Disease Note

First Report of Blueberry Shoestring Virus Disease in Washington. . P. R. Bristow, Washington State University, Puyallup 98371. D. C. Ramsdell, Michigan State University, East Lansing 48824. Plant Dis. 68:450. Accepted for publication 30 January 1984. Copyright 1984 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-68-450c.

Typical leaf, stem, and blossom symptoms of the blueberry shoestring virus (BBSSV) disease were observed on highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymhosum L. 'Jersey') in a commercial field in Whatcom County, Washington, in 1976. Tissues from bushes with symptoms tested positive to BBSSV antiserum in ELISA tests. By 1978 all bushes with symptoms were rogued and destroyed. Symptoms of the disease have not been found in yearly inspections since then, even on plants replacing those rogued. Symptoms have never been found on plants of any of the other six cultivars in the 4+-ha field. The aphid vector of the virus (Illinois pepperi MacGillivray) has not been reported in Washington nor was it found in aphids sampled from this site. Some of the original Jersey planting stock used to establish the planting in 1960 were probably infected with BBSSV; there has been no indication of spread of the disease in the planting since then.