It has been recently discovered that a forest in San Mateo Country appears to be resistant to Sudden Oak Death. This watershed is now being to conduct the largest experimental ever conducted in the wild. 300 healthy tanoaks are being treated with a coating or injection of Agri-Fos, a commercial fungicide. A similar number of tanoaks is being left untreated for comparison. The fungicide has been effective at treating residential trees but can be very costly($30 to $100 per tree).
Sudden oak death is caused by the pathogen Phytophthora ramorum and is responsible for the death of over one million oaks and tan oaks in California. If a way to stop Sudden Oak Death is not found, California could lose ninety per cent of its tanoaks and live oaks in the next quarter century.
Read more in Bay Citizen: Scientists Battle to Stop Sudden Oak Death
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