Island View Nursery says its phone has been ringing non-stop since news broke that the family-run business is threatened after a disease-causing plant pathogen was discovered by federal inspectors.
Business and industry organizations and individuals have been contacting the Central Saanich nursery to express support, said family spokeswoman Alexandria Garcia.
“The support has been more than we were prepared for,” she said Thursday, adding phone calls and emails have come from as far away as Ontario. “It is getting widespread attention now.”
Saanich-Gulf Islands MP Elizabeth May said she plans to contact the federal ministers of health and of agriculture after approaching those departments last year, urging a review of response protocols and reinstatement of a compensation fund.
A random test last month found Phytophthora ramorum on a rhododendron purchased by Island View Nursery from a B.C. supplier. The pathogen, which can be carried by bay laurel, rhodos and camellias, can kill certain oak trees and damage other plants.
Canadian Food Inspection Agency inspectors are back at the 2933 McIntyre Rd. nursery this week for more testing and sampling of plants, water and soil.
A two-week quarantine has been imposed and will be extended if more positive results are found.
Garcia is worried, saying spores are easily transferred by wind. A longer-term quarantine that prevents the nursery from supplying customers is only one of her worries — the federal agency could also require them to burn millions of dollars worth of plants.
A federal compensation fund is no longer available, as it was when the business experienced a similar problem more than a decade ago. Insurance is also not available, she said.
Alexandria’s father, John Garcia, 61, established the 80-acre wholesale nursery in 2004 after owning a landscaping business for many years. It has grown to become the largest in the capital region, with 100,000 plants and 10 employees. Alexandria, 25, and brother John Jr. 24, work there.
Island View’s nearly 2,000 clients include major development projects, municipalities and landscaping companies.
John Garcia said the business is closed now because they were only allowed to sell a small amount of plants, and doing so would have required measures to prevent spread of the pathogen.
With the quarantine in effect, he’s questioning how he will be able to pay bills, cover the payroll for workers and take care of his mortgage.
“I want an agency to help us, not destroy us,” he said, noting P. ramorum is common in the environment.
Garcia said the federal agency should be testing all nurseries two to three times per year, rather than doing random testing. Any plants found with P. ramorum could be destroyed and a nursery compensated.
Other nurseries are scared, he said. “Everybody is afraid — all it takes is one plant and your life becomes a shambles.” The federal response is “ludicrous,” said Garcia, who suspects the government reaction is aimed at maintaining good trade relations with the U.S.
A 2010 report from the University of California’s Agriculture and Natural Resources office said the fungus-like organisms are related to algae. In the U.S., the pathogen has been found in coastal California, Oregon and Washington state.
The organism has killed more than a million oak and tanoak trees, the report said, while other plants might only experience minor twig dieback or leaf spots.
Most non-oak hosts are not killed by the disease, but can suffer minor damage and also play a role in its spread by serving as a breeding ground, the report said.
Garry oaks are not thought to be susceptible to sudden oak death caused by P. ramorum, the report said.
When a tree has sudden oak death, cankers — oozing black or reddish-coloured material — form on the stem and grow to girdle the tree.
