25 November 2009

By Patrick Taggart and Stephen Trew, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD)

If you are planting a hedge or trees this season it is important to ensure the plants you buy are free from fireblight.  Fireblight is a bacterial disease that affects hawthorn, rowan, apple, and pear. Several garden shrubs such as cotoneaster and pyracantha, are also susceptible. Disease severity is variable but in certain situations fireblight kills plants outright.  

Fireblight is not established in Northern Ireland, but it is widespread in England, Wales and parts of Scotland, as well as in other EU countries. The bacterium can be carried from plant to plant by pollinating insects, rain splash and wind-blown rain. Introducing an infected plant could, therefore, cause the disease to spread. If fireblight were to take hold here it could affect our hedgerows and our apple industry, a sector worth millions of pounds each year.

Hedgerows are rich habitats for wildlife. Over 170 species of trees, shrubs and wildflowers have been recorded in our hedges and 36 species of bird regularly rely on them for breeding, shelter and food.  The berries found on hawthorn, rowan and other species are an excellent source of winter food for farmland birds.  Hedgerows are important on the farm because they act as property boundaries, provide shelter for animals and reduce soil erosion.  They also help define our characteristic landscape in the countryside.

Tree planting and hedgerow restoration are popular options for participants in DARD’s agri-environment schemes.  In 2008 around 5000 farm businesses restored over 5,300 km of hedges and more than 2000 scheme participants planted 600 ha of native trees.

Using healthy plants will ensure that the trees and hedgerows establish and grow successfully. When buying hawthorn or rowan always ask the supplier to show you the plant passport.  A plant passport is required to trade or move certain plants under The Plant Health Order (Northern Ireland) 2006. It essentially provides an assurance that the plants are free from certain serious pests and diseases.

Northern Ireland has been designated as a Protected Zone for fireblight because the disease is not established here. The requirement for plant passports aims to prevent the introduction of fireblight on imported plants.

Only producers in regions where fireblight has not become established are authorised to issue plant passports for hawthorn, rowan and other fireblight-susceptible plants. The passport information may be split between several documents, such as the label, delivery note and invoice. The key piece of passport information, that identifies that the plant came from an area where fireblight is not established, is ‘ZP b.2’ (or ‘ZP UK’).  

Do not buy plants if:

• your supplier is unable to show you the passport for your plants; or
• ‘ZP b.2’ (or ‘ZP UK’) is missing.

If your supplier is unfamiliar with plant passports, tell him that the information may be on the delivery note or invoice.

Upon delivery of your hawthorn or rowan plants look for the symptoms of fireblight:

• wilting and death of flowers;
• wilting and death of young shoots, often with bending to form a ‘shepherd’s crook’;
• dead or dying leaves that remain attached to the plant;
• brown or black fruit that become shrivelled but remain on the plant;
• cankers, often with red-brown discoloured tissue beneath the bark; and
• oozing bacterial secretions.

Often only some of these symptoms will be seen in affected plants.

Continue to monitor your hawthorn and rowan, especially in their first two years, for symptoms of fireblight.

If you suspect fireblight to be present on any plant please notify DARD, Quality Assurance Branch (Tel: 028 9054 7106).

For more information on agri-environment schemes, tree planting and hedgerow restoration contact Countryside Management staff at your local office, or check on-line at the Rural NI website.

Notes to Editors

1. All media enquiries to DARD Press Office, tel: 028 9052 4619.

2. Copies of the photos that issued with this article are available on request from the Press Office.