June 2025
APHA won a gold medal and Best GreenSTEM exhibit at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2025 with their exhibit “Colorado Beetle – a threat to our food security”. Okay it’s not a tree pest but the principles and messages are relevant to trees.
Research
- The GB Non-native Species Secretariat has conducted a horizon scanning exercise in 2025 to identify the top 20 non-native species likely to become invasive in Britain over the next ten years. Tree pests and pathogens feature heavily in the list.
- This is a bit whacky and again it’s potatoes and not trees but the approach is very innovative. As part of the PataFEST project (an EU-funded in Germany on the Early Detection, Surveillance, and Solutions to Potato Plant Diseases), the European Citizen Science Association (ECSA) are inviting urban gardeners from the Berlin area to bring in their potato leaves for a DNA extraction and PCR-sequencing to learn whether the variety is resistant to certain diseases. Test your potatoes: Join PataFEST during the Long Night of Science I wonder what tree health issues might be amenable to such an approach?
Surveillance and intelligence
- Phytophthora ramorum is no longer present in Portugal. In Portugal, Phytophthora ramorum was detected for the first time on Viburnum spp. in 2006. The last confirmed report of P. ramorum was in 2013. Officials in Portugal now report that no detections of P. ramorum have been made in Portugal during annual surveys since 2013 and the pest is officially declared as: “Absent, confirmed by survey”.
May 2025
Research
Policy
Surveillance and intelligence
- The Forest Health Citizen Science Community looks like a useful kindred organisation in the Pacific North West of the USA. There are loads of useful links to projects and papers and
- 23 May 2025 is Taxonomy Recognition Day. TETTRIs (Transforming European Taxonomy through Training, Research and Innovations) is asking everyone to join the “Name it to save it Movement” by:
- 📸 Take a photo of a plant, animal, or fungus, that fascinates you.
🔤 Find its scientific name (or ask for help—we’re here for that!).
📲 Share it on social media with the hashtag #NameItToSaveIt.
April 2025
Research
Policy
- Read Australia CSIRO’s excellent summary of their system to alert biosecurity authorities when observations of invasive pests and weeds in the environment are uploaded to the Atlas of Living Australia Why citizen scientists are key in the fight against invasive species – CSIRO…. and yes, tree pests and diseases are invasive alien species
- New Zealand: New Zealand also have an app to report suspect sightings of potential quarantine pests Find-A-Pest
- Plant Health Test Project on iNaturalist I came across this on iNaturalist. It’s states “This is a bit of a test project to help explore how to capture potential sightings of quarantine pests with iNaturalist”
Surveillance and intelligence
- Hornbeam Decline (Cryphonectria carpinicola) has now been reported for the first time in France. In June 2021 and later in June 2024, C. carpinicola was detected in two forest stands located in north-eastern France (Bourgogne- Franche-Comté region). In both locations, the pathogen was found in drought stressed hornbeam stands, confirming it behaves rather as a weak pathogen and does not appear to be a primary pathogen. Both infested stands had 5 to 10% dead or severely declining (i.e. trees with more than 50% of dead branches) hornbeam trees. (Source: EPPO)
- April 2025 is Citizen Science Month. Check-out the European Citizen Science Association (ECSA) website for further details, including the Sci-Starter project
- RHS are using a Citizen Science approach to record fungi at Wisley (using iNaturalist) and for various plant health surveys (using RHS webpages) including:
March 2025
Research
- The Bacterial Plant Diseases Programme, which is coming to an end, have published the outcomes of the programme
- Two THCSN members, Coventry University and CEH, are partners in a new EU Horizon-funded project OneSTOP which will trial a “garden sentinel network” for private gardens for invasive plants and invertebrates
Policy
- Defra has launched a new service Check plant health information and import rules – for people to find out the rules, and the pest or disease risks for importing plants, plant products or seeds to Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) for commercial use
- Scottish Government has published the Scottish Plant Health Strategy 2024-2029 which includes a commitment to “ engage with stakeholders to develop initiatives for surveillance and reporting, for example Observatree, Tree Alert and possible networks of amateur gardeners”
Surveillance and intelligence
- Tremap and Heathrow are partnering to tackle an ambitious task – to map the location of every remaining black poplar in the UK
- EPPO have published their latest newsletter on surveillance, monitoring, and control of the emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis)
- EPPO has issued an Alert for hornbeam decline (Cryphonectria carpinicola) which has recently been found for the first time in the UK, at five sites in south-east England where it is associated with dieback of mature hornbeam trees
