Plant biosecurity - the thin green line

First published in Landscape Insight magazine, February 2017 - www.landscapeinsight.com - pdf of article.

Landscape professionals are on the frontline in the battle to keep under control the pests and diseases that threaten the country’s flora. We are also, ironically, part of both the problem and the solution.

I recently attended a plant biosecurity day given by the Animal & Plant Health Agency (APHA). It was serious business, both illuminating and, if I’m honest, a little scary. The number of tree pests in the UK is growing exponentially, we were told, due to the international trade in plants and a changing climate.

So important is their work that the APHD is one of the few government bodies with statutory powers of entry. It is their job to investigate reports of dangerous aliens and one incident recounted involved an Asian longhorn beetle found by a teacher in the East Midlands.

The Men in Black (as I now call them) swooped and eventually traced the source to a Japanese acer in the neighbour’s garden. It was promptly destroyed.

Thankfully they left the teachers memory intact but the incident goes to show how fine the thin green line is.

The upshot of the day was that we need to do our bit to hold that line. We should keep up to date with the latest information, be aware of potential risks and, above all, source plants responsibly.

We need to know our suppliers and ask the right questions - there is both good and bad practice out there. Some nurseries have quarantine periods and audit trails beyond that which is required, but many are not so transparent or scrupulous.

There are of course cost implications for quality and best practice. The need to remain competitive and make a profit can make it hard to resist a bargain, particularly on smaller domestic projects. But we have to ask ourselves - is the risk worth taking?

It is possible that the devaluing of sterling post-Brexit will help make home-grown plants more competitive. This coupled with initiatives like the new Woodland Trust scheme to guarantee UK provenance of trees (reported by Landscape Insight in January) may at least help reduce our reliance on imported stock.