FALLBROOK -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture is reportedly considering a new inspection and quarantine program for all California nurseries after nine states this week halted the import of some or all of their products because of a tree-killing fungus.

The imports were stopped after the funguslike pathogen that causes a disease fatal to oak and other trees known as sudden oak death was discovered within the last two weeks at two nurseries, one in San Marcos and one in Los Angeles County.

Federal agriculture department officials would not confirm a new quarantine and inspection program, but a county agricultural official said Thursday that she was told by California Food and Agriculture Department regulators in Sacramento that such an agreement had been worked out with the federal regulators.

Pat Nolan, a supervising plant pathologist for the county Department of Agriculture, Weights and Measures, said she was told during an early-afternoon conference with the state officials Thursday that federal agriculture officials were expected to announce the new system today.

North County nursery operators have been scrambling this week to find relief from the sales restrictions after the pathogen known as Phytophthora ramorum was discovered March 9 at Monrovia Nursery in Azusa in Los Angeles County and subsequently in a 1-gallon container at Specialty Plants in San Marcos.

There are about 40 plant species that can act as a host for sudden oak death. In plants such as camellia and rhododendron, the disease can be identified through spots on their leaves.

The outbreak prompted the spokesman for the state agriculture department to say the potential losses in nursery sales throughout California could reach as much as $100 million if the ban stayed in effect through the spring season, when commercial nurseries record the bulk of their annual sales. The loss could grow even larger if more states adopt a ban on California nursery products.

"We recognize this is a key time for the nursery industry and we have projected losses of $100 million, so we are well aware this is a very significant problem occurring at an importune time," Steve Lyle, the director of public affairs for the California Department of Food and Agriculture in Sacramento, said Thursday. "We are assisting in the survey of 80 more nurseries in Southern and Central California to help determine if it is spreading."

Florida, West Virginia and Louisiana instituted a ban on all California plants as of Thursday. Alabama, Delaware, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee and Utah have banned shipments of varying California nursery products or were requiring a certificate of quarantine to show the goods are free of the fungus. In addition, Lyle said Canadian agricultural officials are contemplating similar action.

In 2002, a quarantine was placed on nurseries in 12 Northern California counties where the fungus was found, requiring inspection and certification that their products are disease-free before they can be sent out of state.

The state's nursery industry was able to get California U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer and Reps. Anna Eshoo and Sam Farr to write a letter to Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman asking for "immediate assistance in protecting California's nursery industry from unjust bans."

The letter delivered on Wednesday stresses that nurseries that abide by agriculture department regulations and ship plants free of the fungus should not have markets closed to their products. The secretary had not responded to the letter by Thursday afternoon, according to a spokesman for Boxer in Washington, D.C.

California's nursery industry is a more than $12 billion a year business in combined wholesale and retail sales, according to agricultural officials. In San Diego County, nearly 9,000 acres are devoted to nursery and flower crops and had a combined value of $855 million in 2001, according to the San Diego County Department of Agriculture, Weights and Measures. Many of those nurseries are in North County, particularly in the Fallbrook, Rainbow and Vista area as well as Carlsbad and San Marcos.

In Bonsall, Janet Kister of Sunlet Nurseries off Olive Hill Road said Thursday that she has a truck loaded with products from her nursery and others in the area that was supposed to leave today for Louisiana.

"San Diego County is a sudden oak death-free county -- we do not have it in our nurseries," said Kister, the president of the San Diego County Farm Bureau. "What we want is to be allowed to ship non-host material with a certificate of quarantine showing it is free of the disease."

Kister said the discovery in San Marcos was the result of a purchase made by that shop from a wholesaler in another county.

Kister was on the telephone for much of Wednesday and Thursday trying to keep up with the latest developments and work with agricultural officials to get the sales' restrictions removed.

At Specialty Plants in San Marcos, company President Paul Stevens said the fungus was found in a 1-gallon container of camellia shipped from a wholesaler in Monrovia.

"I think the states banning everything in California is a huge overreaction," Stevens said. "We would just like to have this resolved as quickly as possible."

Stevens said his nursery as well as others in North County were operating on a business-as-usual basis for all sales except those to the states that have instituted the ban.

Eric Larson, the executive director of the San Diego County Farm Bureau, said he would welcome a quarantine and inspection system for all state nurseries.

"That would give us consistency and would mean we could start selling our products again," he said.

Nolan, the county's supervising plant pathologist, said 17 nurseries throughout the county have been sampled for the fungus since the outbreak was first discovered. None of the samples where results are available tested positively for the fungus, although Nolan said she was still awaiting some test results.

"We're keeping our fingers crossed, but it looks like we should be OK," Nolan said. "We hope to be able to declare we are free of (the disease) and the out-of-state sales can resume."

Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 731-5794 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.