Beech Leaf Disease

[Brett Chedzoy]

This just in...  Would be interested to know if anyone sees this in their woods come spring.

http://forestry.ohiodnr.gov/portals/forestry/pdfs/BLDAlert.pdf

http://ecosystems.psu.edu/research/centers/private-forests/news/201...

[Tim Levatich]

Will keep an eye out next growing season, Brett. Does it ultimately result in any mortality? In the meantime, it might reduce effectiveness of glyphosate foliar spray due to compromised leaf and conductive tissue in twigs/branches.

Tim

[Brett Chedzoy]

I only know what the articles say (which isn't much).  Sounds like mortality is quicker in smaller trees, and less so in larger ones.  This may be a welcomed "natural correction" in areas overrun with beech brush, but would be a real threat to the few large healthy (presumably, beech bark disease resistant) beech that are still out there.  At the Arnot, we've been working this year with some plant geneticists at Cornell to map the genome of large, healthy American Beech in hopes that we can eventually propagate and distribute offspring from these trees.

[Tim Levatich]

Nice to hear that work is being done with apparently resistant trees. Clear beech boards are attractive when finished and of course beech nuts are fabulous wildlife food.

I hope beech leaf disease doesn't become a landscape-wide scourge. We have enough of such problems already.

[Brett Chedzoy]

Steve Kutney from NYFOA SOT recently shared this.  Not sure if this is the same as the "beech leaf disease" described in the original links, but sounds like a serious threat to American Beech if it continues to spread.  Surprising that they haven't really figured out the cause yet.

https://news.osu.edu/beech-trees-are-dying-and-nobodys-sure-why/