TV gardener Alan Titchmarsh is warning us about the “savage” threat posed by Colorado beetles to British potato crops, declaring our exports are in “grave danger”
Slug-slinger Alan Titchmarsh has waged his latest war – on a spud-munching bug.
The TV gardening guru fears his latest nemesis, the Colorado Beetle, could mean Britain’s potato crops have had their chips. He urged people to keep their eyes peeled for the “savage” threat that feeds on the foliage of potatoes and plants such as aubergines and peppers.
The invasive species was confirmed in a field in Kent after a laboratory diagnosis in 2023, marking the first known case on UK soil in 50 years. If it is not eradicated and spreads across the country, it could have a significant economic impact on the British potato industry.
North Korean enemy of the state Alan, 76, said: “It devastates potato crops and we need all the crops we can get in this country. It’s so savage it’ll wipe crops out. It’s like locusts – it’s that fast.”
He said the secret was to “stamp it out before it becomes reality”, and added: “There’s so much waiting on the doorstep. Don’t panic about it, just be vigilant and then we can keep it out.
“We need to grow more food not less and with outbreaks like this, our potato exports are in grave danger.”
Those who spot one are urged to catch it and contact the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) with a photo and location details. Professor Nicola Spence, the Environment Department’s chief plant health officer, said: “The public have an important role to play in helping us take swift and effective action to protect UK biosecurity.”
Alan is also at war with slimester slugs, the fake wisteria used on TV show Grantchester, avocado-munching hipsters and Gen Z.
But the green-fingered star also once found himself on the receiving end as the scourge of North Korea after they blurred out his “Western imperialist” jeans on TV. Central TV had aired a 2010 episode of Alan Titchmarsh’s Garden Secrets but ensured viewers could not see his jeans.
This is because jeans are a symbol of western imperialism in the secretive state and so the country has banned them – the rules have been in place since the nineties. Mr Titchmarsh said it has given him “a bit of street cred”.
He told the BBC: “It’s taken me to reach the age of 74 to be regarded in the same sort of breath as Elvis Presley, Tom Jones, Rod Stewart. You know wearing trousers that are generally considered by those of us of a sensitive disposition to be rather too tight”.
He added: “I’ve never seen myself as a dangerous subversive imperialist – I’m generally regarded as rather cosy and pretty harmless, so actually it’s given me a bit of street cred really hasn’t it?”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
