# Madrone Blight



## arbadacarba (Apr 6, 2009)

Does anbody out there know how to get the blight out of madrone? The adult trees are pretty much toast, but I sure would like to know if there is anything to put on seedlings. They seem to get to two or three years and then they succumb too.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.


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## jrietkerk (Apr 16, 2009)

'sanitizing' larger trees seems to slow it down, but you can only take out so much wood, alive or dead. Sanitizing the area around the tree is also a good idea; removing the old leaves and twigs mainly. I am applying this concept to the small ones too. I think site is a big factor - they want lots of sun! If not enough, or if the site changes with light or water during the first bunch of years, they become weak and get the blight or canker. Lots of info out there about Nattrasia and Fusiococcum (sp?), but not many solutions for control. We have fields of root sprouts around here, full of blight and canker. I'm fooling around with thinning the sprouts, picking the strong ones and keeping the site clean. Arbutus is a successional tree, so they are inherintly weak. The odd one in a good spot by the ocean gets good and big, but most of them get shaded out eventually. 

I'm all ears for more info too!


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## arbadacarba (Apr 16, 2009)

Thanks! Thats been pretty well my experience too. Very frustrating as they look really good in combination with shore pine.


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