2008 MDA Annual Report - Maryland Department of Agriculture

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| Office o f Pl a n t In d u s t r i es a n d Pest Ma n a g e m e n t |during the 2008 growing season. Samples were submitted byMDA nursery inspectors and pesticide investigators, Marylandnurseries, landscapers, IPM scouts, private consultants, andhomeowners. Samples received this year included commoncankers, leaf spots, root rots, and several virus samples. Samplesthat tested positive for Phytophthora by ELISA tests were thencultured and screened for Phytophthora ramorum. Only typicalPhytophthora species (not ramorim) were found associated withdying plants in Maryland in 2008.Greenhouse LaboratoryPlants were produced for integrated pest management andbiological control programs that require food for insect coloniesand plant material for research. A collection of herbaceousperennials used for teaching and testing purposes by the CertifiedProfessional Horticulturist Program, in conjunction with theMaryland Nursery and Landscape Association, was increased.Plant CertificationThe Maryland Ginseng Management Program protectsAmerican ginseng, Panax quinquefolius, from over-harvest bymonitoring the harvest and by licensing diggers and dealers ofwild, wild-simulated, woods-grown and cultivated ginseng. MDAconducts a management program in cooperation with the U.S.Fish and Wildlife Service (USF&WS) that follows establishedprotocols to insure the continued viability of a potentiallythreatened native resource and to protect it from over-harvest.Harvested ginseng is certified through the program to enablelicensed dealers to sell this wild-harvested plant product ininternational markets. MDA also works with growers of wildsimulatedand woods-grown ginseng to allow them to market andexport their highly valued crops. The dried roots are highly prized,especially in China and Korea, for properties that putativelypromote good health. In 2007-2008, the program licensed 10Ginseng Dealers and 230 Ginseng collectors in the state.During the 2007-2008 harvest and sales season, the certificationprogram inspected, collected size and age data from, and weighed148.12 pounds of dry wild and wild-simulated ginseng root; 750pounds of artificially propagated dry ginseng root and 10 poundsof wild-simulated stratified ginseng seed. Data were gatheredand reports submitted in accordance with U.S. Fish and WildlifeService requirements.The amount of ginseng cultivated including woods-grown andwild-simulated designations in Maryland, and certified by thedepartment, continues to remain high relative to the amount ofwild ginseng harvested and certified in the state. This reflectsboth continuing interest in ginseng as an alternative crop, andthe ability of Maryland growers to produce high quality ginseng.If this trend continues, harvest pressure on wild ginseng may bereduced, in turn, allowing wild ginseng populations to rebound.The MDA continues to participate in the virus-free rosecertification program with Angelica Nursery. MDA maintainedand certified stock plants of two varieties of roses in 2008. Onevariety was propagated by tissue culture, producing a total of 300plants. Laboratory and greenhouse personnel participated in avisual inspection of all rose plants at the nursery both in the springand the fall, and submitted nine leaf samples of stock plants toAgdia for testing in their rose screen for viruses. Visual surveys areconducted twice a year, and testing occurs once each year.Integrated Pest Management andBiological ControlCooperative efforts continued among MDA, the Universityof Maryland, growers, and the Northeast Integrated PestManagement Center (NEIPMC). MDA represents Marylandstate regulators at the NEIPMC through a seat on the AdvisoryCouncil. In 2008, the section participated in a Plant ProtectionGuest Lecture Series at the University of Maryland, in ongoingcooperation with the Maryland Plant Protection Center. Thiseffort is a collaboration between USDA and the University ofMaryland that aims to establish a leading academic research andextension program in the mid-Atlantic region.Weed Integrated Pest Management (IPM)Plant Protection and Weed Management Section entomologistsand staff continued to conduct an IPM program to providebiological control of certain thistle species. The program hashelped significantly to control musk thistle along highway areasthat are inaccessible to mowing and/or spraying equipment. MDAprovided technical assistance with noxious weed problems onpublic land to various federal, county and state agencies, includingthe University of Maryland, the Department of Natural Resources,correctional institutions, county road departments, State HighwayAdministration and the U.S. Department of the Interior.48
