I have been wondering what has happened to our horse chestnuts, their leaves seem to be turning brown and blotchy then falling much earlier than they are meant to.

I thought the trees were doomed when I first saw them like this but they seem to revive and come back every year.

So what is causing this unsightly damage to our lovely chestnuts? Well my mum would say ‘That’s got the dreaded boll weevil’ which she applies to anything that has a disease or infestation of any sort!

But no, in this case it is more likely to be Horse Chestnut Leaf-miner (Cameraria ohridella) a micro-moth that arrived in the UK in 2002 from Europe.

Even though infested trees are unsightly, it appears that damage by the moth does not lead to a decline in the trees health unlike ‘bleeding canker’ which unfortunately can lead to their death.

The Horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) is not a native tree but comes from the Balkan Peninsula and was introduced to Britain in the 1600s, it naturalised well and is a common sight in parks but rarely found in woodland.

They can live up to 300 years with mature trees reaching up to 28m. As hermaphrodites they have male and female parts within each flower which appear in May, then once pollinated, they develop into lovely glossy red-brown conkers housed inside a spiky green husk.

Apparently conkers used to be ground up and fed to horses to relieve them of breathing difficulties perhaps this is how they got their name or by the horseshoe like mark that is on the branches just beneath the sticky buds.

Patch It

Looks like the weather may be turning, so before the cold sets in repair any worn out patches and gaps in your lawn by reseeding or returfing to prevent weeds and moss moving in.

To reseed: sprinkle your selected mix in one direction then in the other, lightly rake over and protect from birds with netting, covering with polythene will help the grass germinate.

To returf: cut out the bare patch, rake and add some top soil then lay the new pieces of turf in the gap.