Survival of slash pine having fusiform rust disease varies with year of first stem infection and severity

Abstract

Probabilities of death of young slash pine infected by fusiform rust pathogen varied with timing and severity of infection. Trees in nine slash pine plantations varying widely in site quality and initial number of trees per acre had similar probabilities of death from rust. About 90 percent of trees with stem infections in the first three growing seasons died by age 15 if the gall spanned more than 50 percent of the circumference of the stem by age 5. If 50 percent gall encirclement occurred after age 5, mortality rates dropped to about 30 percent at age 15. Where first stem infection occurred after the fifth year, probability of death was essentially the same as for rust-free trees. Methods are given for using timing-severity data to estimate future stocking.

Citation

Froelich, R.C.; Schmidtling, Ronald C. 1998. Survival of slash pine having fusiform rust disease varies with year of first stem infection and severity. Southern Journal of Applied Forestry. 22(2): 96-100.