The Oregon Department of Agriculture, its sister agency in Hawaii, and Oregon growers are working together to say goodbye to slugs and yellow jackets, two unwanted pests that could cause huge problems in Hawaii’s fragile ecosystem.
For the third year in a row, inspectors with the Hawaii Department of Agriculture are traveling to Oregon to look at trees before they are shipped. Oregon entomologists also plan to be in Hawaii to monitor shipments of Oregon Christmas trees for any pest and disease problems.
“We are here to see what has been implemented to reduce pests, and that the containers of trees we see here are as clean as we find them when they arrive in Hawaii,” says Carrie Itoma of the Hawaii Department of Agriculture. “We don’t want pests like slugs and yellow jackets coming into Hawaii. Our ecosystem is so fragile. We have so many native species that are endangered, we can’t afford to have another pest hit us.”
Hawaiian inspectors will be in Oregon until November 17, which is about the time the last containers of Oregon Christmas trees head for the islands.
The close scrutiny on both sides underscores the importance of the Hawaiian market for Oregon growers and the demand for Oregon Christmas trees in Hawaii.
“We typically ship about 250 containers of Oregon Christmas trees to Hawaii each year, which is a couple hundred-thousand trees,” says Gary McAninch, manager of the Oregon Department of Agriculture’s Nursery and Christmas Tree programs. “We’ve had some issues with slugs hitching a ride with the trees the past two years. When those trees arrive with slugs, they are required by the Hawaii Department of Agriculture to be reconditioned, which is time consuming and expensive. They would prefer that we ship the trees but not the slugs. So we have worked together along with Oregon State University and our growers to develop integrated pest management systems that can be used over here to minimize the chances that slugs will travel on Oregon Christmas trees to Hawaii.”
Oregon remains the nation’s leading producer of Christmas trees. The Oregon Department of Agriculture plays an essential role in making the export of Oregon Christmas trees possible. Inspectors check to make sure trees bound for other states and countries are as pest and disease-free as possible. Those inspectors will be facing a whirlwind of export activity in the next few weeks as growers seek an all-important piece of paper known as the phytosanitary certificate.
“The phytosanitary certificate is an Oregon grower’s passport to the international marketplace,” says Bryan Ostlund, executive director of the Pacific Northwest Christmas Tree Association. “Without the ODA inspector, there would be no passport.”
Inspection takes place in the field before harvest and again just prior to shipment. Inspectors don’t look at every tree, but randomly walk through a representative part of the field looking for potential problems. They also check after growers use a mechanical shaker to rid trees of any pests that might be present right before those trees go into a container. The process has been largely successful in preventing problems. Failure at this end can mean trouble at the export destination and a financial headache for the grower or shipper.
In the case of Hawaii, a step has been added with the inspection Oregon entomologists at the receiving end, working with their Hawaii counterparts, to ensure trees that go to market are pest-free. Being on site as the trees arrive allows for observation and quick action if there are pest issues. Problems can be communicated back to Oregon growers, who can take action and mitigate pest issues before any more trees are sent to Hawaii. That might include additional shaking of trees or different handling practices aimed at reducing or eliminating pests of concern.
In 2012, Hawaiian officials rejected 30 percent of the containers that arrived because of slugs. Those trees had to be manually rid of the pests in order to be accepted into the marketplace. By working with Oregon growers on improving their harvest and handling of trees prior to shipment, last year’s rejection rate was cut in half to about 16 percent, the Oregon department said. With another year of implementing new pest management practices by Oregon growers, officials hope to reduce the number of rejected containers to no more than a handful.
Officials are hoping to avoid a repeat of 2012 despite the fact that weather conditions this year have been similar– a long, dry period right up to shipping season when rain started to fall.
“We have already started looking at the trees bound for Hawaii and haven’t seen slug problems so far,” says McAninch. “We think the improved grower practices have helped quite a bit.”
For more than 600 Oregon Christmas tree growers, access to other states and countries is important since Oregonians themselves can’t possibly buy roughly 6.5 million trees produced annually. Lessons learned in Hawaii may be handy for those who export since eliminating pests in general helps maintain the good reputation earned and enjoyed wherever Oregon Christmas trees go – which is around the world.