Forum Topic

Alas poor conker trees....

Jim said "but there are signs that Autumn is arriving. The Osterley Park trees are changing colour already."But is it just the conker trees ? Which I thought were just being badly affected by drought.But the Independent says : Under threat: Britain's horse chestnut treesBlight 'as bad as Dutch elm disease' is ravaging Britain's horse chestnut trees http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article1221302.eceTim

Tim Henderson ● 6852d7 Comments

According to the DT Saturday.  Nothing can be done to save the trees.

Lois Westby ● 6825d

And the (?alarmist?) report on the BBC news website thought that we should be thinking of planting palms and pines...."What springs to mind when you think of the local park - grass, flowerbeds, roses, squirrels, horse chestnut trees, conkers?The parks your great-grandchildren will play in are far more likely to have pine trees, palms and wind turbines, experts believe.As climate change takes hold - with a new Met Office study suggesting humans have fuelled a one-degree Celsius rise in British temperatures in just 45 years - parks will have to undergo drastic changes if they are to survive."http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/5356370.stm

Tim Henderson ● 6828d

I thought I read somewhere last year that the government disapproved of Chestnut trees because today's generation of kids just MIGHT get hurt in a conker fight ;-)  Nanny state!  Yes, I, too had heard of the X moth causing havoc.  It would be awful not to see the wonderful candelabras made by the  pink and white flowers in the Spring.  I hope a cure is found.

Lois Westby ● 6828d

I beleve we will be discussing the issue of planting new trees in the area at the next Isleworth and Brentford Area Committee meeting to be held on the 28th Sept at the Brentford Free Church on Boston Manor Rd.I will confirm this when I get confirmation.

Paul Fisher ● 6828d

It's not been reported in the press too widely, but I think it's an infestation of leaf miner moth larvae. They hit Guernsey last year and as far as I can tell, it's been expected over here for years. The first sighting on the mainland was in Wimbledon in 2002.If you look at the horse chestnut trees in Kew Gardens the leaves are all still on the trees but really brown and shrivelled. It doesn't look good :(For more information:http://www.forestry.gov.uk/fr/INFD-68JJRC

Rashmi Chavda ● 6828d

Conkers seen on the pavement in Boston Manor Road today..up near Hanwell!They looked shiny and healthy..and would probably be niners!

Jim Lawes ● 6829d

I read somewhere that the trees in Kew Gardens don't have any conkers on them this year.:-(

Sarah Felstead ● 6852d