Some college students discover their passions at a ripe young age and begin their college education with zeal and direction, while others spend their college years stumbling through different fields of study until they find their career path. Department chair and teacher of the popular course “Magical Mushrooms, Mysterious Molds,” Dr. George Hudler, plant pathology, belongs to the latter group.

In Cloquet, MN, Hudler discovered his love for fungi as a senior. He began his undergraduate studies at the University of Minnesota as an engineer, transferring first to physics and later English, before finally settling into the forestry major.

It wasn’t until he took a required course in forest pathology that he discovered his love for fungi. “Quite frankly, I didn’t even know what forest pathology was at the time,” Hudler joked. “It was just like a moment in my life when I was just ready to be grabbed by somebody who was really enthusiastic about what they were doing and I just walked out of that lecture and I thought ‘This was really interesting. I can’t wait for the next class.’ And I’m sad to say that that is one of the few times in my college career that I had that happen.”

After completing his B.S. degree in Forest Management and then an M.S. degree in Plant Pathology from the University of Minnesota, Hudler was awarded a Ph.D. in Plant Pathology from Colorado State University in 1976. He joined Cornell University as part of the Cornell Extension program, doing research in plant pathology on common tree diseases of the Northeast.

Since arriving at Cornell University, Hudler has conducted research with the Northeastern Plant Diagnostic Network on a myriad of different types of fungal-caused plant diseases. These research projects arise from tree tissue samples sent in from concerned citizens and range from the commercial Christmas tree diseases in the Adirondacks, to the tar spot fungus in Ithaca, to his most recent project, the fatal bleeding canker on European beech trees.

“Ever since I’ve been at Cornell, periodically I would get a call from someone who was absolutely frantic about the health of their European Beech tree,” Hudler said. “So I would go down and I would look at the tree, and the bark would be peeled off almost all the way around. The tree was almost dead. By the time they called me there would be all kinds of insects and microorganisms and you couldn’t decide what came first and what caused it.”

Considering that a single European beech tree can raise property values by up to several hundred thousand dollars, it is no wonder that Hudler’s callers were frantic.

By chance, Hudler found the cause six years ago while visiting a dying European beech tree on Long Island. While the tree in question had passed the point of no return, Hudler noticed a condition on live European beech trees a mere 100 feet away known as bleeding cankers.

The bleeding canker is caused by several species of Phytophthora fungi and has a history of causing disease in many different species of trees and shrubs. The fungus causes the death of tissue by disrupting the water transport system within the infected tree.

“Once we realized that fungus was in the early stages of this, we set out to figure out, first of all, is this some new disease from overseas or has it always been around,” Hudler said, adding that the European beech tree itself was an imported species. “If it had always been around, why is it bad? Why is it causing this kind of problem on some trees now?”

Since the disease had been found on trees in Long Island, concern that the fungus species was invasive deepened due to the fact that most imported tree diseases enter through New York, the primary human immigration entry port. However, after several years of research at Cornell, Hudler and his team not only determined that the fungus was in fact domestic, but also successfully found a cure for trees in early stages of the disease: spraying the tree with the very natural and benign phosphoric acid.

“The phosphoric acid has two effects,” Hudler explained. "First, it kills the fungus that’s in the bark and it also triggers kind of a whole tree defense reaction. It’s almost like an immune response. So even though we are treating this particular organism, if some insect tries to feed on the leaves or some other disease tries to get in, they don’t have as much luck.”

Thanks to Dr. Hudler and his team at the diagnostic clinic, plant care professionals throughout the Northeast are now able to spot the bleeding canker disease on European beech trees in its early stages and treat it, without using harmful or contaminating pesticides. The disease can be spotted early on by the appearance of black “bleeding” spots on the bark near the base of the tree. This treatment is readily welcomed due to the fact that 40 percent of European beech trees have this disease, including a few trees on the Cornell campus.

Hudler has moved on to two new research projects after his success with the European beech tree. The first project is focused on preventing the spread of an Oak Wilt disease found around Albany. The second project is concerned with diseases that attack willow trees currently being grown for biofuel. These willow trees could prove to be commercially important as a new fuel source, either as wood chips or fermented with yeast to make ethanol.

Ultimately, Hudler’s passion for plant pathology lies in the ability to benefit society directly through his research. “The whole thing about plant pathology that has attracted my attention from day one is that people doing research, for the most part, were working on disease problems that were directly affecting farmers and the results of their work have an immediate impact on the quality of crops, quality of life in general. That really appealed to me that I could have that kind of an impact on whatever group of people or whatever industry I was working with.”