Cherry Viruses Moving from Washington to Oregon

Researchers at Oregon State University have discovered that many of the viruses that have plagued the cherry growers in Washington have moved their way down to Oregon.

Viruses like cherry leaf roll virus, tomato ringspot, tobacco ringspot and little cherry disease have all found their way to the Beaver State according to Graduate Research Assistant Lauri Lutes.

“The symptom is present during a very busy time of year. It shows up maybe a couple of weeks before harvest in the fruit and then that’s really the only symptom that you see. So unless there’s someone out there who’s able to go and tag the tree showing symptoms, I guess it’s kind of easy to lose track.”

And removal of the viruses that you don’t know are there is obviously quite difficult.

OSU Plant Pathologist Jay Pscheidt said it’s important for growers to not ignore problems, look for symptoms and work with labs that can test for these diseases.

“Our next step is to find out how prevalent they are because if we found just the one tree; ok, we found a tree, it has that virus it was confirmed. But how extensive is it? Is it many other orchards, or any other areas or not. That’s another aspect we need to look at.”

If you do come across a tree that you think might have a virus, make sure to flag it so that you can investigate the tree when you have the time to do so and get it tested.

If you have a story idea for the Washington Ag Network, call (509) 547-1618, or e-mail krounce@cherrycreekradio.com.