Bleeding Kanker

[scotspine1]

It looks like it's got a terminal case Tim. Is the bark lifting and splitting?

 

Not that you'd would notice, it just looks like the kind of bark you'd expect to see on an older HC.....large platelets etc. Have you seen the single branch de-foliating symptom before?

 

That large branch overhangs a main road, I was going to remove it for safety reasons but was unsure of wether there was a chance it might come back next year?

[MattyF]

IS it a the purple flowering chesnut?? the bark lifting is quite hard to notice...as opposed to the usually obvious lifting on the common chesnut

[scotspine1]

oh dear ...check the branch for spiral girdling but they are the classic symptoms, the girdling it causes severearly weakens the structual nature of chesnut wood not to mention the die back!.

 

I couldn't see any signs of girdling, the branch looks to be in good condition structurally, it just looks like its stone dead.......you can see there is no girdling on the branch in this pic, ignore the small dead stubby thing in the foreground.

[MattyF]

bottom right corner mate

[scotspine1]

IS it a the purple flowering chesnut?? the bark lifting is quite hard to notice...as opposed to the usually obvious lifting on the common chesnut

 

Never seen it in flower, just looks like common HC. I'll get more pics of it.

[scotspine1]

bottom right corner mate

 

thats just a small dead stub in the foreground, probably old pruning wound gone bad, the main branch is behind it.

[ScottF]

Looking for opinions on this.....I've thankfully never had to deal with Bleeding Canker on HC, so was concerned to see this on a huge HC in a clents garden.

 

Is this what you guys are seeing?

 

 

More worryingly, there was a large branch that came into leaf in spring then lost all it's leaves within a month.

 

The top of the crown has miniturised leaves and yellowing. Are these classic symptoms? Is there a chance that the branch could re-foliate next year? Apart from these issues the tree looks to be in very good condition.

 

Hi Tim. Yep, classic bleeding canker signs. It's worth bearing in mind that research and anecdotal evidence shows that it's only fatal in 50% or so of cases, but can be very disfiguring. One of the lead researchers at the FC made the comparison with this disease and the "flu" for HCs. It could re-foliate, but the branch you've pictured looks pretty abruptly stripped. Would pruning out this branch affect the overall form and balance of the tree?

I'd really recommend against over-reacting when we see this in HC. It's not going to be the primary cause of a tree "falling over" and where possible we should give the tree a chance to recover. If we start felling every HC we see with these symptoms, it's going to mean the loss of a great number of trees which might have recovered and/or provided bleeding canker-resistant seed (as the surviving tree would have had characteristics which provide a natural robustness against the disease). If you can, ie the current dead wood can be excised and there's not a persistent target underneath, give it chance.

[scotspine1]

Hi Tim. Yep, classic bleeding canker signs. It's worth bearing in mind that research and anecdotal evidence shows that it's only fatal in 50% or so of cases, but can be very disfiguring. One of the lead researchers at the FC made the comparison with this disease and the "flu" for HCs. It could re-foliate, but the branch you've pictured looks pretty abruptly stripped. Would pruning out this branch affect the overall form and balance of the tree?

I'd really recommend against over-reacting when we see this in HC. It's not going to be the primary cause of a tree "falling over" and where possible we should give the tree a chance to recover. If we start felling every HC we see with these symptoms, it's going to mean the loss of a great number of trees which might have recovered and/or provided bleeding canker-resistant seed (as the surviving tree would have had characteristics which provide a natural robustness against the disease). If you can, ie the current dead wood can be excised and there's not a persistent target underneath, give it chance.

 

Thanks for that information scott, i'll monitor the de-foliated branch and tree for anymore cankers and get some more pics.

 

While we're on the subject of cankers on HC, this was a tree I worked on last year, was riddled with large cankerous growths, is this the girdling Matty was talking about? any thoughts?

[ScottF]

Thanks for that information scott, i'll monitor the de-foliated branch and tree for anymore cankers and get some more pics.

 

While we're on the subject of cankers on HC, this was a tree I worked on last year, was riddled with large cankerous growths, is this the girdling Matty was talking about? any thoughts?

 

Was this a pink-flowered HC (A. x carnea)? If so, this kind of aberrant bud proliferation (endemic on them for some reason) which causes these growths isn't generally thought to affect the strength of the wood. That said, I can't see how such wildly irregular growth couldn't have some effect in the worst (sproutiest) cases. And HC timber is fracture-prone and weak at the best of times. Looking at the picture, the fact that there are a number of branches splitting from this area suggests this is probably an old pollard point that's compartmentalised poorly and decay has set in. I'm not familiar with the term 'girdling' in this context. Maybe Matt can fill us in on it. The only girdling I can think of is root girdling where near-surface roots return toward the tree in cases of compacted soil, or where rooting is otherwise impeded. You see it lots on Norway maples.

 

Best of luck with the HC with bleeding canker- you never know..