Beech tree virus

[Brent]

I am curious if you guys in NE USA have your beech trees dieing.

I was in a sugar bush near Barrie, Ontario and the beech trees had all been surveyed by an arborist who had marked each tree with the percent that was already dead.

Since I learned a bit about the airborne virus I have been cutting my beech to use for firewood because the virus cause the wood to rot from the inside out and the longer you leave them the more becomes worthless.

[maplecrest]

all the beech in my new sugar woods are all dieing or dead, as i went thru i cut all the saplings down. that explains the amount of saplings in the woods. the beech heavily seeded

[Dave Y]

Jeff,
Beech trees do not spead by seeding,they spread though the root systems. Their roots are rizomes.

[jemsklein]

see you learn something every day most of beech trees are ok its just when they get about 3 - 4 feet wide the start to lose branches i guest they get to big for them selfs

[Brent]

From what I have learned this is the first symptom. One or two of the high branches will die. If you cut the tree early only a bit of of the heartwood will be starting to rot. If 1/4 or more of the crown is dead, when you cut the tree you will find only the outer layers of sapwood are suitable for firewood and it's real though to split the good wood from the rotten stuff.

That's next years inferno. Start cutting and drying now. It's only going to get worse.

[gmcooper]

Most of the beech here are in a constant state of dying. HAve been that way since i can remember. Always dropping limbs and finally fall. Some seem to hang on forever and some only last a few years. Some times the wood is good for fire wood sometimes looks more like mulch.
Interesting about beeches not seeding? Ours usually have a very good crop of nuts (seeds) each fall. the squirells love them and turkeys will also hunt for them.

[Brent]

I'm not going to clear the saplings. Maybe some will develop resistance.
Darwin, survival of the fittest etc.

[maplecrest]

well i guess that will solve the beech problem in my sugar woods. as i walk thru i see small patches of woo where th bark is gone telling me the trees are goners. and the wood is no good for firewood. no heat and wont burn good

[mcsap]

The beech disease is really a complex of an insect and a fungus. The little white specks you'll see on the tree are the beech scale, a tiny insect that pokes holes in the bark. This is followed by a fungus, Nectria, that gets into the holes and slowly kills the tree, you can see the bulls-eye fungal patches and all the bumps and bubbles on the bark. This fungus is pretty common in eastern forests, but doesn't have the same effects on all tree species. It might take 10+ years to outright kill a beech tree, but often you'll get windthrow, etc. because the trees are weak as you've seen. The diseased trees will continue to have nuts at intervals like they usually would. This is a pretty widespread disease situation across the Northeast.

Beech trees can grow from seed, but usually grow as suckers from the roots/stumps of existing trees, that's why they come back so thick. Wherever you damage the shallow roots, they will sprout a stem. Thus, alot of the trees in a stand will be clones and won't develop resistance to the disease because the genetics stay the same. Most of the nuts get eaten, either by animals or weevils, so it's likely few trees in a stand are from seeds.

[jemsklein]

also when we had are bush loged about 7 years ago they took a lot of beech out and the next season the stump grows branches and in abought 5 years you got another tree about 6 inches wide it grows so fast cuz its got the root system of the bigger tree

[forester1]

Beech bark disease is what the combination fungus and insect is called. One is an exotic from overseas, I forget which one, and that's why almost all beech are affected. There is no immunity that evolved with the disease. It just was discovered in Michigan about five years ago in a few areas but is spreading 20 miles a year. The beech on my land are mostly beautiful trees yet but they are eventually doomed like the rest. The first wave eventually kills 90% of the beech. Some trees may be immune but it will take decades for the beech to mature in large numbers. Also beech grows from seed (beechnuts) best, but will also grow from stump sprouts.

[Russell Lampron]

The beech trees in my woods are still grabbing my hat when I walk by. The ones I have cut down so far have been healthy.

Russ

[PA mapler]

The majorty of the older beeches here have died, since the disease has been here a long time, maybe 20 years at least. Their still some big ones out there, in various states of health, but there are alot of "bodies" laying around the woods where they've fallen. Usually on our electric lines to the wells.

It doesn't seem to affect the younger trees as much, and especially has no effect on the root-suckers.

[royalmaple]

The beech around me are pretty well blistered up and look like warts.

I seem to get a crop of beech nuts(look like mini chestnuts) every few years the crop is better. Seems to work like acorns but not as frequent. Too bushy to be any good in the sugar woods, slice 'em. Most of mine all look kankered up. The younger ones are healthy but they are all getting the bar & chain treatment.