The spring nursery stock meeting was held in Portlaoise on 7 March. It was very well attended and a lot of good discussions followed, in particular in relation to damage from Storm Emma and a new plant health initiative. Sinéad Kelly from the Department of Agriculture gave an overview of the bacterial pathogen, Xylella fastidiosa. Neil Helyer from
Fargro covered IPM strategies for the coming season and introduced some new pests to watch out for. Andrew Wilson discussed the precise use of controlled release fertilisers and finally Dónall Flanagan, Teagasc introduced the Irish Plant Health Initiative.
This was developed by the Department of Agriculture, Teagasc, the Irish Hardy Nursery Stock Association and Bord Bia. It sets out five actions growers should take to improve their response to plant health concerns, not least Xylella. Growers can sign up to the scheme, using it to improve their biosecurity and to build customer confidence. See the
Teagasc website for more details www.teagasc.ie/horticulture.✽
