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Plant Health

Maintain plant health with our plant pest and disease alerts and factsheets on the most common threats.

PEST & DISEASE FACTSHEETS

Vine weevil nothing on fuchsia - credit: Dove Associates

Vine weevils: ways to control these pests after the loss of active ingredients over recent years

How to control rats on ornamental crops

Brown rat

Adjuvants: crops will benefit if the right adjuvants are added to the spray tank

How can ornamentals growers control sooty moulds?

Sooty mould on Laurus - credit: Dove Associates

Scale insects: the most vulnerable stage of the life cycle needs to be targeted

Scale insect damage on a leaf

Sciarid and shore flies: frass from these pests reduces plant quality while feeding damage creates entry points for serious root diseases

Pests: both adult sciarid fly (left) and shore flies (right) will lay eggs in moist growing media

Botrytis: protecting ornamentals crops from Botrytis

Symptoms of Botrytis fatsia

Leaf and stem nematodes: cultural controls and nursery hygiene are key to avoiding plant and bulb damage

Plant leaf damage caused by nematodes

Damping-off: what steps can growers take to keep it off the ornamentals nursery?

Spider mites: defences for protected and outdoor ornamentals against spider mites

Spidermite on rose

Leaf miners: how growers can protect ornamentals crops from leaf miners

PLANT HEALTH THREATS

Takahashia japonica: cotton stringy scale insects' distinctive ovisacs could lower aesthetic value

Prunus bacterial spot/canker: this notifiable disease can inflict serious damage on all Prunus species

Black/brown spots on leaf surface

Tasmanian eucalyptus beetle: Eucalyptus trees face the risk of significant defoliation from a beetle that is expected to become established in the UK

Paropsisterna selmani

Pepper weevil: sweet peppers, chilli peppers and other Solanaceae are at risk from this small but potentially devastating pest

Pepper weevil

Lemon tree borer: Wood-boring larvae of this beetle could wreak serious economic and environmental damage to native trees and shrubs

Oemona hirta

Red palm weevil: retailers and growers must beware of this highly invasive pest

Red palm weevil

Japanese beetle - chafer beetle poses a significant economic, social and environmental impact if it reaches the UK

Japanese beetle: metallic-green thorax and head and wing cases are coppery bronze

Tomato brown rugose fruit virus: can inflict considerable yield losses in commercial tomato and sweet pepper production

Crate of tomatoes with patchy red and green colouring due to tomato brown rugnose fruit virus

Citrus longhorn beetle: this pest threatens to alter our rural, urban and garden landscapes for good

Citrus longhorn beetle has a black body with variable white markings and long antennae

Two-lined chestnut borer: the arrival of this beetle would be another nail in the coffin of the UK's oak trees

Two-lined chestnut borer and marks in wood left by larvae feeding galleries

PLANT HEALTH NEWS

CITES strike means more plant import delays

APHA

Latest science research: peat and moths

moth

Second Hort Science Online (HSO 2) 2023 goes live

ICL

Most read horticulture stories this week

HortWeek magazines, cup of tea and gardening gloves

New apples R&D group to tackle woodlice and canker

Apples

New microbial inoculant - Vitalnova TriBoost - launched to benefit sustainable growing media mixes

ICL Bacillus subtilis

CITES event to explain why cacti imports are being blocked

cacti

Sector leaders to present evidence to parliamentary horticulture enquiry

James Barnes

New strategy to protect from box tree caterpillars

box tree caterpillar

Most read horticulture stories this week

HortWeek magasines, a cup of tea and gardening gloves

Winners and losers this horticulture week

Blue Diamond event with performers on stage

Agriculture needs fresh approach to tackle growing problem of insect resistance to biopesticides, new analysis finds

caterpillar

HortWeek survey: What are your biggest plant pest and disease threats?

Oak processionary moth

OPM boundaries 2023 revealed

OPM 2023 map of management zones

Solanum elaeagnifolium and S. rostratum potential hosts of tomato brown rugose fruit virus

S. elaeagnifolium is a host of ToBRFV, with a low virus titer

'Charismatic beetle' found on supermarket potted fruit tree

rhino beetle Buglife

RHS disease list shows drought impact

honey fungus

Thirteen countries ban import plant material affected by Xylella fastidiosa

Xylella

OPM boundaries expanded to cover the main area of infestation

OPM core and buffer zones Defra

Winners and losers this horticulture week

Agrumi

First breakthrough for exporting 'high-risk' plants post-Brexit

Agrumi

BCPs explained

Defra BCP

Thérèse Coffey causes concern by wrongly saying Xylella has been found at a UK nursery

Xylella

New Invasive Non Native Species (INNS) strategy in 11 points

INNS

Defra to expand oak processionary moth zone from March

OPM

John Adlam's Monthly Nursery Checklists

1 April - Aphids, bacterial infections and beetles

1 March - Adelgids, dianthus and field weeds

1 February - Aphids, bacteria, Botrytis and choisya

1 January - Cold stores, conifers and crinkling

1 December - Aphids, buffer zones and edible crops

1 November - Bud blindness, conifers and container weeds

1 October - Bedding, bacteria and biologicals

1 September - Algae, biocontrols and cultural work

1 August - Acanthus, conductivity and eelworm pests

1 July - Aphids, bark-boring beetles and camellias

1 June - Ash pests, box blight and downy mildew

1 May - Aphids, bees, capsids and caterpillars

EAMU MONTHLY ROUNDUPS

EAMU roundup: March 2023

EAMU roundup: February 2023

Cabbage field

EAMU roundup: January 2023

Spraying glasshouse plants

EAMU roundup: December 2022

Field of carrots

EAMU roundup: November 2022

Onlon field

EAMU roundup: October 2022

EAMU roundup: September 2022

EAMU roundup: July 2022

EAMU roundup: June 2022

EAMU roundup: April 2022

EAMU EXPIRY ALERT

EAMU Expiry Alert: July 2023

EAMU authorisations that are due to expire by the end of July 2023.