How does it all work? What guidelines do we as part of the horticultural supply industry have to follow? What are the benefits to you as a customer?
The guidelines we follow as a responsible plant supplier are varied but necessary as Olives are now on the EU Tree Notification List which means we have to report to APHA any time we buy any Olive plants in. As you can imagine with Olives being a popular plant choice this is something we do quite often.
We start our journey into biosecurity and Olives by visiting our suppliers on a regular basis and hand picking stock for supply to our site. We then inform APHA of the order placed and stock due in. All Olive plants when they arrive here on site are coded with supplier’s information for traceability and dated with a special tag. A representative from APHA then comes in to inspect plants and take samples from each plant. Each sample is then sent to their labs for analysis to check for Xylella. Once a plant has been inspected but we are still waiting for the results an INSPECTED label is put on each plant. Inspection and analysis is a lengthy process and can take up to 4 to 6 weeks for the results to come back to us.
Once our Olives have gone through this process and all plants have been cleared then the plants are available for sale knowing that we, as a responsible supplier have done everything by the book and according to APHA guidelines. We can then state that our Olives are Xylella free. This is a continual process as selected hosts of Xylella including Olives are checked once a year by APHA. APHA are also within their legal obligations to check an Olive once it has left our site and been planted in your clients garden. So it is good practice for you to be aware of the entire process too.
So, why do we do all this? What value does this add to you?
We do all of this as the compliance with APHA is a legal requirement.
What is the value to you? Peace of mind. You have bought a plant from a reliable source and all the boxes have been ticked.
You can read more on the guidelines set out by APHA here.
You can read more on Provender Nurseries Biosecurity statement here.
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| Sampling of Olives by APHA | Tagged Olive | Tools of the trade |
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| Samples ready for the lab | Inspected label | Passed and ready for you |
