Abstract
Cherry stem pitting (CSP) is a debilitating disease of sweet cherry trees (Prunus avium (L.) L. 'Bing'). Symptoms on the tree trunks include thickened bark and prominent pits in the woody cylinder. Eventually, affected trees decline. Surveys of commercial orchards, some of which were established with a mixture of cv. Bing on Colt (P. avium X P. pseudocerasus), mahaleb (P. mahaleb L.), or mazzard (P. avium) rootstocks, revealed that disease incidence ranged up to 44% but only trees on mahaleb and mazzard rootstocks were symptomatic. All Bing/Colt trees appeared healthy, which indicated that Colt rootstock is likely resistant to the CSP agent. These observations were confirmed in test plots replicated with trees of Bing/Colt and Bing/mahaleb. Although circumstantial evidence suggests a soilborne origin and symptoms resemble those of Prunus stem pitting (PSP), all attempts to detect tomato ringspot virus (the causal agent of PSP) in affected trees by graft-inoculations onto P. tomentosa Thunb. have failed.
Published Version
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