It has wiped out over a million ancient olive trees in Italy and has spread to Corsica, the south of France, Germany, the four Balearic Islands (Formentera, Ibiza, Mallorca, Minorca) as well as mainland Spain.
The disease was unknown in Europe until 2013 when it is thought to have arrived in on a shipment from a South American country.
The disease is known to be endemic in America where it periodically destroys entire vineyards and citrus groves.
But it hasn't only attacked olive trees in Europe, on Mallorca (Majorca) their almond orchards have been decimated with the loss of over a million almond trees.
God only knows what would happen to Spanish and Italian economies if it gets into their citrus groves. Or the European and English vineyards!
I know that some of you in the UK will think 'but we don't grow almond or olives here' but this, Dear Readers, is where the danger lies.
For this deadly disease does not just kill almond or olive trees, it affects and kills more than 350 species of plants. Including: British oaks, elms, plane, sycamore, cherries, lavender, rosemary, citrus trees and grape vines.
And it 'travels' on household plants. the outbreak of the disease in Puglia is thought to have come in on a household plant.
It is a bacteria which is spread by insects, two of which are leafhoppers and froghoppers which leave 'cuckoo spit' which is frothy white blobs on leaves.
There is NO known cure for the disease which kills the plant / tree which attacks their roots restricting their ability to draw water from the soil.
The, to her mind, senseless fashion of planting olive trees in the UK is a major cause for concern. Why does she think this is senseless?
Well have you ever seen a truly 'happy' olive tree? Poor trees, they're stuck in pot with no proper amount of sunshine or room for its' roots to grow and spread and have you ever seen an olive tree in the UK bear fruit?
So the RHS are looking to us, the public, and the thousands of garden centres in the UK to help stop the spread of the bacterial disease by not buying any plants or trees that were grown overseas.
And the public should be made aware of this disease and told not to bring back any variety of plants or seeds, especially from Europe.
The EU has already called for more checks on the movement of 'high risk' plants between countries to try to halt the progress of the disease.
For no trees, no oxygen, higher pollution levels. And no plants equal no rain.. think of a desert. Because for every tree or plant that is found to be carrying this disease in the UK, all plants within a 100 metres would be destroyed.
Think about this and imagine your garden.. gone. Your fruit trees.. gone. No woodland, no trees beside your streets, your country roads, it is a hideous and very real threat.
On this very subject there was, earlier this month, an event sponsored by: RHS, Kew Botanical gardens, Woodland Heritage, National Trust and the Duchy of Cornwall, and other speakers, it took place at Highgrove, the Prince of Wales's Gloucestershire home.
She's got to get up, she's had a full 24 hours of not feeling 'ick-dick' and has to start life again. I am going to doze on a perch until she returns, I trust, with human food!
GeeGee Parrot.
February 10th, 2018.
The disease was unknown in Europe until 2013 when it is thought to have arrived in on a shipment from a South American country.
The disease is known to be endemic in America where it periodically destroys entire vineyards and citrus groves.
But it hasn't only attacked olive trees in Europe, on Mallorca (Majorca) their almond orchards have been decimated with the loss of over a million almond trees.
God only knows what would happen to Spanish and Italian economies if it gets into their citrus groves. Or the European and English vineyards!
I know that some of you in the UK will think 'but we don't grow almond or olives here' but this, Dear Readers, is where the danger lies.
For this deadly disease does not just kill almond or olive trees, it affects and kills more than 350 species of plants. Including: British oaks, elms, plane, sycamore, cherries, lavender, rosemary, citrus trees and grape vines.
And it 'travels' on household plants. the outbreak of the disease in Puglia is thought to have come in on a household plant.
It is a bacteria which is spread by insects, two of which are leafhoppers and froghoppers which leave 'cuckoo spit' which is frothy white blobs on leaves.
There is NO known cure for the disease which kills the plant / tree which attacks their roots restricting their ability to draw water from the soil.
The, to her mind, senseless fashion of planting olive trees in the UK is a major cause for concern. Why does she think this is senseless?
Well have you ever seen a truly 'happy' olive tree? Poor trees, they're stuck in pot with no proper amount of sunshine or room for its' roots to grow and spread and have you ever seen an olive tree in the UK bear fruit?
So the RHS are looking to us, the public, and the thousands of garden centres in the UK to help stop the spread of the bacterial disease by not buying any plants or trees that were grown overseas.
And the public should be made aware of this disease and told not to bring back any variety of plants or seeds, especially from Europe.
The EU has already called for more checks on the movement of 'high risk' plants between countries to try to halt the progress of the disease.
For no trees, no oxygen, higher pollution levels. And no plants equal no rain.. think of a desert. Because for every tree or plant that is found to be carrying this disease in the UK, all plants within a 100 metres would be destroyed.
Think about this and imagine your garden.. gone. Your fruit trees.. gone. No woodland, no trees beside your streets, your country roads, it is a hideous and very real threat.
On this very subject there was, earlier this month, an event sponsored by: RHS, Kew Botanical gardens, Woodland Heritage, National Trust and the Duchy of Cornwall, and other speakers, it took place at Highgrove, the Prince of Wales's Gloucestershire home.
She's got to get up, she's had a full 24 hours of not feeling 'ick-dick' and has to start life again. I am going to doze on a perch until she returns, I trust, with human food!
GeeGee Parrot.
February 10th, 2018.
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