It’s too late for our native ash hit by deadly dieback
ASH dieback disease is predicted to kill nine out of ten British ash trees in the next 20 years.
Also known as chalara, it is a fungus which causes leaf loss and makes the weakened tree susceptible to other pests. It takes some years to kill mature trees but younger ones die quickly. Some last only a season.
It was first seen here in 2012 after arriving on trees from the Netherlands and has spread at the rate of 12 miles a year.
The disease has spread all over the continent from Scandinavia to Italy since it was first seen in Poland in 1992. In Denmark, where it is now most advanced, it has infected 90 per cent of ash trees. The fungus produces sticky spores that grow in soil and stick to boots and can be carried by insects, in water and on the wind.
There is no cure for ash dieback but scientists have cracked the genetic code of ash trees which resist the disease, raising the possibility of a future generation of resistant specimens.
The country’s 80million ash trees support wildlife as well as the £10billion timber industry and take up about a third of British woodland.