Coconut Trees in a Fight For Their Lives pg.2
The disease has reached epidemic proportions in the wetter parts of each island, and has now spread from the windward to leeward sides of the islands, Visintainer said. How the fungus got to Hawai’i is unknown, but scientists believe it might have been spread by heavy windblown rain, birds and rodents.
The fungus is carried to a healthy palm tree and works it way down into the heart of the palm, producing a rot that gradually destroys a growing shoot and eventually kills the plant. The work of the fungus is marked by the death of a young, center leaf that turns brown and falls over.
As the fungus moves over the tree, the other remaining fronds drop. In a few months, all the fronds eventually fall off, leaving a bare trunk. “If you see the palm tree dying from the inside out, then most likely it is the disease,” Visintainer said. “If you see it from the outside in, it could be anything. It could be the water, lack of nutrients, damage to the roots.”
The fungus almost has a will to live. If the infected tree is not removed, the disease finds another host tree and kills it. Unchecked, it can wipe out a grove of palms that have taken a lifetime to grow. Palm trees have a life span of between 70 to 100 years. The fungus will remain active until infected trees and nuts are either incinerated or are deeply buried. Oospores also are able to survive in the soil without the host plant.
Oospores also could latch onto tools, gloves and equipment that were used to dispose of infected plants. If the tools aren’t cleaned, the fungus could spread to healthy plants. Why be concerned with the fungus? Because it could cost as much as $5,000 to plant a single 50-foot tree, a high expense for any property owner and even more expensive for a hotel developer that wants many trees planted, Visintainer said.
