In article ,
lid says...
On Wed, 10 Dec 2008 12:44:54 -0000, Charlie Pridham
wrote:

In article 504df0d3-30c3-4651-8277-
,
says...
On Dec 9, 3:40*pm, Janet Baraclough
wrote:
SNIP
The NTS also operates plant biosecurity measures. AIUI *the disease
spreads by spores on the wind , water droplets, or infected *leaves and
root fragments carried on human and animal *feet so you can imagine why
it hasn't been possible to contain it, *on a rainy windy site which was
walked on by hundreds of people and local wildlife. The public is now
excluded from known *infected areas but the disease is being detected in
a widening radius.

http://www.nts.org.uk/Property/13/Ne...perty/13/News/

* *The latest discovery of phytophthera kernoviae in native bilberry and
oaks in local woods *has caused great anxiety, First, that both species
are significant *in the Scottish *wildlife foodchain ; but even worse,
that pk might affect common *ericaceous plants such as native heather.

* The NTS is only the canary warning the miners of the unseen danger .
The disease must also be in other local *wild woodland and in private
gardens; the initial symptoms are not very easy for an untrained eye to
notice or identify.

* Janet. (Arran).

I feel ill reading this. I never properly recovered from Dutch Elm
disease (mental scarring; not dead limbs).

Des

The real problem is that although the goverment got going with the
inspections pretty soon, it does no good as especially the large private
gardens and woodland just do not have the funds to do anything much about
it, without grants for labour it is just taking too long to clear the
understory with the very small work forces that are imployed these days,
sadly there are now no water course in cornwall that do not test positive
for the spores. So if any of you reading this have woodland get clearing
now before its too late. If you can increase the flow of air and the
light levels, experiance suggests that the healthy trees seem to be able
to resist the infection

Clearing rhododendrons isn't going to do Exbury Gardens a lot of good.
http://www.exbury.co.uk/exbury/index.htm

Where the plants are as yet unaffected improvements can still be made to
the planting and if you go to some of Cornwall s big gardens you will see
daylight under the plants now as they have brought them off the ground by
removing lower branches, they are also allowed to micro prop from
infected material - clean it up, grow it on and replant later after the
area has been cleared, but right now its a huge problem.

--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea