Rare disease threatens Nova Scotia Christmas trees

Some Nova Scotia Christmas tree growers are concerned about a fungus known as root rot.

The dangerous and deadly tree disease Phytophthora, commonly known as root rot, is killing thousands of Nova Scotia Christmas trees.

The Christmas tree industry pumps more than $50 million into the Nova Scotia economy each year, as growers have been forced to deal with mild winters, which provide the perfect breeding ground for root rot to spread.

“Last spring, we started seeing some rot, so I got a specialist to look at it,” Christmas tree grower Colin Hughes said. “We sent some off to get tested and it was confirmed it was root rot.”

Hughes said experts have told him the disease came from young infected seedlings brought into the province and are killing most of his Fraser Fir trees, but not the more common Balsam Fir.

“We probably have about 15,000 Fraser Fir trees in the ground right now, and that seems to be where the problem is.”

Root rot prevents trees from absorbing water and other nutrients found in the soil.

“We never had to deal with it in our more northern climate, because we always had frost that would go six to eight inches deep, and that would freeze out the spore stage of the disease,” said Matthew Wright from the Canadian Christmas Trees Association.

“This particular disease has a swimming spore stage, so it depends on wet soils to swim to the roots, and it only attacks roots when they are actively growing in the spring or fall,” said Wright.

Hughes says it’s too soon to know if root rot could spread further and what kind of impact that could have on the Christmas season. He is seeking advice on how to monitor the situation closely.

”All I know is, I have Balsam Firs growing right alongside a dying Fraser Fir, and our Balsams are doing very well,” said Hughes.

With December less than five months away, all of Nova Scotia’s Christmas trees will need to stay healthy so they can be ready for holiday season.