Will Mistletoe harm my apple tree?

Matt James says: Although it is a parasite, mistletoe won’t kill a tree unless there’s an awful lot of it. Birds, particularly thrushes, wipe the sticky seeds into crevices in the bark, where the seeds germinate and grow. Mistletoe is typically found on apple trees, but lime, birch, poplar and whitebeam trees can also act as hosts. Cherish it as mistletoe is in decline – cut some mistletoe and hang a bunch indoors for the festive season.

Featured in the December 2011 issue of Real Homes