Clippings Caterpillar threat for pine trees
Our roundup of the month’s latest gardening news and views
Gardeners can save pollinators The Government is calling on gardeners to help stop the decline in pollinating insects. Environment Minister, Rebecca Pow, told GW a key aim is to join up different habitats – and our gardens have an important role. “There are a million hectares of land in our gardens, and gardeners can provide corridors between our gardens and the wider landscape.” She suggests growing nectar-rich flowers and letting grass grow long. But charity Buglife says flying insect populations have already crashed by almost 60 per cent in 20 years, and more action is needed. “We need actions both big and small to help stop this devastating trend, before it’s too late,” said spokesperson Jamie Robins.
Hunt for missing GW episodes The white, silken nests that pine processionary moths build in January are a clear sign of trouble
There have been new calls for stricter import controls on trees, after the discovery of potentially devastating pine processionary moth on a shipment of pine trees from France. While the species is not yet established in the UK, if it gets a foothold it could spell disaster for the country’s pines – including our only native, the Scots pine. As with its close relative, oak processionary moth – now well entrenched in London and the South East – the caterpillar stage has fine hairs that can cause painful rashes. The infected trees have now been destroyed, and the Government has ended imports of pine and cedar trees from France and Italy. But the Woodland Trust says the interception is a stark reminder of the risks of importing trees. The Trust’s tree health and invasive species Policy Lead, Alisha Anstee, wants the Government to invest in UK tree nurseries instead, so we don’t have to import trees from overseas. “Current policy isn’t working,” she says. The Trust says UK trees now face at least 20 serious new pests and diseases from overseas.
There is a hope, though: native predators are getting a taste for exotic prey. Two types of parasitoid insect have now been discovered on box moth caterpillars, native to East Asia but now common in the UK. Birds, ants and spiders have also been seen attacking the caterpillars. Andrew Salisbury, Principal Entomologist for the RHS, says the balance is starting to tip. “We will begin to see much less damage as natural predators begin to pick up on it,” he says. “Hopefully that will happen before we lose too much of our box.” Tony Kirkham, who ran Kew’s arboretum until his retirement last year, wants all trees arriving in the country held in closely monitored quarantine for at least a year before planting. “Once a tree goes into the landscape we walk away from it,” he told GW’s Growing Greener podcast. “If there’s a pest or disease on it, it’s too late.” L Visit GardenersWorld.com/podcast to listen to our podcast with tree expert Tony Kirkham. To report tree pests or diseases, go to treealert.forestresearch.gov.uk
GW fans could help replace lost TV history as the hunt begins for dozens of missing episodes. Only a handful of recordings survive of shows made by presenters Percy Thrower, Clay Jones, Arthur Billit and Peter Seabrook. TV historian Chris Perry, of recovery specialists Kaleidoscope, is calling on viewers to search their stash of old recordings. “These programmes represent the reality of what life was really like in the 1970s,” he says. L Found a lost episode? Email Chris Perry at info@tvbrain.info
WORDS: SALLY NEX
Once a tree goes into the landscape, we walk away from it
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GardenersWorld.com
Percy Thrower presented Gardeners’ World from 1968 to the mid 1970s
July 2022
