Courtesy of Vlada Glukova, who likes both:
Yeah, I know, they're mostly sunsets. The sun sets over the ocean in Santa Monica.
A fatal disease is quickly spreading among the palms of south Louisiana, and there’s no cure in sight. Called lethal bronzing, the disease first appeared in Louisiana in 2013 and has been detected in at least six parishes: Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard, East Baton Rouge, West Baton Rouge and Iberia.
. . .
“Once a palm is infected, it can’t be saved,” said Raghuwinder ‘Raj’ Singh, a plant doctor and director of Louisiana State University’s Plant Diagnostic Center. “Is the disease going to wipe out the palms in 10 or 15 years? I can’t answer that, but there is no control for this disease.”
It wasn’t until two years ago that scientists confirmed that the disease is carried by a species of planthopper, a tiny insect that sucks palm sap but also inadvertently injects the trees with the lethal bronzing bacteria. That knowledge hasn’t slowed the disease’s spread. In fact, it appears to be worsening, said Lee Stansberry, an arborist with Bayou Tree Service in New Orleans.
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While there’s no way to heal a sick tree, injecting it with acne medicine can delay its onset. Oxytetracycline, an antibiotic commonly used to rid teenage faces of pimples, has kept some of New Orleans’ most prominent palms, including the ones on Canal Street, disease-free for years. Problem is, the drug is “wildly expensive,” and has to be administered two or three times per year for the duration of a tree’s life, Stansberry said. A single tree’s treatment can cost as much as $1,200 per year.
Linked at the Pirates Cove in weekly Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup and links. The Wombat has Rule 5 Sunday: Country Girls ready for your digital pleasure at The Other McCain.
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