Kokee State Park, Hawaii, Vice president of the Maryland
Native Plant Society Chair of the Biodiversity and Habitat Stewardship
Committee for the Maryland Chapter of the Sierra Club.

>>> William Bruckart 03/07/06 09:16AM >>>
Hi Marc,

John Lydon has contacted me about your interest in Japanese stiltgrass
pathogens.  Right now, we don't have very good connections in China or other
locations in Asia, but to have the plant on the list is the first step.  My
focus has been on other targets (mostly Asteraceae), so I'm on the steep
part of the learning curve for this plant.  Does anyone know anything about
variability of the plant, how U.S. material compares with Asian, and where,
specifically, it came from?  Also, is there collecting in progress at this
time (e.g., for insects?).  If so, we have permits for receipt of pathogens
if they are found.  And we'd be happy to take them for preliminary
evaluations.  I'd like to discuss this with you, OK?

Cheers!
Bill Bruckart

William L. Bruckart, III
USDA-ARS-FDWSRU
1301 Ditto Ave.
Ft. Detrick, Maryland 21702 USA
  Phone: 301/619-2846
  FAX: 301/619-2880
 William.Bruckart at fdwsr.ars.usda.gov

-----Original Message-----
From: John Lydon [mailto:lydonj at ba.ars.usda.gov]
Sent: Monday, March 06, 2006 8:41 PM
To: William Bruckart
Cc: marc imlay
Subject: Pucinia

Bill:

Marc Imlay has been battling Japanese stiltgrass in Maryland for several
years now. He is very interested in working with the Puccinia species that
have been reported to control this weed.  I thought that this would be a
perfect collaboration for you given your knowledge of Puccinia, your
interest in invasive species, and the amount of time and energy that Marc is
willing to put into the project.

Check the following messages for more info.  Let me know if there is some
way I can contribute if you think that the project is worth pursuing.

John

Hi John,

In Invasive Plants of Asian Origin Established in the US and Their Natural
Enemies, Vol. 1,

O = recorded on more than one species in the genus Microstegium including
the species

vimineum.

Puccinia benguetensis, P. polliniae-imberbis, and P. polliniicola (in one of
2 references).

http://www.invasive.org/weeds/asian/microstegium.pdf

Thanks.

Marc

----- Original Message -----
From: "Barbara Bergman" <BBERGM01 at shepherd.edu>
To: <ialm at erols.com>
Sent: Saturday, September 13, 2003 12:25 PM

Dear Mark,
     I met you at Fort Detrick in Frederick for the invasive plant work shop
there last October. You encouraged me to tackle small areas to prevent them
from spreading. Here is what we have observed about the Japanese stilt grass
at Yankauer Nature Preserve in Berkley County West Virginia these two years.
     The three patches, ranging from 100 feet to 20 feet along the trail,
that we worked on last year were still present this year but about 15 %
reduced in density. This year a total of 16 patches have been identified and
marked with a gps unit for monitoring. One patch is more than 125 feet along
the path and extends wider on the sides. Several are just a handful of
plants. Our method has been to hand pull all plants in the three designated
patches in the fall before seeds are ripe and dispose of the plants in a way
that no uprooted plants could produce seeds from their reserves. Last year
volunteers on the Day of Caring spent 12 person hours on the three  patches.
This year they spent 10 hours on the same three patches. This is a 15%
decrease. I conclude that seeds residing from two years previous and a few
missed plants from last year produced the plants. Two unweeded patches that
measured 4 feet and 6 feet last year measured 15 and 45 feet this year. I
can see that our wo!
rk helped. The three patches we worked on, though still present this year,
did not increase in path length and were reduced in density by 15% as seen
by the less number of hours needed to uproot them. In contrast 2 undisturbed
plots increased 400% and 700% in path length.
    This year we also tried weed wacking the largest plot along the trail. I
also had wonderful success removing plants with a spring toothed rake along
the path. I worked about 1/2 hour and removed about 40 pounds or 4-16 gallon
trash bags of grass. The area was very lush and the rake pulled up about 90%
of the stilt grass. The rake also uncovered other plant species and left
many still rooted because they had thicker stems in contrast to the stilt
grass whose stems at this time of year were reduced to a fine thread. I will
have to observe if it reduces stilt grass density next year. I left some
areas unraked to compare. I wonder if the raking could be done next year and
then hand pulling a week later, when surviving plants have straightened up.
Perhaps we could uproot allot faster using the raking/handpulling-a
-week-later method.
     I have been told there is a huge infested area of several acres off the
trail. We are tackling the smaller plots now until we get a good idea about
what to do about the acre area.
     Please let me know if you have any ideas and works of encouragement.
BARBARA BERGMAN (member of Potomac Valley Audubon Society and Eastern
Panhandle Native Plant Society)

