General Chat

It has taken this lot 2 years to decide they will issue a warning.

We need to get out of the EU & ditch this Free Trade Policy. Though perhaps this ban on importing ash saplings will be a tiny step towards this.

It's the JS/BBC syndrome - see nothing; hear nothing & do nothing.

This Government will never run out of mistakes to admit to.

Thats right Chris, they hid behind the EU legislation of free trade,Typical heads in sans attitude. :-(

flippin' typical :-D

Apparently the Labour Gov. were aware of this disease some four years ago but chose to ignore the warnings.

well I wrote letters to both the South Wales Echo and the Daily Mail on this subject and pleased to report that both have printed my letter - Daily Mail today and SWE day before yesterday

Rose are you sure that the Oak is ONE piece?

we have an Oak suite that is not a solid lump,
It can be very carefully cut and planed and re joined to form bigger pieces,

Bob

R.Rose - OH thinks that the oak for modern furniture comes mainly from Romania or France. France has large oak forests, and Romania's warmer than UK climate means the trees grow faster to a useful size.

Well, that's his theory! ;-)

The local Forestry Commission Arboretum has its own nursery area, but why ash seedlings need to be imported amazes me ... I pulled up over 20 from 1 flowerbed today & burned them, the ash has killed off large areas of old garden hedging & seems resistant to all the things we have tried. A 50foot long +100 year old mixed hedge is now almost all ash & the only way to get rid of it will be to grub it out & replant.

A report pn the radio claimed that all our trees for Forestation etc are grown on the continent because there are no suitable nursery facilities in this country.

They are our seeds sent for growing :-(

Can that be true ?

I like nothing better than to sit for a while under the shade of any tree during those long hot summers we all remember (except this year) while pondering the meaning of life.

Unfortunately, I sometimes forget that the local four-legged pets like to visit the same place too. If I shoo them away from sniffing my sandwiches, their owners usually give me a look so cold that it would freeze a waterfall.

I'm still considering the meaning of life - what's left of it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20107186

Some people wanted the ban in 2009 it would seem...........

Widespread loss would have a marked effect on landscapes.

Gwyn

The Forestry Commission have sent out warnings about Chalara to all owners of woodland:

www.forestry.gov.uk/england-chalara

Unfortunately it may not show up until having been planted for 5 years.

When we received notification we could not stop laughing as our garden is plagued with them.

My question would be - why did they not stop importing them before. This disease has been known about for ages and it was almost inevitable it would get here eventually. Yes, it might not have stopped wind-borne contamination but at least it would have meant that we weren't actually importing diseased plants.

lol Ann, I was looking at 'very English' Christmas gifts in the shops on Saturday ...all made in China :-(

China? everything else seems to come from there :-)

It's not directly related but as it 's about trees and imports perhaps someone can tell me?

In the shopping centre I was looking at a huge amount of oak furniture...you may have seen the ad on tv...it's solid oak and the oak used is very 'chunky '. I know from growing an oak tree from an acorn that it takes a long time to get a large oak ! So where is this wood from?

I listened to a report about this on the radio yesterday.
Apparantly, a diseased tree has been found on a caravan park in Lincolnshire, so the government has implemented it's plan of banning their import.
And yes it is akin to Dutch Elm Disease, and just as voracious.

Julia in Derbyshire

I also have had a garden full of ash seedlings.!! No longer have the tree, but the neighbour has several.!! I love our native trees, but some are much too large for the average garden. I saw on TV that it is at the moment contained in East Anglia, but like most tree diseases, think it will eventually spread.

First the Elm, the chestnut and the oak have problems,. Wonder what the bigger picture is.? Environmental changes, possibly. Sad anyway.

Sue

The imported trees are not the main concern. It is the fact that it has been found in established trees in East Anglia which suggests that the prime vector is birds or wind.