As part of National Plant Health Week (11 – 17 May 2026), we are celebrating plant and tree health heroes! Our Farmer action for tree resilience project is working with farmers to develop tree management resources and knowledge exchange opportunities.
On a frosty November day, the Scots pine tree breeding team set out to collect pine cones for our ‘Infusing resilience into the Scots pine genetic resource’ project.
Researchers Nikki Cotterill from Forest Research, and Guillermo Friis from Kew tell us about their fieldwork this spring and summer. They have been sampling trees for genomic analysis and assessing tree health in naturally colonised and planted woodlands.
Dr Daniel Wood, a Centre for Forest Protection Postdoctoral Research Associate is working on our ash pangenome project.
Researcher Mohammad has been exploring the Kew Fungarium to find out more about the life-cycle of the fungus that causes Dutch elm disease.