FAQS

Report any suspected tree pests and diseases affecting the health of a tree anywhere in Great Britain.

TreeAlert is used to gather information about tree health issues across Great Britain. This information supports important tree health monitoring and surveillance work, contributes to ongoing scientific research, and helps to protect the nation's trees.

Once you have submitted your TreeAlert report, it will be triaged by Forest Research and assigned to pathology or entomology diagnosticians within the Tree Health Diagnostic and Advisory Service for review.

The diagnostician assigned to your enquiry will make a diagnosis, request more information or they may request samples, this will be done generally via email.

We aim to respond to enquiries within two weeks, although this can be significantly longer during our busy periods or based on the nature of your enquiry. Please note that regulated pests and pathogens are given priority over any other enquiry, and these are transferred immediately to the official teams in the countries (Forestry Commission, Scottish Forestry, Natural Resources Wales or Animal Plant Health Agency).

No you can submit a report without registering however please see the below question regarding the benefits of registering.

1. The client detail fields will auto populate when completing a report using the information provided during registration.
2. You can see the progress and diagnosis on any of your previously submitted reports from the time after registration.
3. You will be able to report healthy trees, providing important information on where pests and diseases are not apparent.
4. You will have access to a Report Dashboard to search for tree health data submitted via TreeAlert for the last two years.

The questions are designed so the diagnosticians at Forest Research have as much high-quality, complete information as possible to help with the triage of your report and therefore offer you the best possible advice.

TreeAlert is a free service unless you use the request a Diagnosis Service for the purpose of analysing samples in the lab which may require payment. Diagnosticians will be in contact regarding samples and costs before any work is undertaken.

TreeAlert is a GB reporting tool. You can report suspected sightings of tree P&D’s in Northern Ireland via TreeCheck, the all-Ireland pest reporting tool.

Once you click on submit, you will be directed to a new screen which will display a unique reference number. You will receive an email which includes this reference number and a summary of your report. As a registered user, you will be able to see your previous submissions through your user dashboard.

If you are reporting suspected Chalara Dieback of Ash, Dothistroma Needle Blight, Acute Oak Decline, Phytophthora lateralis, Asian/Citrus Longhorn Beetle or Oak Processionary Moth then there are specific reports to use which have specific questions about those pests or diseases. For everything else please use the General Report.

Yes, TreeAlert has a responsive web design adapting to mobile devices with internet access via a web browser. You will need to have mobile signal.

TreeAlert is currently only available as a website on the internet. We are continually developing and evolving our website and are always exploring the possibility of expanding our services in the future.

You can enter this in the additional details box on the location page. We ideally ask for a grid reference, or a point on the map, which will populate a grid reference, so we know the exact location of the tree. If in a woodland setting for example W3W is not always accurate enough to be able to pinpoint the exact tree.

A submission relating to a possible pest or disease allows for a maximum of three photographs to be submitted. If you have others, or wish to supply additional information, please contact us referencing your TreeAlert number in the subject field and provide all the additional content in the email.

If you have problems with TreeAlert, and are sure this is not the result of a poor internet connection, please contact us so that we can help you resolve the issue.

Images are important in the diagnosis of tree health issues. If you are sure this is not the result of a poor internet connection, please try renaming the image file before re-uploading. If you are still having problems please contact us.

Log in to your TreeAlert account and visit your profile under manage account. The email field can be amended and saved. You will then need to log into TreeAlert with the new email.

Unfortunately, we cannot deal with local area tree issues. If a hedge or tree is causing a nuisance or you think it is not being properly maintained, you should contact the landowner first and ask them to cut it back. They may not be aware it is causing a problem. If you don’t know who is responsible for a tree or hedge on the edge of your property you should check your property deeds and speak with your neighbours. For council owned trees, or where you are unsure who owns them, you should contact the relevant team within your local council.

If you are concerned about the safety of a tree, you should contact the landowner to make them aware of your concerns. They may not be aware it is causing a problem. If you don’t know who is responsible for a tree on the edge of your property you should check your property deeds and speak with your neighbours. For council owned trees, or where you are unsure who owns them, you should contact the relevant team within your local council.

If the tree is on your property you can contact the Arboricultural Association and search for a qualified arborist in your area.

You can do this via the General Report on TreeAlert where during the reporting process you will be asked if you are reporting a pest on a tree or not. This can include a pest, e.g. a caterpillar or beetle on your garden furniture, house wall, pavement etc.

We would encourage you only to report suspected cases of Chalara dieback of ash in new (unshaded) areas on the following distribution map.

Please see the Chalara dieback of ash symptoms guide to help identify it.

Yes, we are interested in reports of pests and diseases on trees throughout GB.

You firstly need to register with TreeAlert using the Register button on the top right of the homepage. Once you have registered you will see a submit a Healthy Trees option on your User Dashboard when logged in.

We would recommend you submit one report per species of tree. If you have multiple trees of the same species in the immediate surrounding area showing similar signs of poor condition, then there is an option to select multiple trees.

Please see the Arboricultural Association for details of consultants that may be able to deal with OPM.

Yes please use the General Report.

Where it is safe and possible to do so (we do not recommend close examination of potentially harmful organisms such as OPM), please include a scale in the image that shows the feature of concern without covering/obscuring any of the points of interest. Providing a scale helps us to provide the most reliable diagnosis possible.

Common items such as a coin, ruler or pen can serve as an effective scale, however if you have nothing else with you then your finger can suffice.