Oak Processionary Moth here to stay !

[David Humphries]

crikey, I had no idea!

 

so these are similar to those brown tails you get in prunus trees in london then?

 

 

 

a lot worse than the brown tails.

 

 

 

OPM's have huge potential to cause serious respitory disorders to significant numbers of people in the immeadiate vicinities of the nests

 

 

 

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[janey]

What may make OPM more immediately relevant to a lot of Contractors (if I have read the briefing correctly) is that there are restrictions on the movement of oak arisings out of the affected London Booughs. Though how that will be policed I'm not sure.

 

They really are nasty wee critters and their potential for harm shouldn't be underestimated.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Thing is, there's a whole bunch of "operators" that wouldn't know a Quercus robur from a psuedoplatanus, so I would say its completely and utterly ridiculous to even suggest limiting the material. Sure a few contractors will "do the right things" and follow the letters, costing them money too, while every other tom dick and harry outfit, just carries on regardless.

[David Humphries]

Thing is, there's a whole bunch of "operators" that wouldn't know a Quercus robur from a psuedoplatanus, so I would say its completely and utterly ridiculous to even suggest limiting the material. Sure a few contractors will "do the right things" and follow the letters, costing them money too, while every other tom dick and harry outfit, just carries on regardless.

 

 

You may be underestimating how many people are keeping an eye for the nests in the zone.

 

Only needs them to hear saw/chipper & make the connection.

 

Heat could & would be applied is my guess.

 

We'll be reading of contractors falling foul of the restrictions in Hort week. in a few months

 

 

 

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[David Humphries]

What may make OPM more immediately relevant to a lot of Contractors (if I have read the briefing correctly) is that there are restrictions on the movement of oak arisings out of the affected London Booughs. Though how that will be policed I'm not sure.

 

 

Always interesting looking back at older threads, helps evaluate what you think you know and what you actually do.

 

 

Been a while since any posts here on Arbtalk about OPM, the reality is that it's spreading ever further each year and the costs to manage nest removal and spraying increases also.

 

Reported as far north of the Capital as Watford this year, as far south as Mole Valley and moving eastwards into and beyond Newham & Greenwich.

 

Although there are no caterpillars to seen processing up and down oak trunks at this time of year it's worth remembering that the adults have now pupated into moths and have had their jiggy jiggy time.

 

Females will be laying egg plaques on twigs.

 

As such, Arbs working in and around London should really be checking any oak material they are removing to make sure they are not spreading the eggs further afield.

 

Good guidance on handling oak material here .........

 

http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/Good_practice_guide_Handling_OPM_material_04-2014.pdf/$FILE/Good_practice_guide_Handling_OPM_material_04-2014.pdf

 

 

Picture of egg plaques for reference from the FC webpage

 

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Edited September 7, 2016 by David Humphries

[daltontrees]

Always interesting looking back at older threads, helps evaluate what you think you know and what you actually do.

 

 

Been a while since any posts here on Arbtalk about OPM, the reality is that it's spreading ever further each year and the costs to manage nest removal and spraying increases also.

 

Reported as far north of the Capital as Watford this year, as far south as Mole Valley and moving eastwards into and beyond Newham & Greenwich.

 

Although there are no caterpillars to seen processing up and down oak trunks at this time of year it's worth remembering that the adults have now pupated into moths and have had their jiggy jiggy time.

 

Females will be laying egg plaques on twigs.

 

As such, Arbs working in and around London should really be checking any oak material they are removing to make sure they are not spreading the eggs further afield.

 

Good guidance on handling oak material here .........

 

http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/Good_practice_guide_Handling_OPM_material_04-2014.pdf/$FILE/Good_practice_guide_Handling_OPM_material_04-2014.pdf

 

 

Picture of egg plaques for reference from the FC webpage

 

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Problem is, the wee buggers can fly. We can expect them to arrive everywhere eventually. There hasn't been a good hard cold parasite killing winter for a few years too.

 

Thanks for the picture, I hope I never come across them up here but I will remember that image.

[Mick Dempsey]

We've encountered them here.

 

I do wonder what you hope to achieve, you can't hope to stop them extending their range.

[David Humphries]

I do wonder what you hope to achieve, you can't hope to stop them extending their range.

 

Time will tell Mick, If left unmanaged the OPM population explode and would be on every oak tree in and around London in a relatively short time scale.

 

This would likley lead to GP surgeries dealing with an increase in respiratory and rash cases.

 

Not withstanding the debate that can be had on doing something rather than nothing, we (like many land owners/managers) have been issued with Statutory Plant Health Notices which we have to comply with.

 

There has been recorded success with management of OPM in isolated areas like Pangbourne which the FC specifically targeted.

As far as I'm aware after having a significant number of nests in 2011 they haven't had any nests reported in that particular target area during the period 2013-2016

This seems to suggest they have gotten on top of it, so there may be hope of being able to manage areas with oak populations.

 

So perhaps........

 

 

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[Mick Dempsey]

Ok, but when I think about the countless oak trees in unclaimed land/neglected gardens of which one nest will supply another countless moths...

 

Here (and yes, I understand, here is not there) they're not even an issue, except for the odd tree bloke like me who falls foul of them every couple of years.

 

Pine processionary moth is altogether different.

[David Humphries]

Problem is, the wee buggers can fly. We can expect them to arrive everywhere eventually..........

 

The heavily pregnant females can only fly about 1km per year Jules, so at that rate you should be fine for about another 662 years by my calculations

 

That is of course unless some numb nut imports them in to Scotland from infected parts of the south of the U.K. or Europe

 

I'd like to think we've learnt that particular lesson.........but I'm not actually convinced of that.

 

 

 

 

 

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