BUREAU OF PLANT PEST CONTROL 

 P.C. Kuzmiski, Chief 



Massachusetts nurseries experienced strong sales of nursery stock during 

 1982 even though we had a crippling snowstorm with temperatures in the low teens 

 in early April. In essence, the nursery season began in late April rather than 

 in the usual early April part of the year. However, as the season progressed 

 the sales gathered momentum and resulted in another satisafactory business year. 



The key to sales is having material ready to go, and many of our nurseries 

 are now growing containerized stock and utilizing irrigation to help meet this 

 demand. Modern techniques such as plant tissue culture propgation, and plant 

 indexing for virus disease control are now being practiced by some of our 

 nuseries. 



This year the Gypsy Moth seemed to be a minor problem in the nurseries. 

 This pest is still on the decline from the record year of 1981. 



Our nurseries ranked 17th among the states for their production and sale of 

 nursery stock. The total value of the production is about 40 million dollars a 

 year. There are about 345 nurseries inspected and certified, comprising 2700 

 acres of land. Two of our nurseries were ranked in the top 100 nationally this 

 year. 



The activities of the Bureau are as follows: 



NURSERY AND GREENHOUSE INSPECTION : 



Nuseries had few major pest problems this year. The majority of insect 

 infestations were scattered throughout the state with no one area having a par- 

 ticular serious infestation. 



Gypsy Moth, Japanese Beetle, scales and aphids were light, while Spruce 

 Gall and White Pine Weevil were somewhat heavier in a few nurseries. 



The cool, wet spring was responsible for an increase in some of the fungus 

 diseases. Leaf spots on rose and dogwood were common as was the Phytopthera 

 Canker disease on Spruce. 



Whitefly, leaf miners, and leaf rollers on Chrysanthemum and slugs were 

 common pests in greenhouses. 



Control measures applied in nurseries kept the Gypsy Moth at a low level 

 this year. 



Number of Nurseries inspected - 345 

 Number of Greenhouses inspected - 57 

 Number of Agents licensed - 315 



PHYTOSANITARY EXPORT CERTIFICATION : 



Federal phytos for plant export - 94 



Federal phytos for apple export - 170 (150,000 bushels) 



State phytos for plant export - 277 



State phytos for tree & shrub seed - 451 



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