CAPE TOWN – Several information sessions are upcoming in Durbanville, Bellville, Brackenfell and the Cape Town city centre (CBD) on the polyphagous shot-hole borer beetle (PSHB), which poses a serious threat to Cape Town’s urban forest and biodiversity.
The City of Cape Town is encouraging residents to attend these information sessions.
Prevent spread of the pest
“Improper handling, movement and disposal of PSHB infested material continue to aid the spread of PSHB across the city. We need the support and collaboration of residents and businesses working with plant material to prevent the spread of the pest,” says Eddie Andrews, the city’s deputy mayor and Mayco member for spatial planning and environment.
“There are many formal and informal businesses involved with gardening and landscaping space. These are gardeners, nurseries, horticulturists, tree fellers, woodcutters, and many more. We ask that these people from the CBD and the northern suburbs attend, especially if you have trees on your private property.
“One of the topics we will be addressing for example is the fact that the use of pesticides and fungicides have not proven effective at eradicating PSHB from infected trees. Therefore, infested tree or plant material has to be chipped, incinerated or solarised,” Andrews urged.
More than 6 000 trees affected
To date, PSHB has been confirmed in over 6 000 trees across the city in the following areas: Somerset West, Strand, Penhill, Newlands, Constantia, Rondebosch, Observatory, Mowbray, Rosebank, Claremont, Kenilworth, Wynberg, Diep River, Pinelands, Durbanville, Brackenfell, Kraaifontein, Bellville, Parow North, CBD and Hout Bay.
Among the trees affected were boxelders, London planes, English oaks, beef wood, weeping willow, Cape chestnut, black locust, paperbark and maple trees.
Information sessions were already held in Hout Bay and in Faure in February.
Information sessions
The next information session is to be held in Brackenfell on Tuesday 2 March from 15:30 to 17:30 at the Brackenfell Library in Paradys Street.
An information session will also be held in Bellville on Friday 6 March from 09:30 to 12:00 at the Bellville Library auditorium in Carl van Aswegen Street.
Furthermore, sessions will be held in Durbanville on Thursday 12 March from 17:30 to 19:30 and on Thursday 16 April from 17:30 to 19:30 at the Durbanville Library on the corner of Oxford and Koeberg Road.
The city will focus on the protocols applicable to infested trees and biomass, among which how to identify infested trees and what symptoms to look out for; what to do and what not to do; how to handle infested biomass; how to safely dispose of infested biomass; how to transport green waste and how to handle equipment and machinery in a manner that will not spread the pest to other areas.
Symptons of affected trees
Residents should look out for the following symptoms of infested trees:
- Branch dieback – cracks on the branch; discoloured leaves; dry and leafless branches; branch break-off revealing webs of galleries filled with black fungus;
- Gumming – blobs of goo coming out of the bark; oozing of liquid and gum from the beetle holes;
- Entry and exit holes – very small holes on the bark of the tree (the size of a sesame seed of about 2mm); shotgun-like scars developing around the holes;
- Staining – brown or dark stains on the bark of the tree.
PSHB beetle sightings must be reported online; call the City of Cape Town’s invasive species unit on 021 444 2357 from Monday to Friday from 07:30 to 16:00; or send and email to invasive.species@capetown.gov.za.
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