What can we do? Key organisations such as the RHS https://www.rhs.org.uk/science/plant-health-in-gardens and the HTA (Horticultural Trade Association) are working hard to promote plant health and biosecurity to ensure that all plants sold adhere to regulations. There have been recent changes worth noting. Since December 14th 2019, all plants sold to other professionals must carry a plant passport. In many cases …
International Year of Plant Health – March 2020
No prizes for guessing the topic for this month’s blog – viruses. As we are all adjusting to unprecedented life changes caused by the Coronavirus (also called Covid-19) pandemic, it seemed appropriate to share some words and links about plant viruses and their impact on plant health. This won’t all be a doom and gloom blog though, the devastation that …
International Year of Plant Health – February 2020
This month’s topic came to mind easily – Resilience. With Australian fires and UK floods in the news, it’s easy to see that plants can be destroyed in the extreme weather that comes with climate change. How does this relate to plant health? Just as humans are vulnerable to infections when stressed, plants subjected to extremes of e.g. heat, cold, …
International Year of Plant Health – January 2020
What a good start it’s been. Twitter is already active with some great links on plant health including:- The beautiful 1 minute International Plant Protection Convention video “I am Plants – I am life”. https://youtu.be/cmPAwiIK2BU Xylella – a 4 minute video narrated by Dame Helen Mirren on what we should all know about the threat Xylella poses to 100s of our …
International year of plant health – what does that mean for me?
The designation of an international year means that the United Nations member states have agreed the issue is important to the world. https://www.un.org/en/sections/observances/international-years/index.html What does that mean for me? Over the course of 2020, I will be writing a series of blogs that touch on the international guidance, regulations and ongoing research in plant health, but from angles that are relevant …
Getting ready for IYPH2020 – A New Year Takes Root
Read my article with Defra’s chief plant health officer Professor Nicola Spence in the Royal Society of Biology’s December issue of The Biologist https://thebiologist.rsb.org.uk/biologist-opinion/159-biologist/opinion/2251-a-new-year-takes-root