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Field guide to exotic pests and diseases: Pine pitch canker
Fusarium circinatum Nirenberg & O’Donnell
Flagging signs in radiata pine
Source: CSIRO Forestry and Forest Products
Copious sticky resin flow associated with pitch canker.
Source: CSIRO Forestry and Forest Products
Distribution: USA, Mexico, South Africa, Haiti, Japan, Spain.
Hosts: species of Pinus and Pseudotsuga.
Signs: wilting, fading of needles on branch tips, copious amounts of resin at or near infection site. Needles become yellow, then red, fall from branch; infected wood is slightly sunken, honey coloured, with resin. Trees can suffer crown dieback or may die. Also causes a damping off of seedlings in nurseries. Bark, twig and cone beetles are vectors of the disease.
Likely pathway: seeds, nursery stock, bark, lumber, wood packaging material including dunnage and insects.
Potential impact: has caused severe damage in native stands and plantations of Pinus radiata in California and could pose a significant economic threat to the Pinus and Pseudotsuga plantations in Australia.