Plant Health

Maintain plant health with our plant pest and disease alerts and factsheets on the most common threats.

PEST & DISEASE FACTSHEETS

Growers’ Guide to Plant Health: Tarsonemid and eriophyid mites

Growers’ Guide to Plant Health: Leafhoppers, capsids and suckers

Growers’ Guide to Plant Health: Powdery mildew

Growers’ Guide to Plant Health: Mealybugs

Growers’ Guide to Plant Health: Scab

Growers’ Guide to Plant Health: Thrips

Growers’ Guide to Plant Health: Downy mildew

Growers’ Guide to Plant Health: Whitefly

Growers’ Guide to Plant Health: Damping-off

Growers’ Guide to Plant Health: Aphids on ornamental crops

Growers’ Guide to Plant Health: Bacterial and fungal cankers

PLANT HEALTH THREATS

Takahashia japonica: cotton stringy scale insects' distinctive ovisacs could lower aesthetic value

Prunus bacterial spot/canker: this notifiable disease can inflict serious damage on all Prunus species

Tasmanian eucalyptus beetle: Eucalyptus trees face the risk of significant defoliation from a beetle that is expected to become established in the UK

Pepper weevil: sweet peppers, chilli peppers and other Solanaceae are at risk from this small but potentially devastating pest

Lemon tree borer: Wood-boring larvae of this beetle could wreak serious economic and environmental damage to native trees and shrubs

Red palm weevil: retailers and growers must beware of this highly invasive pest

Japanese beetle - chafer beetle poses a significant economic, social and environmental impact if it reaches the UK

Japanese beetle: metallic-green thorax and head and wing cases are coppery bronze

Tomato brown rugose fruit virus: can inflict considerable yield losses in commercial tomato and sweet pepper production

Crate of tomatoes with patchy red and green colouring due to tomato brown rugnose fruit virus

Citrus longhorn beetle: this pest threatens to alter our rural, urban and garden landscapes for good

Citrus longhorn beetle has a black body with variable white markings and long antennae

Two-lined chestnut borer: the arrival of this beetle would be another nail in the coffin of the UK's oak trees

Two-lined chestnut borer and marks in wood left by larvae feeding galleries

PLANT HEALTH NEWS

Sweet chestnut blight outbreak spreads

Call for ideas to use £3m RHS/APHA plant health Defra funding

Have Your Say: Consultation opens for UK’s new nature and gardening GCSE

SPS UK-EU agreement delay top topic at European Nurserystock Association meeting in Dublin

UK International Action Plan for Plant Health 2026 to 2030 launches

Xylella research 'reaches new level'

APHA finds 70 online listings for banned invasive plants

Versatile and sustainable new biodegradable adjuvant gains HSE approval in UK

Kew's State of the World's Plants and Fungi 2026 reveals extinction scale under-estimated

01. Digitising plants at Kew - CREDIT - Jeff Eden © RBG Kew

National Centre for Environmental Horticulture hosts first industry-facing event at Wisley

Defra distance plant sellers list peaks

Winners and losers this horticulture week: Hortipak new owners, OPM, SPS, seesaw trade

Winners and losers this horticulture week: sold, SPS, heatwave

Defra says SPS agreement will come into force in July 2027

Pippa Greenwood to take up APHA role

'Crazy' if Reform ditch SPS agreement, international floriculture leader tells HortWeek

Glyphosate-supporting report launches in Parliament

WATCH: Chief plant health inspector speaks about new £3m research scheme

Starmer woes overshadow King's Speech EU Bill + industry reaction

Defra and RHS launch £3m virtual plant health centre to tackle horticulture industry plant health problems UPDATED

ICL ‘Fertilisers for the Future’ at HTA National Plant Show

SPS agreement on its way landmark UK-EU meeting hears VIDEO

Coles Nurseries to host ICL Hort Science Live 2026

European Nurserystock Association 'confident' SPS negotiations are going well

Transition period after UK-EU SPS agreement rejected in Government’s response to EFRA report

John Adlam's Monthly Nursery Checklists

1 December — Cold stores, compost tea and disease control

1 November — Fleece, Flexidor and frosts

1 October – Bacteria, biocontrol and Botrytis

1 September – Sawfly, scab and stem cankers

1 August – Sap, spider mites and spraying

1 July – Camellias, capsids and caterpillars

1 June – Scale insects, slugs and spider mites

1 April – Beetles, biocontrols and blossom wilt

1 March – Aphids, biological control and box blight

1 February - Field planning, frost and Fructogard

1 January - Feeding, field weeds and fogging

1 October - Caterpillars, Choisya and compost tea

EAMU MONTHLY ROUNDUPS

EAMU roundup: May 2026

Plum tree - credit: Flickr/Jnzl'sPhotos (CC by 20 DEED)

EAMU expiry alert: June 2026

EAMU roundup: February 2026

EAMU roundup: January 2026

Lettuce crops - credit: Flickr/NRCS Pacific Islands Area

EAMU roundup: December 2025

EAMU roundup: November 2025

EAMU roundup: October 2025

EAMU roundup: September 2025

Horseradish - credit: Flickr/Nick Saltmarsh (CC by 2.0)

EAMU roundup: August 2025

Protected tomato production - credit: Flickr/ Local Food Initiative (CC by 2.0)

EAMU roundup: July 2025

Pumpkins - credit: Flickr/ScotGovRural Matt Cartney (CC by 2.0)

EAMU EXPIRY ALERT

New EAMU granted for Romeo on top fruit crops

Romeo now authorised for use on outdoor-grown apple, pear, medlar and quince.

Head Gardener

H&H Land Estates, A small private Country Estate near Windermere, Cumbria
Senior Gardener

Private Estate- Cotswolds, Cotswolds
Head Gardener

Wilton Estate, Wiltshire
Installation Lead

Fresh Horticultural Careers, London
0.6 Community Teacher – Horticulture (Band B)

East Lancashire Learning Group (ellg ), Lancashire
Garden Maintenance Supervisor

Fresh Horticultural Careers, South West London
Horticultural Maintenance Technician

Fresh Horticultural Careers, London
Horticultural Assistant - Part time

Fresh Horticultural Careers, North London
Landscape Team Leader

Fresh Horticultural Careers, London
Experienced Gardeners and Landscapers

Fresh Horticultural Careers, London