TREE DISEASES: ASH TREE ALERT

The ash tree is the fourth most common tree in Britain.Source: Woodland Trust

UPDATE: THE NEWS GETS WORSE. Read John Vidal’s piece in The Guardian  today (2 Nov 2012)

As of today, the British government has at last taken action to ban imports of ash trees and their movement around the country to try and prevent the fungal disease which has killed millions of ash trees in Denmark.

The official story is that the fungal disease was first discovered in a commercial nursery in Buckinghamshire last Feb but that ministers weren’t informed until April. It was first discovered in the wild in June. 

The Generalist has been told that the information first went public in a story in Horticulture Week in June and was picked up by the Daily Mail, which was the first time that FERA and the Forestry Commission made public statements.

An hour ago The Guardian  published a story by John Vidal that the government was warned three years ago by the Horticultural Trades Association who said action should be taken to prevent its spread to the UK.

Some 50,000 ash trees have already been burnt and the disease has been found in two woods in East Anglia. One thousand other sites are being investigated for signs of the disease.

Potentially as damaging as Dutch Elm Disease.

See: The Telegraph story

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