Oak trees dying

[Trackers]

Recently noticed that on several Oak trees all the lower branches are dead, they are growing on a heathland/wooded area in Suffolk.

Can anyone suggest what the cause might be, the higher branches look healthy with a distinct ring of lower dead branches, was in a hurry the other day so didn't look too closely to notice anything further.

Thanks,

Louisa

[Martyn Amos]

could be sudden oak death ??

 

did hear the other day,that the p.ramorum disease thats killing the larch trees is the cause of the sudden oak death

 

i will be corrected by another [or a few ] arbtalkers if i am wrong

 

[only what i heared]

 

 

martyn

[Trackers]

Thanks for the suggestion Martyn. SOD doesn't affect the Oak species growing in the UK, it is an American term for P.ramorum. I thought as it is such a distinct pattern of dieback someone might know something?

I will have a proper look next time I'm there to see if there are any other symptoms.

Louisa

[Trackers]

Hi, I have been back to the site with the affected Oak trees, here is some more info...

- lower foliage is dying up to about 4-5 ft high

- all younger trees below this height are dead

- leaves are turning black and curling up

- there is an insect/spider making nests/webs in the curled up leaves (leaves are green or black), some on closer inspection have a lot of tiny black dots/insects in them

- the higher branches look healthy as do the stems

- there is a blueish coloured lichen on the trees but I don't think this is related

Can anyone shed any light on this? I have some pics which I will post they are not very good quality unfortunately.

Thanks,

Louisa

[Trackers]

Hope this works...

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

moths, they come down on threads and hence upper branches do ok as they tend to migrate downward, is this OPM?

[Trackers]

No it doesn't look like OPM, unless it is a very early stage of it, but never heard of them creating nests in curled up leaves before... correct me if I'm wrong?

[sean]

Its not OPM:001_smile:

[Trackers]

Thanks Sean, it would be very worrying if it was. Do you know what it is and if the trees will recover?

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

ermine moth?