People are becoming increasingly aware of the devastation Phytophthora ramorum is causing to the Larch trees in our forests, but don’t always realise that it can also kill some of our most treasured garden shrubs leaving large holes in an established shrubbery.
Phytophthora ramorum is a notifiable plant disease and the owner had to burn the Viburnum and all shrubs that could be a host to the disease in its near vicinity, as well as collect and burn all the fallen leaves! Not easy! We certainly don’t want to spread this, or any of the other plant diseases that are becoming so widespread across the UK, so we take biosecurity very seriously! It’s not always easy to spot an infected tree and many species are hosts to diseases without showing symptoms, so we clean our footwear and remove all traces of mud and plant matter after every visit to a site with trees and shrubs. Our vehicles are parked on hard standing whenever possible and if they do go off road, we wash them on site and then drive to the nearest car wash to get rid of any mud that may be lurking on tyres and wheel arches! On higher risk sites close to localities where plant diseases have been identified, we add disinfection into our cleaning regime. We don’t think you can be too careful!
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