New Hampshire Department of Agriculture, Markets & Food Shawn N. Jasper, Commissioner New Hampshire Department of Agriculture, Markets & Division of Plant Report to the Eastern Plant Summary of 2020 Nursery program https://www.agriculture.nh.gov/divisions/plant-industry/nursery-plant-dealers.htm The New Hampshire Plant Dealer license encompasses growers, wholesalers, and retailers of nursery and florists stock. Anyone engaged in the sale or transfer of rooted plants is required to have a Plant Dealer license. Table 1: Licensees and nursery inspections: 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 Licensed plant dealers 700 725 746 722 736 782 818 831 828 829 Newly licensed plant dealers 53 50 13 24 64 70 29 45 38 43 Exporting nurseries 65 65 65 65 65 65 65 70 51 79 Nursery inspections 152 119 120 123 248 181 135 179 315 456 Despite a late start in the season for nursery inspections due to COVID19 restrictions in the state, the nursery inspection season was active with inspections at box stores, grocery stores, and other retail outlets continuing past the peak plant sales season. Out of the 456 visits to New Hampshire nurseries, greenhouses, landscapers, and other plant dealers, 83 of the inspections focused on the CAPS nursery pests, and an additional 132 inspections were focused on larger nurseries and out-of-state shippers. Quality pests detected during inspection were: aphids, lily leaf beetle, powdery mildew, thrips, whitefly, elongate hemlock scale, mealybug, daylily leaf miner, leaf tier, woolly bark aphid, wooly adelgid, scale, cabbage worm, fall web worm, red humped caterpillar, boxwood volutella blight, Colorado potato beetle, and weeds. Creeping Jenny, a prohibited invasive plant in New Hampshire, continued to be detected in mixed planters, especially those at big box stores. One nursery was found selling Japanese barberry, another prohibited invasive plant in New Hampshire. Regulatory responses: Ralstonia solanacearum race 3 biovar 2 response: A plant bacterium that causes brown rot of potato, Southern wilt of geranium, and bacterial wilt of tomato. It is not established in the United States and has been listed as a Select Agent plant pathogen under the Agricultural Bioterrorism Act of 2002. In the spring of 2020, geraniums imported into the US were found symptomatic for this disease. USDA APHIS PPQ oversaw the national response which included two New Hampshire nurseries. Although the scale of the problem was limited within New Hampshire, plants were destroyed at both nurseries in order to protect agriculture, and the loss of plants was significant for growers. When growers implement best management practices to limit the potential for pest spread within their facility, it can help limit the scope of a regulatory response. As Ralstonia is a water-borne pest, this can mean Page 1 attention to water sourcing and drainage management, as well as consideration about commingling plants from multiple sources. Lycorma delicatula (Spotted lanternfly): There were two interceptions of live spotted lanternfly on imported nursery stock in 2020. 1) A single adult spotted lanternfly was detected, photographed, captured, and reported at a big box store in Concord. The store had received several dozen carts of plants that day from out-of-state, including from spotted lanternfly quarantine areas. Plants had not been received for two weeks prior to that day. The detection report was made through a private message to the NHBugs facebook page and was later confirmed by collection of the specimen from the reporter. There was a multi-agency response to survey all plants, materials, and areas surrounding the big box store and no additional life stages of spotted lanternfly were detected. Other locations of the big box store in the state were surveyed with no additional life stages of spotted lanternfly detected. Information about spotted lanternfly, including identifying and reporting it, was sent to all locations of that big box store. 2) A wholesale nursery reported adult spotted lanternfly within the nursery at Fig. 1: photo credit D. Kuzyk, the start of September. DPI and USDA APHIS PPQ inspectors, working with the full cooperation of the nursery, found red maples imported from the 2020. Spotted lanternfly adult. spotted lanternfly quarantine area from which egg masses had not been fully removed by the quarantined nursery. Response to the detection was immediate and comprehensive, including a trace-back to the original nursery, records of where plants were shipped out-of-state, applications of insecticide in affected parts of the nursery, a total of thirteen surveys of the nursery and surrounding areas, an additional end-of-season egg mass survey, required inspections for movement of nursery stock off of the nursery