Photos courtesy of Gary Chastagner
PULLMAN, Wash. Gary Chastagner and Marianne Elliot, plant pathologists at Washington State University’s Puyallup Research and Extension Center, have been awarded a $50,000 U.S. Forest Service grant to study madrone leaf blight, a fungus devastating trees throughout the Northwest.
Although the disease is not fatal, the fungus tends to concentrate on the leaves and starve the tree by limiting its photosynthesis.
Chastagner and Elliot are collecting samples of madrones to find disease-resistant strains and will begin planting them in varying environments to see which fare best.
Read the full article in Washington State Magazine.