We think about transplant rare plant species from nurseries to the rehabilitated ecosystem. However soil pathogens (fungus, invertebrates and others) associated with the transplants have to be reduced to = 0.
Do you have any idea or protocole.
First, we plan to use substrat of destination.
Second, to isolate this substrat from the nursery land with elevated table.
Thanks for you advice
Grow seeds in substrate of destination. Source seeds from the same destination if possible.
In California on imported nursery plants, we introduced a plant pathogen that we now call "Sudden Oak Death" and is killing our native oaks trees. Then in the Eastern USA there was the Chestnut blight and the Dutch Elm diseases of the 1800s.
However, it was recently discovered that the California native plant nurseries are infested with 50 more plant pathogens that are related to Sudden Oak Death, that you can read about at http://paloaltoonline.com/print/story/2016/09/23/in-pursuit-of-a-plague
Unfortunately the State officials that license and inspect nurseries are not interested in inspecting, testing and certifying for these 50 new pathogens, because it is going to cost the State tens of millions of dollars to clean up this mess.
If anyone from the State of California is reading this, maybe they can explain why our native nurseries are not being inspected, tested and cleaned up?
They have not even sent out any notices to the nurseries that a problem exists, or a flier to show what each nursery should look for with sick plants? And once you spot a sick plant, what is the proper disposal and clean up procedure?
And the native plant nurseries are not spending the money either to clean up, the only action on a nursery-level is when a large-scale buyer insists that they clean up, then something is done, and that is only one nursery so far taking significant action.
So if California, one of the richest areas on the planet, does not invest in cleaning up their native plant nurseries because of costs, then that means that proper cleanup of nurseries elsewhere probably will never be done, and exotic plant pathogens may be a worse impact on native ecosystems around the planet, than global warming for example.
Be careful, there are pathogens present in the soil (resting spores) and in plant tissues (mycelium). In Spain, we have the same problem with two oaks species (Quercus suber and Quercus ilex) because of the influence of Phytophthora cinnamomi.
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