Forestry-Plantation
Ips typographus in the UK – an answer for every entry
The alien invasive spruce bark beetle Ips typographus continues to crop up in the UK with the latest discovery in Scotland and a first for that country. This is certainly the scariest identification so far given that the bulk of commercial forestry in Scotland is based on Sitka spruce. This latest finding of Ips typographus […]
Biological fungicide reveals disease resistance in Cameroon
Russell Bio Solutions has developed an effective microbial fungicide, Dynamic WP. It is a powerful broad-spectrum biological fungicide and bactericide that can be applied to a wide range of crops to suppress fungal diseases. Other target diseases include wheat smut, Fusarium root rot, Banana Panama and Sigatoka disease, powdery mildew, early and late blight, and […]
First ever plantain resistant to banana streak virus
Using the gene editing tool CRISPR, a team of scientists at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has announced that they have developed banana and plantain varieties that are resistant to banana streak virus (BSV). BSV is hampering the crop’s production in Africa and threatening the food and income of millions of farmers. BSV […]
A tale of two squirrels
The two species of squirrel resident in the United Kingdom (UK) are Sciurus vulgaris (native European Red Squirrel) and Sciurus carolinensis (North American Eastern Grey Squirrel), the latter introduced as a fashionable addition to estates in the 1870’s. Its population of 2.5 million is spread over most of the UK and dwarves the 140,000 native […]
World Pest Awareness Day
The 6th June 2017 has been declared World Pest Awareness Day to serve as a reminder of how professional pest management helps protect our quality of life. Three global pest management associations; The Confederation of European Pest Management Associations (CEPA), the Federation of Asian and Oceania Pest Managers’ Association (FAOPMA) and the @NationalPestManagementAssn (USA), have […]
Cabbage Skunk weed Lysichitum americanum in wet woodlands: biology; invasiveness and control in the UK
The invasive Cabbage Skunk weed, Lysichitum americanum, is native to swamps and along streams in woodlands in the north-west of North America. It is named due to its distinctive “skunky” odour that it emits when it blooms and attracts its pollinators – scavenging flies and beetles. The name is also used for the eastern skunk […]
Current and future Insect Threats to UK Forestry
Introduction The beginning of the 21st century has seen an unprecedented assault on the UK by invasive forest pests and diseases (Defra 2013; Figure 1). Some of these new pests and diseases have attracted much media attention and have increased political awareness, e.g. the large scale death of larch caused by Phytophothora ramorum and ash […]
Tree care package to preserve iconic palm trees
A new Syngenta tree care package could now save southern Europe’s iconic palm trees from the devastating effects of the Red Palm Weevil (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus). The treatment, which involves direct micro-injection of a targeted insecticide into the trunk of affected trees, has been fully approved in France and granted emergency approval to tackle the increasing […]
