Prince's ash trees help fight fungus
SPECIMENS of trees grown on Prince Charles' land on the fringes of the Forest of Dean could be used to save Britain's woodlands from destruction by ash dieback.
It is understood that eight ash trees from Harewood Park, near Ross-on-Wye, have been chosen as part of a project to grow "super ash trees" and have been chosen for their size, diversity and robustness.
The estate, which has 1,200 acres of woodland, was bought by the Duchy of Cornwall in 2000.
Ash dieback is predicted to kill 90 per cent of the UK's ash trees in the next 20 years.
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Around 400 trees have been chosen from private estates by the Earth Trust, Future Trees Trust and the Forestry Commission.
Jo Clark, of the Earth Trust, told the Sunday Telegraph: "Charles has an estate in Cornwall, where one of the trees came from, and another in Herefordshire, which has spectacular woodlands. We got eight from there."
Branches from the top 100 trees are being grafted onto root stock and grown and will be tested to find strains resistant to ash dieback.
Comments
by FreeRadical1
Monday, November 12 2012, 5:16PM
“Surely, if they want diversity, it's best to collect samples from all over the place. The most robust looking trees are not necessarily the ones that might be able to fight off the fungus. As this is a new disease, it will be pot luck as to whether an individual tree happens to carry a gene that gives it immunity or resistance.”