Pierluigi Bonello and Maria Bellizzi, Department of Plant Pathology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio; and Harry A. J. Hoitink, Department of Plant Pathology, The Ohio State University, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, Wooster, Ohio.
In the summer of 2000, Dr. Hannah Mathers, of The Ohio State University's Department of Horticulture and Crop Science, reported what appeared to be a new disease of honeylocusts to the authors. The condition was discovered at a nursery near Cincinnati, Ohio. By the summer of 2001, the disease had resulted in total mortality of entire rows of two-inch caliper 'Skyline' honeylocusts.
Another nursery in Michigan noticed a similar condition in 2000, this time on 'Shademaster' honeylocusts. The syndrome reappeared there again in 2001 and led to the mortality of several rows of trees.
At both locations, the disease reappeared in 2002 and caused severe mortality, again concentrated in specific rows or groups of trees.
The nursery in southwestern Ohio reported an apparent link between hand pruning conducted in the course of normal horticultural care operations and the appearance of symptoms in both seasons. That nursery sustained a loss of more than $130,000 in wholesale value over the course of two years.