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The documentary is aimed to help open the eyes of the many steps involved in the plant trade where plant health is concerned and the professionalism behind it. King and Co are Plant Healthy and UKISG assured in addition to being members of the HTA.
Recordings took place at docks, ports, BCPs, Defra diagnostic lab in York and King and Co to show the steps to keep the UK safe from plant pests and diseases.
So how do you stop a plant pathogen ripping through our farms and gardens?
King and Co adhere to a voluntary Plant Healthy standard to ensure best practices are in place. The Plant Healthy standard promotes plant health risk analysis where suppliers and plant handling is concerned. King and Co visit suppliers and tag stock on a regular basis, constantly evaluating the health of stock and growing methods.
The risk of Xylella fastidiosa to the UK is the reason King and Co do not sell Olive trees, which can pose a dangerous threat to trees and plants across the country.
It is important to evaluate the health of trees, plants, growing media, nursery soil and chemical application programme before it enters our own Nursery site. The small percentage of stock (which is imported) is also inspected at inland Border Control Points to again check its health.
King and Co’s Plant Healthy trained staff inspect each tree and plant upon its arrival at the Nursery in its designated quarantine area as another line of defence to Nursery stock. The trees and plants at this point have been checked thoroughly several times. It is only at this point the stock can be released onto the site.
The new stock will now be checked daily in line with King and Co’s Pest Risk Analysis schedule. To ensure traceability, each new batch of plants is assigned its own identification code linking directly to its source. UKISG assurance proves King and Co UK Provenance plants can be traced right back to seed.
Before any trees of plants leave the Nursery, they are checked a final time to make sure again they are in good health. It is only this rigorous checking, by experienced and trained experts, which can truly stop a plant pathogen escaping into the surrounding environment.
So what can the public do to keep the UK safe from tree and plant diseases?
Buy responsibly! Plant Healthy suppliers are independently audited to check that the correct procedures are in place to intercept a notifiable pest or disease.
Trees and pants sold by a Supermarket or Homeware store for example may be checked at a central hub or BCP if they are imported, but these are not being checked and handled by qualified and experienced individuals for latent threats to plant health.
BBC Radio 4 – ‘Pipping a Plant Pandemic’
Airs: Wednesday 11th December, 15:30
BBC Radio 4 – Pipping a Plant Pandemic
