A Phomopsis Species Associated with Nonlethal Adelgid Galls on Upper Crown Branchlets of Red Spruce in West Virginia. D. E. AUDLEY, Department of Plant Pathology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park 16802. J. M. SKELLY, Department of Plant Pathology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park 16802. Plant Dis. 78:569-571. Accepted for publication 28 February 1994. Copyright 1994 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-78-0569.

A twig necrosis of dominant and codominant red spruce was associated with previously formed nonlethal galls of the eastern spruce gall adelgid in high-elevation stands of West Virginia. A Phomopsis sp. was isolated from 14 of 43 (33%) dying adelgid galled twigs. Subsequent seedling inoculations produced cankers in 14 of 48 (29%) attempts; the fungus was consistently reisolated from symptomatic tissues. These studies add to the interpretations of continuing health appraisals of red spruce in the eastern United States.