Ash die back

[openspaceman]

47 minutes ago, Billhook said:

or the trees become immune

This is unlikely in english elm as there is no genetic diversity, all trees are the same clone.

 

Mind there seems to be different english elms as 2002 in Boston  (Mass not Lincs) Common (it's not a common) there were trees labelled Ulmus Procera leaves of which which weren't similar to those here.

 

 

[Graham]

1 hour ago, Billhook said:

Yes, the huge Elms were everywhere here in Lincolnshire lining the road sides and dominating the tops of hills until the disease struck in the seventies.  Now they have all gone............ or have they?  The hedges and copses are full of saplings which live until about 15 years when the bark splits and the beetles introduce the fungus.  But they come again and are just waiting for the time, perhaps in our Great Great Grandchildren's lifetime when either the beetle, the fungus disappear or the trees become immune.

We have two mature Elms on the farm here in the middle of fields on their own .  They seem to have a touch of the disease in the crown every year but no dieback and each year starts with a complete canopy.

I have written to the Elm trust people in the hope that they may take some cuttings.

Anyone have a suggestion as to the best way/ timing to do this?

I am confident that the Ash will survive in a similar way,

Nature mutates, which is how things survive, including ourselves.

This English elm was one of many.  The whole hedge is elm; there was a wood comprising solely elm; it is still standing 40 years after its companions died.

[Squaredy]

 

11 hours ago, openspaceman said:

This is unlikely in english elm as there is no genetic diversity, all trees are the same clone.

My understanding from literature I have read is that the Elms in the UK are a rather complex mixture of sub-species.  I know of the Cornish Elm and the Huntingdon Elm for a start, and apparently they hybridise readily?

 

I do hope they start to overcome the disease some day for many reasons.  I have just bought in a load of Scottish grown Elm and it is very beautiful timber.   Not as clean and straight as Ash or  Sweet Chestnut, but for character and beauty it is unsurpassed.

 

Now Sweet Chestnut is also dying out I believe?  That will also be a great loss, but not comparable to Ash of course.

[Billhook]

12 hours ago, openspaceman said:

This is unlikely in english elm as there is no genetic diversity, all trees are the same clone.

 

Mind there seems to be different english elms as 2002 in Boston  (Mass not Lincs) Common (it's not a common) there were trees labelled Ulmus Procera leaves of which which weren't similar to those here.

 

 

The Elm may not mutate, but the beetle or fungus might die out with their own enemies!