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 plant species if it were to arrive in the UK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xnsdASNvzQ&feature=youtu.be
• Ash dieback – a 2 minute video from Kew Science showing how resistance to the disease is being investigated https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=w4KkRlIi9ac

If you know something about plant health, could you tell someone about it?  If you think you know nothing about plant health could you read/watch one of the videos? There are conversation pieces for everyone here. SAPS have some great teaching resources on plant health too for schools http://www.saps.org.uk/secondary/teaching-resources/1446-plant-health-contexts

So what have I done differently in January to be plant healthier?  My first blog mentioned the FAO’s 5 key messages https://celiaknightconsulting.co.uk/international-year-of-plant-health-what-does-that-mean-for-me/  Message 3: Keep plants healthy while protecting the environment.

Recently my husband and I got our boots out to go for a walk. He won’t mind me writing this as it demonstrates a point. “What are you doing?” he said as I photographed our muddy boots and then brushed and wiped them “we’re only going on the moor”.  Some plant pests and diseases are carried by soil, so good practice is to create the habit of cleaning them after use. I’ve known that for years of course but now I’m going to try and practice it regularly. I now have a new brush, bowl and disinfectant to do this – and I’ve written about it, so I’d better do it!