Department Agriculture

Hi all,

Can anyone tell me whether the Dept of Agriculture inspects nursery's for Box blight on a regular basis ?

G

 

Very unlikely I would guess. I don't think it is notifiable, is it?

 

Its the usual BS from sellers online. I bought some Box from a seller online, used him before and had no issues, these ones though, the bottom leaves of the plants were a bit blotchy with, a white fungus underneath. The odd leave up top also had it. Now the plants look healthy apart from that. He said that the pots were in trays and sun and air may not have got to the bases hence the issue, also 4 days in transit did not help. He also said that the Dep of Agg inspected every few weeks and he is a Box Blight free nursery. It sounded like BS and this was confirmed when i called my local nursery up that said they do inspect but only once a year and dont look for blight. Hedid say however that the sellers explanation could be valid and he thought there was probably not an issue.

 

This would be enough to make me drop that seller.

If he is lying, what is he trying to hide?

If he is telling the truth, why is DEFRA so interested in his business that they feel it necessary to inspect so frequently?

 

I suppose it is possible, if he is a Box specialist, that he specifically has the plants tested regularly.

Bit too much "benefit of the doubt" though??

Doesn't sound like Box blight to me ... but I ain't suffered from it first hand.

 

Apparently the Dept Agg regularly inspect nursery's. I have spoken to a local nursery who confirm this but they say once a year, twice at best and Box blight isn't on the list of things they look for.

 

I hate BS Kristan. If they were just honest, then it wouldn't bother me so much and we could work things through. All he has done is "bigged up" a version of the truth which is as good as lying.

Ive spoken my local nursery man (should have gone to him in the first place but he didn't have any young plants) and he says its perfectly feasible that the plants could have been over watered and with the lack of light and poor air circulation this couple with a 4 day journey in hot weather could have caused the problem. Still doesn't get away from the fact that a few leafs up top have the odd brown blotch.

 

Exactly. That's my point. Your chap is saying every few weeks, ie much more frequent than the norm, so either he is lying about that, or DEFRA are paying him a lot more attention than most. Either way I'd want to know why before doing business, in fact I just wouldn't do business with them.