The National Christmas Tree Association says that 30 to 35 million American families buy fresh farm grown Christmas trees every year during the holiday season. Christmas tree farms that are growing Fraser fir trees in North Carolina and Oregon are being threatened by a mold that is killing the roots and destroying their crops.
The National Christmas Tree Association says that 30 to 35 million American families buy fresh farm grown Christmas trees every year during the holiday season.
Christmas tree farms that are growing Fraser fir trees in North Carolina and Oregon are being threatened by a mold that is killing the roots and destroying their crops.
The Phytophthora mold is capable of causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage to the Christmas tree industry.
John Frampton, a Christmas tree geneticist at North Carolina State University, said: “The organism that causes this disease was introduced in the 1900s we think, so it's been with the industry ever since it started in North Carolina in the 1950s and 60s. This past summer we had an unusually large amount of rain and that's when the Phytophthora is more active and more liable to be spread.”
Farmers are now growing other breeds of firs like the Turkish and Nordmann that aren’t as susceptible to the root rotting mold.
Also, farmers are experimenting with grafting a Frasier fir tree onto the roots of other Fir species, and trying to figure out the genetic mechanism behind the other specie’s resistance to the mold.