premises, and training of nursery staff. Currently, there is no evidence to suggest established spotted lanternfly populations at this nursery or elsewhere in New Hampshire. As a result of this response, a brochure was developed about spotted lanternfly best management practices for nurseries, focusing on prevention, detection, reporting, and response. The brochure is available on the Division’s website (www.agriculture.nh.gov/publications-forms/documents/slf-bmp-nursery.pdf), and was sent to all plant dealers in Nov. 2020. Trichoferus campestris (Velvet longhorn beetle): A nursery notified the Division in December of the receipt of decorative holiday wreaths that appeared to contain insect larvae. The wreaths originated from an off- shore company and were imported and distributed into the state by an out-of-state broker. Division and APHIS PPQ staff responded and collected live longhorn beetle larvae from the wreaths. Of the six wreaths received, three contained live larvae, and each infested wreaths contained multiple live larvae. Wreaths were destroyed by burning and USDA followed-up on the interception. The insects were determined to be velvet longhorn beetle, which is no longer regulated at ports of entry, but is of some concern for establishment in New Hampshire. Although no longer regulated at the ports, because the wreaths were not imported with the required permits the USDA oversaw the collection and destruction of all other wreaths associated with Fig. 2: photo credit D. this shipment. All wreaths sold into New Hampshire were recovered before beetles Dudley, APHIS, 2020. could emerge and establish. The initial report from the NH nursery facilitated a Imported holiday wreath rapid response to prevent the introduction of this wood-attacking beetle in these with feeding damage. holiday ornaments. Page 2 NOT DETECTED—Vespa mandarinia (Asian giant hornet) : The Division, and other cooperators in the state, fielded significant numbers of calls related to Asian giant hornet in 2020. In most cases, the reports were accompanied by photos or specimens. In all cases with photos and specimens submitted, the insect was not Asian giant hornet, which remains undetected in New Hampshire. Submitted suspect insects were: Most reported: Vespa crabro (European hornet): spring and fall reports Seasonally highly reported: Sphecius speciosus (Cicada killer wasp): July reports Fewest reports: Tremex columba (Pigeon tremex horntail): August Photo: Jo Ann Poe-McGavin Photo: Prince William Conservation Alliance Photo: E.R. Degginger / Encyclopedia Brittanica, Inc Fig. 3: clockwise, starting top left—Asian giant hornet (Vespa mandarina), European hornet (Vespa crabro), cicada killer wasp (Sphecius speciosus), and pigeon tremex (Tremex columba). Intensity of reporting appeared to be related to news coverage of Washington state detections. Numbers of reports were high, particularly in the spring and early fall. Reports directly to the Division and cooperators were quickly addressed. Harder to address were reports of Asian giant hornet made on social media sites. These can be a significant source of misinformation about pest presence in the state. To try to reduce misinformation, both NHBugs and the Department of Agriculture’s facebook pages ran posts about Asian giant hornet look-alikes present in New Hampshire, and how to report suspect insects. Unsolicited seeds: In July and August, Division of Plant Industry, and Department of Agriculture, Markets & Food staff fielded more than 200 reports of NH residents receiving unsolicited seeds in the mail. This appears to be another situation driven by media coverage. Initially, Division staff responded to reports and received submitted seed packages. Later in the response, the Department webpage directed recipients of unsolicited seeds to the local USDA State Plant Health Director’s office in White River Junction, VT. That office continues to receive seeds and submit them for analysis. To date, no significant plant health threats have been found associated with these shipments of unsolicited seeds. Page 3 Hemlock woolly adelgid quarantine and elongate hemlock scale https://www.agriculture.nh.gov/divisions/plant-industry/hemlock-woolly-adelgid.htm https://nhbugs.org/hemlock-woolly-adelgid https://nhbugs.org/elongate-hemlock-scale The hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae) (HWA) quarantine was eliminated on March 16, 2018. The quarantine was a joint quarantine between the Division of Plant Industry and the Division of Forests and Lands. The reasons for elimination of the quarantine were: HWA has been detected in 142 towns and 9 counties in New Hampshire HWA can be moved by birds, wildlife and other pathways not impacted by regulation Recent detections of HWA indicate that natural