It’s fair to say that mistletoe is not our favourite thing. Not at this time of year or indeed any time of year.
Round here there are lots of neglected orchards that seem to specialise in growing it; the trees are in a sorry state and produce only meagre crops of apples. In time this parasite will kill the trees.
We have an invasion of mistletoe in one of our older orchards and we are puzzling about what to do about it - some of the trees will have to come right out while others will need radical pruning if they are to survive.
We have mistletoe harvesters in the orchard right now and really all they are doing is coppicing the stuff and making things worse. If you cut the plant off you just encourage its growth elsewhere.
And what’s more they claim they can hardly give it away. Varieties of mistletoe vary in colour of leaves and berries and the less desirable versions with yellowy leaves and creamy berries - like ours - are not as sought after as the ones with glossy green leaves and bright white berries, some of which are imported.
The National Trust has a new campaign to encourage people to buy locally sourced mistletoe and also to plant mistletoe seeds on their apple trees. With the demise of traditional orchards they believe that the plant is in danger of dying out and needs to be saved.
Mistletoe does in fact provide a habitat for several endangered species, such as the Mistletoe Marble Moth so if you have a tree that is so swamped that it is no longer viable for producing fruit you might feel better in the knowledge that it may be supporting these species.
Otherwise you should be managing your mistletoe’s progress with bold measures and a pruning saw.
