BROWN COUNTY, Ind. (WOWO): The fungus that causes Thousand Cankers Disease in walnut trees has been detected for the first time in the Hoosier state. 

The discovery of the fungus, in a black walnut plantation in Yellowwood State Forest in Brown County, also marked another first. It was the first time the fungus was detected on an insect other than the walnut twig beetle.

The fungus was found as a result of a survey for insect pests and fungi in Indiana. The U.S. Forest Service-led survey was a cooperative effort with scientists at the University of Missouri and Purdue University. State Entomologist Phil Marshall, director of DNR Division of Entomology & Plant Pathology, has ordered the plantation quarantined.

“We have much to lose from the spread of TCD,” Marshall said. “It is important that we repeat the study to understand the role of the weevil and occurrence of the fungus in the trees.”  

Walnut trees affected by the disease typically die within two to three years after symptoms are noticed.