| Office o f Pl a n t In d u s t r i es a n d Pest Ma n a g e m e n t |Weed IPM research activities were conducted at field plots atthe MDA facility in Cheltenham and along State HighwayAdministration rights of ways during each of the past eight years.These plots continued to be used for evaluation and to conductweed suppression trials. Additionally, plots long established atWestern Maryland Research and Education Center (WMREC)in Keedysville were supplemented in 2008 with newly plantedresearch plots. Integrated Pest Management investigationscontinued to be targeted at suppression of Cirsium and Carduusthistles. Research is focused on the evaluation of organisms forpotential biocontrol, testing herbicide formulation efficacy, andevaluating the use of competitive vegetation (including nativegrasses and forbs) in an effort to provide environmentally-soundand cost-effective methods for suppression of noxious thistlespecies in Maryland.Presentations regarding the progress of ongoing biocontroland weed management programs were made to State HighwayAdministration managers, staff and guests from other state agenciesat an SHA sponsored Vegetation Management Conference bythe staff entomologist coordinating the program and by WeedManagement Program staff. The staff entomologist and MDAPlant Protection Section Program Manager also met with SHALandscape Operations Division staff and administrators to reviewprogram accomplishments and progress, and to coordinate anddevelop a work plan for the next few years.A survey for the presence and effects of rose rosette disease wascontinued in 2008. Rose rosette disease is a pathogenic maladyof the multiflora rose, Rosa multiflora, a problem weed in pastures,woodlands, and rights of ways in Maryland and many other states.The disease, which has become established in North America andis spread by natural means, reduces populations of this invasiverose species.Since the disease was first detected in Maryland in the 1990s,results of surveys conducted by MDA Plant Protection andWeed Management staff indicate that the disease is continuing tospread over a wide portion of Central and Northern Maryland,and has become locally established in Southern Maryland andon Maryland’s Eastern Shore. In 2002, a field experiment to testthe relative susceptibility of various rose cultivars and native rosespecies to rose rosette disease was designed and implemented at theMDA facility in Cheltenham. Experimental results continued tobe recorded and accessed in 2008. This experiment is intendedto provide valuable information needed to assess the effects of thedisease on rose species other than R. multiflora including nativespecies and cultivars important to the landscape and nursery tradein Maryland.This was another active year for releases of biological controlagents, the leaf-feeding beetles Gallerucella calmariensis and G.pusilla, on populations of purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria).During the summer of 2008, more than 2,500 adult beetleswere released at several locations on the Patuxent River near JugBay and adjacent to the Merkle Wildlife Management Area. Anadditional 2,500 beetles were released along the Anacostia Riverbetween Bladensburg, Md and the U.S. National Arboretumin Washington, D.C. The first MDA-reared beetle adults andlarvae were also released in 2008. Adult beetles were released incentral Howard County and adult beetles and larvae were releasedin southern Charles County near Port Tobacco. Partners withthe Maryland Department of Agriculture in these efforts arethe Maryland Department of Natural Resources, the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, and the HowardCounty Department of Recreation and Parks. Funding for theproject was, in part, derived from funds dedicated by the MarylandDepartment of Transportation, State Highway Administration.MDA was the primary coordinating agency.The rearing program move from Cheltenham to MDA’sheadquarters in Annapolis has proven to be successful as well asefficient. MDA staff reared beetles at the MDA greenhouse andrearing laboratories in Annapolis throughout the 2007 seasonand in 2008 were successful for the first time at bringing theadult beetles out of overwintering diapause and increasing beetlenumbers significantly over the course of the spring and summer.MDA staff is making preparations to increase production evenfurther in 2009.In addition to the releases and the rearing project described above,locations where beetles were previously released in Prince George’sand Howard counties were surveyed for the biocontrol agent;beetle activity was again detected. An average of 30,000 beetlesper year had been released over several years through 2003 toestablish populations of the leaf feeding beetles in field insectaries,to support field collections for biological control efforts, andto allow for redistribution in the future. Sites in Howard andPrince George’s counties where beetles were released in past yearswere evaluated for levels of plant control and were surveyed for49
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2008 MDA Annual Report - Maryland Department of Agriculture

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