Invasive leaf plate mask spreads – then you keep it away
– I’ve only found one, a few weeks ago. First I saw mucus and then the mask, how it moved applicants with its pointed main end, says gardener Bodil Åsberg, showing how the slimy little predator was crawling.
She sits crouched over rows of plants that will soon be down to the ground in the greens between the houses in a tenant -owner association in Lund. They will not be planted until she is as safe as she can be, that they do not have any flat worms.
– Every time you buy plants, the smallest pot that has soil you have to check. Check under the pot, loosen the pot, check out the pot, check out the roots. So this, she says, pushing gently and searches with her fingertips between the fine roots in the soil.
Woodruff. Autumn collar. Gull green. It has taken her almost two hours to go through all the plants.
– So. No flatworm here as far as I can see, she says and starts digging down the different perennials.
The leaf plate mask originates from South America and has accidentally been introduced to Europe and the US through trading in plants. In November last year, the first find was made in Skåne and since then the invasive species has been found in several other places in Sweden.
The leaf plate mask eats earthworms and has no natural enemies in Sweden. The earthworms, in turn, are one of our major soil organisms and contribute to the function of the soils. Their excavation activity provides room for water and oxygen to move through the soil, and plant roots and other soil organisms can thrive. If the leaf plate mask establishes itself, it can harm nature and have serious consequences for agriculture.
– We expect that most people who import plants will find flatworms sooner or later, says Cajza Eriksson, nature conservation officer at the County Administrative Board in Skåne.
The majority of the finds so far have been made at nurseries and plant stores. There are constantly new reports.
– Yes, it comes in a little more than we expected. It is alarming, because the more that comes in, the harder it is, of course, to stop it, says Cajza Eriksson.
It has been successful to search with a dog that has been trained to mark for the flat mask, but it is not enough to prevent it from getting a wide front.
– They lay eggs all year. So you can have everything from a full -grown individual on a plant that is a five -six centimeter to having a brand new click that is only a millimeter in size, says Cajza Eriksson.
How should you as a consumer do not to happen to spread flat mask?
– It is important that those who import and the store who buy from the importer check and then that you as a consumer also do – the more people who control the greater the likelihood that we will find something.
Yet it is expected that most people will happen to pass through flat mask by mistake. It is impossible, even for those who control all their material, to give a hundred percent guarantee, explains Cajza Eriksson.
Gardener Bodil Åsberg It is perceived as that all serious players in the gardening industry work hard to keep track.
– Sometimes I jump in for big companies. Like a few weeks ago when we were to plant 800 plants. Then the plants were quarantined and searched through. Then I found that mask. Search dogs were called in and then we found another mask. And it was in Swedish plants.
So they are not just found in imported plants?
– No, it’s not that easy. A plant can come from Holland as very small. Then « pots » a Swedish nursery about it, leaves it in its nursery for two years and then it is counted as Swedish -grown. It may also be enough that Swedish -grown plants stand next to imported and thus risk few infections or pests, such as the flat mask, says Bodil Åsberg.
She believes that awareness of the flat mask will change how we work in the garden. The work will not go as fast anymore, you have to be much more accurate. She hopes that more people will have patience to go through their plants properly.
– I’m a little scared that people will get tired and just « yes, yes we haven’t found any when we have applied so it probably doesn’t have to be so careful » and then you start skipping that routine.
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