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At left: This photograph was taken in May 2002 across the street from the garden center at a local Walmart. This situation should create a problem for retailers, but most garden center managers are totally unaware of it. The mass of stems (witches' broom) emerging from a single cane of RRD infected 'R. multilflora' in the foreground is a typical symptom - witches broom. The stems have discolored, leaves of very thin shape and short internodal spacing. Elsewhere, along the same fence row, there are bushes of 'R. multiflora' with buds with aberrant sepals that did not open as well as aberrant leaf forms and stem development. In this one hedgerow there were at least four large RRD-sickening multifloras that were healthy last summer. In summer 2003 RRD had spread further but none of the infected bushes had died. |