Dutch elm disease

[Graham]

18 minutes ago, Stubby said:

How did they keep it out in Brighton ?

They didn't.  The South Downs did.

 

[Stubby]

6 minutes ago, Graham said:

They didn't.  The South Downs did.

 

I live at the foot of the South Downs and it got to Chichester and the surrounding area .........

[Graham]

Just now, Stubby said:

I live at the foot of the South Downs and it got to Chichester and the surrounding area .........

I'm led to believe that Brighton is virtually 'cut off' by the downs.  They form a barrier to the beetle which is a poor flier.

[Squaredy]

31 minutes ago, Graham said:

They didn't.  The South Downs did.

 

Yes the South Downs are recognised as a factor, but I think also the local authority is credited as having helped.  I don't know how to be honest, but as someone who sometimes sends timber by courier (very rare - usually we only deliver locally in our own vehicle) I am aware that there are local laws in place meaning I am not allowed to send or take Elm into Brighton.  In fact here is a very interesting link giving details of how the local authority have helped https://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/content/leisure-and-libraries/parks-and-green-spaces/elm-disease

[Gary Prentice]

A few local authorities used to give grants for sanitation felling of infected elms, Calderdale West Yorks being one. Brighton, I believe, carried on, giving help to homeowners to remove infected elms (keeping the vector numbers down). I think that they also got involved with trials for pheromone traps, inoculation/vaccines and the like. 

 

If you do a bit of searching Brightons website details some of the information on how they're managing DED. 

[Paul Mullany]

Not sure about Brighton but in Edinburgh they decided against felling all the elms unlike most other parts of the uk. They instead only removed trees that started showing early symtoms (such as curled brown leaf tips). Although they expected all the Elms to eventually be infected this practice has slowed the spread enough to allow replacement trees of a different genus to mature. 

As such Edinburgh still has quite a few big old Elms but has also been able to maintain a continuous decent mature canopy cover in spite of the inevitable loss of Elms.

Very forward thinking urban forestry I think.

[Gary Prentice]

34 minutes ago, Paul Mullany said:

Not sure about Brighton but in Edinburgh they decided against felling all the elms unlike most other parts of the uk. They instead only removed trees that started showing early symtoms (such as curled brown leaf tips). Although they expected all the Elms to eventually be infected this practice has slowed the spread enough to allow replacement trees of a different genus to mature. 

As such Edinburgh still has quite a few big old Elms but has also been able to maintain a continuous decent mature canopy cover in spite of the inevitable loss of Elms.

Very forward thinking urban forestry I think.

I don't know about elsewhere, but in West Yorks the grant aid to remove privately owned elms was only for those already infected. 

[Baldbloke]

The wood has to be a certain size for the beetles, IIRC the beetles enter or are attracted to wounds.. I  have pruned (against my advice) two healthy mature elms with no signs of DED and been called back a few years later to fell as they were dead. 
 
https://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/RIN252.pdf/$FILE/RIN252.pdf

I see the article was written in 1994. It stated then that the disease wasn’t apparent north of the Great Glen or along the Moray coast. It certainly is now with my last tree having no leaves on it this year. I would suggest it has been here for at least the last 15-20 years.

[Billhook]

12 hours ago, Gary Prentice said:

 

 

I watched the odd, isolated,mature elm for many years with the symptoms of the odd yellowed branch. They've seemed to deal with it, then suddenly over twelves months more or less the whole canopy yellows. I wonder if this is because it's becoming a breeding host and suffers a beetle population explosion when they hatch. 

 

 

 

I too have this wonderful Elm in the middle of one of our fields and each year it developed a full canopy but later in the year there was a touch of yellowing in the crown.  We lost all our huge mature Elms back in the seventies and they seemed to take several years to die.  The canopy gradually declined.

This tree has suddenly nearly died in one year just like your tree you mentioned. Just a tiny bit of greenery

I was hoping to take a cutting but there are a mass of suckers at the base.

Could the long cold wet Winter have had anything to do with it?

We now just have one large Elm left in a hedgerow.  There are dozens of sub fifteen year old elms which succumb eventually and I suppose in time the beetle or the fungus might mutate or the beetle might have a predator or a disease itself.  The little Elms just waiting for their moment.  Perhaps it has always been like this in cycles of several hundred years even.