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Article: Will this moth ruin our conker trees? Horse chestnuts are under threat from a voracious European invader.
- Article from:
- Daily Mail (London)
- Article date:
- July 21, 2004
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Solo Syndication Limited. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: ROBIN YAPP
IT is as much a part of autumn as the falling leaves.
But the playground game of conkers is under threat from a foreign pest, experts warned yesterday.
The horse chestnut leaf-mining moth is spreading rapidly through the UK and nothing can be done to stop it, according to the Royal Horticultural Society.
Horse chestnut trees - which produce conkers as their fruit every autumn - are gradually weakened as the moths eat their leaves, causing them to wither and produce fewer conkers. They can even die.
Andrew Halstead, principal entomologist at the RHS, said the moth first arrived in Britain from continental ...