From: Al Cooke
Sent: Wed, July 6, 2011 8:51:13 AM
Subject: RE: Gooseberries in Chatham Co? NC?
“No person shall knowingly and willfully keep upon his premises any currant or gooseberry plant, or permit such plants to mature seed or otherwise multiply upon his land.”
Quoting from NC Department of Agriculture,
http://www.ncagr.gov/plantindustry/plant/disease/48A-04.htm
“Currant and gooseberry plants (the genus Ribes) cannot be legally imported into, or grown in, North Carolina because they serve as alternate hosts to the plant disease known as white pine blister rust. This is an old regulation established when young white pine plantations were threatened by this disease because of infected, wild currants growing in close proximity to them. There still is an active eradication program in the western area of North Carolina to eliminate wild currant hosts within a certain distance of white pine plantations. It is provided as a service by the N.C. Division of Forest Resources.
“Popular magazines and plant catalogs claim that the cultivated varieties of currants and gooseberries are resistant to the disease and do not pose a threat to white pine. These claims have yet to be backed by scientific evidence. Researchers in other states are currently testing various varieties for resistance. Their findings will impact what North Carolina does in regard to amending this regulation. Another option is to designate only certain areas of the state as regulated areas and limit movement of currants and gooseberries into these areas only. Currently, the entire state is regulated.”
And from the Rules, Regulations, Definitions and Standards of the NORTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE RALEIGH, N.C.
http://www.ncagr.gov/plantindustry/Regs/48a0400.htm
02 NCAC 48A .0401 CURRANT AND GOOSEBERRY PLANTS
(a) All wild and cultivated currant and gooseberry plants in North Carolina are hereby declared to be dangerous plants and are consequently subject to destruction by the Commissioner of Agriculture or authorized agents wherever found.
(b) No person shall knowingly and willfully keep upon his premises any currant or gooseberry plant, or permit such plants to mature seed or otherwise multiply upon his land.
History Note: Authority G.S. 106-65.45; 106-65.46; 106-284.18; 106-420;
Eff. January 1, 1985.
Al Cooke
Extension Agent, Horticulture
Chatham County Center, N.C. Cooperative Extension
PO Box 279, Pittsboro, NC 27312
919.542-8202; Fax 919.542.8246