Irish Forestry Diseases and Pests

Posted on February 15, 2010 | Category: Envirohment Trivia, Nature Trivia

In 1977, the directive was issued by the then European Economic Community (EEC) which tried to overcome some of the problems that the European Union was facing that the time when it came to diseases and pests in Irish forestry and European forestry in general. There are three different types of diseases and pests that can be suffered by trees and general. Firstly, there are the bacterium and viruses that are widespread and can be imported into a country in various different ways. Secondly, there are the diseases that are caused by a fungus and thirdly there are the effects of insects. The Plant Health Directive of 1977 sought to prevent or at least curtail some of these diseases and pests by allowing the countries involved to instigate emergency procedures in the event of an attack from any disease or pests on that country’s forestry or general tree population. The second measure was to try and prevent the importation of a large number of these damaging insect species. In the third measure, and some would say by far the most important measure, was to issue certificates of origin for all trees being transported within the EC.

So, for this article I want to concentrate on fungi and how it affects the different tree species. The fungi that attack trees can be split into two separate divisions. Firstly, there is the fungus that attacks the foliage of the tree or causes a lot of damage to nursery trees. Secondly, there are the fungi that attack the bark, roots, and the actual timber of the tree. There is no real dividing line between these two fungi. So, let’s take a couple of examples. The first one is the Bleeding Canker. This fungus is invisible to the naked eye it can cause severe damage to the tree. The early symptoms include black, red, or brown sticky liquid that feeds out of areas of the dying bark. It mainly affects lime trees, apple trees, and the Horse Chestnut tree. Another fungus is the Conifer Red Rot. This fungus varies in its appearance from a thick outcrop in the shape of a horseshoe and a shell like form. Firstly, the symptoms show as a dark rusty color, becoming almost black. This fungus generally affects conifers and can cause infection through wounds and expansive rotting throughout the heart of the tree. It is a fungus that is mostly found in Continental Europe woodlands and Forestry Ireland has not come across it much in this country.

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