“…There are few studies on the epidemiology of olive knot disease and most data of epiphytic Psv populations on the aerial surface of the tree come from studies done in southern Italy (Ercolani, 1971(Ercolani, , 1978(Ercolani, , 1979(Ercolani, , 1983(Ercolani, , 1985(Ercolani, , 1991(Ercolani, , 1993 and southeastern Spain (Quesada et al, 2007;Quesada et al, 2010a;2010b). In the aforementioned studies, epiphytic Psv populations in the phyllosphere of olive trees were estimated by washing, followed by plating serial dilution of the washings.…”