Your PSHB Infested Tree is stressed and you want to save it. Below are examples of interventions in Johannesburg that hopefully serve as an incentive for you to save as many of your infested trees as possible.
Before I do so, it is helpful to know why some trees are infested while others in the same vicinity are not.
Your PSHB Infested Tree is Stressed: Possible Reasons
Glenda Wheeler, a resident in the Houghton area, in an email to her database, wrote: “In a recent interview with Entomologist Henk Geertsema (a retired professor at Stellenbosch University, and formerly, during the 1980s and 1990s, a Forest and Timber Entomologist at the Plant Protection and Research Institute, responsible for all plantations across South Africa) he explained the dire stress being suffered by urban trees, and that stressed trees are always at risk of being attacked by pests. He advised that researchers must determine specifically what the attractiveness is of a stressed tree to the beetle. Professor Geertsema cited the following things that generally exacerbate tree stress, specifically trees in public parks and on pavements:
· Excavation of trenches for public utilities such as water, electricity, sewerage, and copper and fibre optic cable.
· Ground compaction and surface covering by asphalt and other paving materials.
· Water – this includes the quantity and quality of water. Most public trees depend on rainfall for water supply, but given the surface covering above most public tree root systems, absorption into the soil is often vastly reduced.
· Soil health – soil along public roads is often polluted from vehicle fuel products, particles of tyre rubber, and good nutrients and minerals are never replenished.
· Tree age – many urban trees are already quite old and are simply not as strong and vigorous as younger trees. Whilst some species (for example the English Plane tree) may have a life expectancy in excess of 200 years in Britain, such trees may only survive a maximum of 100 years in the warmer South African climate, and this life-span may reduce further as increases in temperature are experienced as a result of climate change.
· Lack of tree care – public trees are rarely pruned appropriately and most municipalities no longer conduct any form of pest control.
· Deterioration of the ecosystem – the past few decades have witnessed a dramatic extinction of flora and fauna in general, some of which had a vital symbiotic relationship with the trees.
· Probable electronic negative interference – numerous studies are indicating the negative impact that electromagnetic frequency radiation (created by cell phone technologies, microwave equipment, fibre optic cables and other similar devices) is having on both animal and plant physiology.”
In addition, Glenda will be testing her borehole water periodically to “see if the incidence of pesticides is increasing in the ground water.” If so, this would be an additional stressor.
You may want to use the list above to determine the possible cause/s of stress in your tree/s and take steps to remediate the problem.
Response 1: Mike Viviers from Random Harvest
As soon as Mike became aware of the infestation, he began looking for a fungicide and an insecticide with which to treat infested trees. After eighteen months he is confident that the fungicide PANAF 6 is the most appropriate one to use, for unlike other pesticides on the market PANAF 6 is “environmentally friendly and harmless to the point where you can treat your athletes’ foot with it.”
Piet Meyer, from Pan African Farms, with whom Mike is working, submitted PANAF 6 to the Director of Emergency Poisons about eight months ago, for assessment and registration. In the meantime, Mike Viviers, who has a background in chemistry, has been treating infested trees with PANAF 6. He does so because he is satisfied from his pilot tests that PANAF 6 is the best fungicide available.
Of all the people I have met to discuss possible ways of responding to the challenge of PSHB infestation Mike is the most attuned to the magnitude of the devastation we will face if we don’t move very quickly to eradicate the problem. He is also the only person I have yet met to say that he knows that PANAF 6 works and is the best option we have to stem the tide on PSHB and save our forests. On this matter he has the confidence of the kind you want your medical emergency specialist to have.
For more information on PANAF 6 and PSHB:
http://www.panafricanfarms.co.za/pshb-beetle.html
For Mike Viviers perspective:
https://www.randomharvest.co.za/en-us/News-Blog/Random-Harvest-News-Blog/entryid/5233/polyphagous-shothole-borer-beetle-pshb-control-update
Mike Viviers contact details: growing@rhn.co.za
Response 2: Glenda Wheeler, from LHRA (Lower Houghton Residents Association)
Of the 31 trees Glenda attends to, 21 are infested. These include public trees around her property. After consulting with Dr Hugh Laurens (PhD Forestry, previously Senior Lecturer Stellenbosch University) Glenda installed one of his Programmable Energy Towers. While originally designed for the management of predators in agricultural projects, Glenda’s was “programmed specifically to address the beetle infestation, lack of soil health as well as overall lack of tree health.” These are currently being marketed as PSBH Energy Broadcast Towers.
When I visited her to view the PSBH Energy Broadcast Tower, we were both thrilled by a sighting of at least a dozen mousebirds in one of her trees. Neither of us had seen these in many years and both of us took it as a sign that the Programmable Energy Towers is having a positive effect by balancing electromagnetic frequencies.
I would certainly like to see our Resident’s Association investing in one of these at Patterson Park.
Glenda Wheeler’s contact details: glenda.wheeler@tharollo.com
Response 3: Glenda Wheeler, from LHRA (Lower Houghton Residents Association)
Glenda has also taken steps in improve the nutrition around the base of some of her trees. She continues to maintain that, “if we are going to resolve the threat to our urban trees we must focus on good tree and soil health.” An email she received from Dr Hugh states that, “Once the nutrition has been rebalanced (shortages of micro and macro elements), and cation exchange stabilised, further improvement should occur. Brix count should increase. This alone will reduce insect attack.”
