By Ben Faber, UC Cooperative Extension — Laurel Wilt Disease of Avocado and the relatives of avocado in the Laurel Family has devastated the the forests along the east coast from North Carolina down to Florida and along the Caribbean into Texas. It has caused significant losses to wildlands and to the Florida avocado industry.
The extent of the native tree loss is shocking and there is very little that can be done to correct the problem, other than to curb the spread of contaminated wood that is spread by humans, There has been some success in the avocado orchards. While there is no “silver bullet”, there is some progress, e.g. pruning to increase light levels to suppress Ambrosia Beetle activity. In addition, research has continued for:
- Vaccinations to protect avocado trees from the LW pathogen
- Developing a faster LW diagnostic tool
- Screening scions and rootstocks for tolerance/resistance
- AB control tactics and suppression
- Molecular understanding of the pathogen
- Economics and the LW epidemic
Read the latest results in these two recent publications:
