Buy local to stop disease, gardeners told
Royal Horticultural Society says ‘game-changing’ killer bacteria could enter UK on plants from Continent
GARDENERS should buy British plants to avoid a killer foreign bacteria that is due to hit UK gardens next year, the Royal Horticulture Society has said.
The bacterial pest Xylella fastidiosa, which restricts water movement in plants causing their eventual death, has resulted in widespread problems on the Continent, wiping out entire groves of ancient olive trees in Italy.
It could arrive in the UK on imported plants, threatening traditional British gardens, the RHS said.
Unlike most pests and diseases that target specific plants, Xylella can hit more than 350 different types of plant, with garden favourites such as lavender, hebe, rosemary and flowering cherry at high risk.
Gardeners and the horticulture industry should “future-proof” gardens by purchasing plants that are Uksourced and grown, maintaining varied planting in gardens and report potential cases of the disease to the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra).
The European Commission approved greater protections against the spread of Xylella, after Michael Gove, the Environment Secretary, urged Brussels to bring in tougher measures including more checks on high-risk plants as they move between countries.
However, Gerard Clover, RHS head of plant health, said it was probably only a matter of time before it spreads to the UK. Originally from North and South America, it is thought to have arrived in Europe on imported plants. The disease can be transmitted by insects and infected plants can show no symptoms, or exhibit ones that look like other issues such as drought or frost damage.
Dr Clover said: “Xylella is a gamechanger for gardeners and the horticultural industry and it is vital that we understand its potential impact.”
He said it was hard to know exactly how severe its impact would be, but it could have a “fundamental” effect on gardens. While there are hundreds of plant pests and diseases currently of concern, “Xylella is in a bit of a class of its own, because it kills plants, has insect vectors and such a broad host range,” he said.
He encouraged gardeners to talk to their local nursery about where plants came from, adding the disease was not transmitted via seeds, as well as being aware of what plants in their garden should normally look like.
“The RHS views the threat of Xylella as a pivotal point in the future of plant health in the UK and as such we have opted to increase our plant health provisions to counter the threat from the bacteria, as well as the myriad other pests and diseases knocking at the garden gate,” he added.
A spokesman for Defra said the threat that diseases such as Xylella posed was a “very real and growing concern”.
“That is why this year we have pressed hard at EU level for increased protections against Xylella, in order to prevent the devastating disease reaching our shores. These were approved in October and came into force this month.
“When we leave the EU we will also have an opportunity to examine all our national biosecurity measures on plant imports to ensure they are as robust as possible to protect the UK against diseases like Xylella.”