Glenda is keeping track of results by painting each new PSHB hole she finds in her pilot samples of four trees. Each week she uses a different colour to mark new holes. As the tree’s health improves so should the number of borer holes decrease.
Glenda Wheeler’s contact details: glenda.wheeler@tharollo.com
IF IN DOUBT, CALL AN ARBORIST
Arborists offer personalised assessments of the condition of trees and possible treatment protocols. In one of my regular trips around Jo’burg I discovered an oak that had clearly been infested by termites. This troubled me so I contacted Julian Ortlepp to ask if a tree could be infested by PSHB and termites. He affirmed that it could. The next day I found evidence of this in another oak which was infested by PSHB in its canopy and termites in its trunk. What ultimately killed it, the PSHB or the termites, I don’t know.
Response 4: Julian Ortlepp, Arborist at Treeworks
On his website http://www.treeworks.co.za/ Julien Ortlepp notes that 80% of tree problems start with the soil. His primary concern is thus with improvement of the soil. To this end he offers soil analysis which enables him “to recommend correct augmentations such as bio-stimulations, fertilizations and even a treatment very unknown in South Africa called Air Spading, which relieves the compaction in root zones.”
http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTIobRz_2TU
Julien’s contact details: julian@treeworks.co.za
Response 4: Hilton Fryer, Arborist at Heuristic Guru
According to his website https://treetreatment.co.za/collections/arborist-onsite-services Hilton Fryer offers PSHB Training and Workshops, sells ArborJet Injection Kits for DIY enthusiasts and stump inoculation with saprophytic mushrooms.
Hilton’s contact details: hilton@treetreatment.co.za
SPECIAL ALERT: Pesticide Management
According to the Pesticide Management Policy of South Africa, produced by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and gazetted on 24 December 2010, the policy seeks “to facilitate the registration of reduced-risk pesticides…”
- To this end it notes that new legislation is needed to:
“prohibit registration of products that poses unacceptable risk to people’s health or the environment…” - expediting the registration of lower risk products.”
My sense is that these processes, in the face of the risk that PSHB poses, are unacceptably slow, if they are happening at all.
In the meantime, it might be useful to draw a distinction between a product that is not yet registered , a product that is not yet de-registered.
A not yet registered product might be exactly what we need at this time. A registered product might now be banned at international level but not locally. This makes the safe use of pesticides a difficult one for the layperson to navigate. I share this because in all my conversations about fungicides and insecticides as well as in the documents I have thus far read, there seems to be a conflict of ethics; it is difficult to know whether arborists would make PANAF 6 their fungicide of choice if it were registered.
An additional concern for me was the conclusion in this document https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3955666/, “The chronic tests of pesticides may not reflect relevant environmental exposures if only one ingredient is tested alone.” While it is too technical for me to comprehend the details, it suggests that testing of pesticides is vitally important and that only statutory bodies have the power to declare a product safe for humans and for the environment.
Despite these reservations, which I share with most arborists, I realised a few days ago that if I had to choose between PANAF 6 and other pesticides I would use PANAF 6. Or remove the infested tree or tree branches; I would not use Koinor or Temik or similar products.
CONGRATULATIONS CAPE TOWN!
That PSHB has been found in Cape Town is nothing to celebrate. That the City has a protocol in place already and has rolled it out is great news – http://www.sali.co.za/index.php/about-sali/sali-news/item/31-landscapers-mobilise-as-pshb-arrives-in-cape-town
Their response is to take out infested trees as they are sighted. This makes sense since in doing so they hope to halt the PSHB spread. They have an added incentive – a thriving fruit sector and nature reserves that would be devastated if they do not.
Sadly, Jo’burg City remains in denial.
Jo’burg though is in a different phase of infestation; to take out the estimated 100 000 infested trees would leave gaping holes in our canopy. We also don’t have the resources to do so, unless we declare it an emergency and use the goldmine dumps as I suggested elsewhere. Given this we may need a different protocol for Johannesburg, perhaps one that combines removal with widespread PANAF 6 treatment. For unaffected areas across the country we need to improve tree immunity by attending to the soil because healthy soil = healthy plants. And animals. And humans.
SUGGESTED MANAGEMENT PROTOCOL FOR SOUTH AFRICA
PSHB infestation should be declared a national emergency, our neighbouring countries need to be alerted as well as the African Union and the UN. We need a layered approach to management protocols, first: prevention protocols; second removal and incineration protocols; third: solarisation and safe disposal protocols. All these in parallel with massive tree care and nurtition as well as tree planting programmes.
I have informed the Presidency, through a sms to Marion Sparg, that a team should be set up and co-ordinated from within the Presidency. If you agree with me and have any influence please use it to see that this happens.
My third PSHB article will be published next Friday. I will make suggestions regarding ways in which to improve tree immunity and how to plant spekboom for a massive boost in oxygen and trees for a sustainable future.
I first noticed this disease on Acer negundo in my town.Then English Oaks and Plains.Now a wide variety from endemics to Canary Isald Date Palms.Healthy trees and local trees also get attacked.Would suggest heavily infested Acer negundo’s and Oaks be removed and burnt.
Thanks, Chris. I agree that heavily infested trees should be removed and burnt. Yet where would one burn the trees?