#ShotHoleBorer – Trees you can plant to replace those removed due to #ProtectOurTrees
ROSEBANK – Tree surgeon Julian Ortlepp shares a list of indigenous trees worth planting to replace those removed due to PSHB.
Tree surgeon Julian Ortlepp of Tree Works encouraged residents to continue planting trees despite the threat of shot-hole-borer.
Ortlepp recently posted a list of indigenous trees on the Tree Works Facebook page which are suitable to the Gauteng climate which can replace those removed due to polyphagous shot hole borer. Some of the trees listed include camel thorn, candle thorn, umbrella thorn, white pear, false olive, river bushwillow, velvet bushwillow, wild pear, Transvaal bottlebrush and common spike thorn. The extended list can be found on the Facebook page.
Ortlepp explained that he used the South African National Biodiversity Institute list of highveld trees and removed the ones he knew were currently affected by the borer.
Don’t miss out on Rosebank Killarney Gazette’s #ProtectOurTrees online portal, where you can find the latest news about PSHB and what’s eating Rosebank. Visit the portal here.
“We must continue to plant trees [now more than ever] and we cannot push ‘pause’ and wait for a solution to the problem. We will also not be able to establish which of the host [not reproductive host] trees will be resistant or not die from the borer if we plant,” said Ortlepp.
He added that there were no guarantees that trees which were currently not targeted by the borer would remain so.
“What we must do is keep planting and planting a great variety of trees. Keep your trees healthy by mulching and feeding them. Healthy trees are less likely to be attacked by pest and disease.”
Ortlepp said in due course, a list of exotic trees that he believed were suitable to be planted would be posted on the Tree Works Facebook page.
“We need the large trees to provide shade and we cannot only plant the smaller indigenous highveld trees alone. If you look at the massive tree canopy in Johannesburg, it is made up of exotics.”
He explained that the indigenous trees did not grow to the size of the exotics in Johannesburg and thus could not provide the shade and climate advantages that the large exotic trees did.
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