Cape Town - The City of Cape Town is offering free training sessions about the invasive polyphagous shot hole borer beetle (PSHB) to formal and informal businesses which handle trees and plant material.
The intention is to educate private businesses on how to identify infested trees, and manage and transport beetle-infested biomass to prevent the spread of the pest as far as possible.
The training sessions will be hosted in Athlone and Strand and residents are also welcome to attend.
By November 17, a total of 350 sightings of trees infested with the pest were reported in Newlands, Rondebosch, Mowbray, Claremont, Kenilworth, and in Observatory along the Liesbeek River.
In the Helderberg area, more than 4 600 infested trees have been sighted since 2019 to date.
The PSHB poses a serious threat to Cape Town’s urban forest as infested trees have to be chipped. Importantly, the use of pesticides and fungicides have not proven effective at eradicating PSHB from infected trees.
As such, the City will be hosting another round of free training sessions for professionals handling infested plant material, as well as for residents. All are encouraged to attend these sessions.
The details of the training sessions are as follows:
- Wednesday, November 29, from 9am to 1pm at the Dulcie September Civic Centre Main Hall, Protea Street, Athlone
- Monday, December 4, from 10am to 2pm at the Charles Morkel Hall, Church Street, Strand
- RSVP by sending an email to Admin.Invasive@capetown.gov.za; please indicate how many people will be attending and at which venue.
Officials from the City’s Invasive Species Unit will host the training sessions, and provide attendees with facts about the beetle, how it spreads, the threat it poses, and the infestations recorded in Cape Town to date.
The PSHB beetle can easily spread across suburbs if extra precaution is not taken. Apart from infected wood, the beetle can also spread through clothing, vehicle crevices, or unclean horticultural equipment.
The City will educate and inform residents and businesses about the protocols applicable to infested trees and biomass.
Mayco member for spatial planning and environment Eddie Andrews said: “There are many formal and informal businesses involved with gardening and landscaping. These are gardeners, nurseries, horticulturists, tree fellers, woodcutters, and many more.
“I encourage business owners to attend one of the sessions if they can, and to bring along their staff. The training is free of charge, and will empower you to guide residents who need help with infestations, be it to chip the tree and solarise the biomass on site, or to safely transport the infested biomass to an appropriate site where it can be incinerated,
“We are also encouraging residents to attend any of these free training sessions, especially if you have trees on your private property. The knowledge is useful and will empower property owners to take care of their gardens in a safe and responsible manner,” said Andrews.
What to look out for and 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 (2mm); shotgun-like scars developing around the holes
- Staining – brown or dark stains on the bark of the tree.
Important: infested trees must be chipped on site and may not be removed from the property as the removal of the chipped wood will spread the pest to other areas. Do not buy and move firewood from areas where trees are infested.
PSHB beetle sightings can be reported online, at www.capetown.gov.za/InvasiveSpecies or via email to invasive.species@capetown.gov.za.
Resident can also call the City of Cape Town’s Invasive Species Unit at 021 444 2357, Monday to Friday, from 7.30am to 4pm.