Travelling from the gently rolling landscape of Gauteng to the mountainous and coastal areas of the Eastern Cape, the field extension team from the Tree Protection Co-operative Programme (TPCP) recently carried out an extensive field visit to the Eastern Cape. The team included Sandisiwe Jali, Josias Letaoana, Pritty Khumalo, and Ronewa Nethononda travelled more than 3,900km from 3-9 August. The trip included stops at industry partners operating in the Eastern Cape, including Amathole Forestry in Stutterheim, NCT growers in Qumrha, Merensky in Mthatha, and MTO near Humansdorp.

This trip formed part of the TPCP field extension service, which involves visiting various forestry regions to consult on and investigate current pest and disease concerns, as well as potential outbreaks. Some of the familiar plant pests and diseases encountered on this trip included Uromycladium acaciae, Teratosphaeria destructans, Leptocybe invasa, and Gonipterus sp.n.2. Other issues included leaf wilting on Eucalyptus trees, excessive resin production and cankers on wattle trees, and various abiotic stress factors such as grazing, hail, and wind damage. Many samples were collected and brought to the TPCP Diagnostic Clinic for thorough screening and determination of potential pathogen problems.

A big thank you goes to Winston from Amathole Forestry, Murray and Lwazi from NCT, Bongani from Merensky, as well as Alton and Khethokuhle from MTO for organizing the company visits.