Landscape - Managing Verticillium Wilt

Relating to the recent post on Verticillium wilt in trees, the following are points to consider in managing Verticillium wilt.

1) Where Verticillium wilt has been diagnosed, only replant with disease resistant plants. Conifers such as hemlock, pine, taxus and spruce are not affected. Other trees that are typically free of this disease include: beech, birch, crabapple, mountain ash, dogwood, hackberry, hawthorn, hickory, holly, honeylocust, mountain ash, oak, pear, planetree, sweetgum, sycamore, willow, and zelkova. The red maple cultivars Armstrong, Autumn Flame, Bowhall, October Glory, Red Sunset, Scarlet and Schlessinger have also been reported as resistant.

2) Keep plants as healthy as possible. Good plant health care includes good site selection, proper transplanting, good water management, a prudent fertility program, and pruning out dead branches. Be aware that while pruning out infected branches is a useful general horticultural practice for maintaining plant vigor and aesthetics, it does not eliminate Verticillium from the plant since infections originate and spread from the roots.

3) Fungicides are not effective for control of this disease.

Information from the an article by John Hartman, UK Plant Pathologist, in the current edition of the Kentucky Pest News http://www.uky.edu/Ag/kpn/kpn_09/pn_090714.html