Is there any treatment available for these trees?

[eagles5769]

I have two very large Beech trees, likely over 100 ft tall and I had a new sewer line put in almost 5 years ago. The closest the excavating got was about 15 ft from the trunk. I think a fungi entered through a wound to one of the roots from the excavation. From the research I did, it appears to be Kretzschmaria deusta. I would love to save them if possible or at least prolong their imminent death. I had an arborist quote me for treatment of these trees with fungicide, but if the disease is Kretz, then from my research it sounds like there is no treatment available and it would be a waste of money. Any opinions?

 

They are along a busy street in town. Another arborist looked at them in August and mentioned they still appear pretty solid and it may be a while before they need taken down. I am worried they may come down suddenly from a storm due to being weakened.

[Steve Bullman]

2 minutes ago, eagles5769 said:

 

They are along a busy street in town. Another arborist looked at them in August and mentioned they still appear pretty solid and it may be a while before they need taken down.

Pretty poor advice. Kretcsh is in the root system, how solid the trunk is would have no correlation with what’s going on under the ground unfortunately. Is there any dieback in the crowns?

[Stubby]

As Steve says Beech can let go any time if the root system is compromised by this fungus , even when outwardly  they look healthy .

[Steve Bullman]

Has the soil level been changed here?

 

 

[JaySmith]

Kretz and beech often go hand in hand, like parties at number 10’and don’t often end well. I would start by probing around the buttress roots to assess the extent of the decay. Kretz is largely concerned with the colonisation of the roots and anchorage and often trees with full crowns look healthy but then have the issue of little anchorage. Target area is a real concern here though

[Sviatoslav Tulin]

1 hour ago, Steve Bullman said:

Has the soil level been changed here?

 

 

Steve ask very good question, if soil level was changed, its over, beech will slowly die, in my experience 3to 6 years, I seen that many times at building sites, beech tree is very sensitive to changes in root sistem. 

[JaySmith]

Soil level has definitely changed/been messed about with. If you zoom in you can see the fiberous roots exposed and lack of root flare on the image above. In the other image there has been soil scrapped from the buttress roots. Even though the excavations that were 15ft were unlikely to affect anchorage but would have probably severed smaller roots. If the roots were severed and pathogen got in it’s not a great combo. Is the waste pipe water tight as well? What’s the crowns like on the trees?

[eagles5769]

3 hours ago, Steve Bullman said:

Pretty poor advice. Kretcsh is in the root system, how solid the trunk is would have no correlation with what’s going on under the ground unfortunately. Is there any dieback in the crowns?

Crown is still very full on both trees, but I am loosing quite a bit of small branches during windy days. Excavation happened in July 2017 and I first noticed it 2 years later.

[eagles5769]

2 hours ago, Steve Bullman said:

Has the soil level been changed here?

 

 

No, the soil level has not changed that I am aware of. I've been there for 7 years. It's possible it was many years ago from previous owners. I scrapped away at the soil at this picture and there were many small fine roots making me this it's been like this for a while. The one arborist asked the same thing. He thought maybe soil was added there as it was higher up on the trunk.

[Dan Maynard]

It looks like the soil has been raised and covered the natural root flare.