Beech Bark Disease

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Feb 21, 2019

I just planted three copper beech trees in my backyard.  This was before I found out about this disease.  I am planning on spraying both fungicides and pesticides on these small young trees to help fight against infection and powdery mildew. I am not sure what brand of fungicide or pesticide to use though.
Any advice would be appreciated.

Carl

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Jan 09, 2018

I have lived across the state of NY for my whole life, 60 now; hunted, fished, hiked, cut firewood, camped, etc., the American Beech has always been one of my favorites for many reasons. The damage and loss of this species or any for that matter is difficult to experience.

Scott Witter

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Jan 06, 2018

It seems this disease comes in waves.  When I started as a forester in 1971 there was in increasing wave of the disease, and then things seemed to quiet down for awhile.

When doing a salvage harvest of diseased beech trees it was very difficult to accurately estimate the amount of damage to a tree.  My solution was to just tally the tree volume and let the loggers estimate the usable volume.

Ted Cady

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Jan 05, 2018

I first saw this disease in the late 1950’s when it suddenly decimated old growth pure Beech stands near our remote Adirondack cabin. They were mostly all gone in few years. A very few resistant ones survive which gives me hope. I have noted that as one moves northeast into the Canadian Maritime provinces, the effects become increasingly severe, with few if any mature survivors, but many little ones. A tremendous loss to the forest. I have seen many Black Bears in their branch “nests” eating nuts in the tops of big Beeches.

 

Tom

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Dec 27, 2017

Those empty nuts aren’t caused by the fungus, Ashley; they’re nuts that never got pollinated. On any mast year there will be a mix of pollinated and unpollinated nuts. Beech is wind pollinated, so if you have a year where most of the nuts seem empty, poor spring weather conditions are the likely culprit.

Dave

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Dec 27, 2017

Beech are one of my favorite trees. We have a large stand at the top of our forest and I am always sad to see these trees stricken with the disease. Looking forward to a resistant beech species. I would like to plant them to revive this part of the forest.

Giovanna

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Dec 26, 2017

The fungus also has another negative consequence…it causes the trees to produce empty nuts.  The tree still makes the shell, but when you crack them open with a fingernail, there’s no nut inside.  That not only impacts wildlife, but foragers like us.  We enjoy eating beechnuts, and they’re harder and harder to find these days.

Ashley