Our historic elms and Dutch elm disease

Dutch Elm disease continues to be an active threat to the elms of Brighton.

In a bid to proactively combat elm disease spread, Brighton Council’s Arboricultural team have decided to invest in a preventative biological and organic control agent called Dutch Trig.

Although the treatment is expensive, Peter Small from BHCC identified the elm collection in Pavilion Gardens as a significant point from which to base an inoculation program – this is welcome news.

On Tuesday 23rd May all the elms in Pavilion Gardens received a Dutch Trig treatment. A small chisel-like needle is pushed through the bark at intervals around each tree trunk where the cambium layer then sucks up the treatment. The fungus agent activates the tree’s natural immune response, enabling our historic elms to be better placed to fight a Dutch elm attack.

Hopefully, this action will help reduce the heart-breaking site of big elms being cut down and disappearing from our landscape.

Learn more about Dutch Trig here –
https://dutchtrig.com/about-dutchtrig/