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The fungus rots wood from the inside out, usually weakening the trunk at ground level

Jeannette Warnert, Communications Specialist

January 24, 2020

1 Min Read
Almond orchard
An almond orchard in California's Central Valley is in the midst of harvest.Tim Hearden

An airborne fungus from Europe, ganoderma adspersum, has been killing almond trees in the San Jaoquin Valley since it was discovered in the area five years ago, reported John Cox in the Bakersfield Californian.

The fungus rots wood from the inside out, usually weakening the trunk at ground level. 

Three kinds of ganoderma fungus infections were identified recently in California almond orchards; University of California researchers say 94 percent of the cases were of the adspersum variety.

"We are seeing those trees collapsing at 11, 12, 15 years old,” said UC Cooperative Extension orchard systems advisor Mohammad Yaghmour. The infections have results in the removal of orchards at less than half their typical 20- to 25-year life span.

Spraying for the fungal disease is ineffective. Yaghmour believes that in time researchers will identify a root stock that is resistant to the fungus.

Read more: A foreboding fungus is threatening orchards in the San Joaquin Valley

Source: University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, which is solely responsible for the information provided and is wholly owned by the source. Informa Business Media and all its subsidiaries are not responsible for any of the content contained in this information asset. 

About the Author(s)

Jeannette Warnert

Communications Specialist, UC Cooperative Extension

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