Original Message:
-----------------
From:  ForestRuss at aol.com
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 2009 09:04:14 EDT
To: APWG at lists.plantconservation.org
Subject: [APWG] Microstegium health questions update

APWG:

Since sending out my initial e-mail about some sort of unknown disease  or 
pathogen killing Microstegium in West Virginia  I have  received an 
encouraging number of responses and I would like to pass on some  answers
to 
questions that several people have asked.  I would also like to  pass on
some 
updated information.

Does it appear that the disease or whatever it is shows similar or  related 
symptoms in native plants?  From what I have observed, the  answer would be 
yes.  I have seen similar lesions in a couple of local  woodland grasses 
but it seemed more to damage or kill individual leaves of  grass plants
rather 
than the entire plant.  

There is still no word on the name or identity of the pathogen but a fresh  
sample of sick and dying stiltgrass was mailed to Indiana University to see 
 whether our pathogen matched something discovered in Microstegium patches 
there  recently.

The weather in central West Virginia has been pretty normal this  summer.  
It has not been anywhere as wet as parts of the northeast.   We had a very 
dry period during late June and early July but generally it has  not been a 
year of extremes.  

I have been in contact with people at the WV Department of Agriculture and  
the disease and they have identified a similar health issue with stiltgrass 
in  Lincoln County, West Virginia.

Several people have suggested a rust and some people suggested that it was  
a wind born virus.  Because I have found infected individual plants over  
100 feet from any other plants I would have to vote for wind dispersal.  I  
have found very small individual plants, the kind that are usually at the  
leading edge of an invasion with spots on their leaves...those plants are
so  
small that all evidence of their existence is gone as soon as they die.

As the stiltgrass plants die it appears that they die from the bottom  
up....kind of like diseased tomatoes.   Some  of the plants  develop black
spots 
on their stems and it seems that when the black spots show  up the 
likelihood of seed production drops.

At Crummies Creek there are several sites where the mortality has been  
occurring that will be easy to relocate next year to see what  happens. 

I am taking additional photos each day as things deconstruct and will post  
a follow up as soon as I hear anything on the identity of the disease  
organism.

One final observation.  It appears that whatever it is very  contagious.  
Woods roads that have been traveled since being infected  sport nothing but 
dead stiltgrass wherever wheel tracks have passed over.  

I hope the photos and comments below add some worthwhile information  to 
the discussion.

Russ Richardson, Certified Forester
Crummies Creek Tree Farm
PO Box 207
Arnoldsburg, WV 25234

304-655-8919
 c-304-3773231

Japanese stiltgrass at Crummies Creek.  The plants in this  photo were 
climbing the road bank and averaged close to six  feet tall as they went up
the 
slope.  Nearly all plants on  the more gently sloping terrain above are
very 
stunted and  average less than a foot tall and will produce no seed in 2009 
and  seed production in general should be off by more than 95%.   This is 
open woodland that receives several hours of sunshine each  morning.  

This is a close up of the remaining stiltgrass in the photo  above.

This is very sick Japanese stiltgrass growing in optimum  conditions for 
MV...very fertile woodland sites, northeastern  exposure with at least
three 
hours of full sun a day.  For  forest management purposes the area has a
site 
index of over 80 and  the understory vegetation of the site includes:  
American  ginseng, Goldenseal, black Cohosh and several other related
forest  
plants.

This is my dog Roy for a comparison of what "healthy"  stiltgrass looks 
like. Roy is a very large dog and sits close to  three feet tall...the 
stiltgrass on the road behind him is over  four feet tall.  In healthy
stiltgrass 
the only part of him you  can see walking through the woods is the tip of
his 
tail.

   There will be no problem finding the dogs in this sick  patch of 
stiltgrass.

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