HORSE CHESTNUT is the worst over?

[s.varty]

Over the last few years horse chestnuts have been looking sicker by the year, i honestly thought there would be a mass cull like the elms in the 70s. This year in my area (bedfordshire) they are a picture of health,is this due to the last couple of winters being so severe? What are they like in your area?

[Daniël Bos]

Ever drive on the 428 from Bedford to Cambridge? Massacre!

[Matthew Arnold]

Some of the HC's in my county town are going to be felled as the roots are lifting the footpath and road surface. They have small yellowing leaves, black lesions around the base and a couple of them have brackets at the base. The local people have gone up in arms about the plan to fell them but they dropped a few limbs during the last batch of strong winds and two of them fell over.

[janey]

Ours (West London) are still merrily shedding bark and oozing.

 

The Cameraria numbers are starting to build up now as well, although they don't visually seem as bad as this time last year.

[APC]

Ours seem a lot less affected by leaf-miner this year than last year and year before. They are beginning to show signs but this time last year they looked like they'd bypassed summer and gone straight to autumn.

 

One has what appears to be pseudonomas syringae but appears quite healthy apart from that. I haven't found any evidence in our rhodie to confirm that P. syringae may be at work (Forestry Commission said they wanted to see some form of both in the rhodie before they would be interested, or something). Which brings me onto the question of what sort of distance should I be looking for evidence of this on rhododendron? We have bare rhodie in the parkland; I've covered about 75 metres from the tree in question, but how far should I be extending looking for it? 100 metres? 200 metres? 1,000 metres?

[RobRainford]

I've got one this Friday to euthanise. Lightning strike and bleeding canker, there's another nearby that's fine. This one is looking a bit chlorotic!

[ctenicera]

They definitely don't look as bad this year in terms of Cameraria. I wonder if either the bad winter has affected Cam numbers (although I can't imagine winters in their native Balkans are that much better!?) or if the very dry spring has affected numbers (as it seems may be the case for some native insects?). Will be interesting to see how their condition develops through the summer.

[janey]

I went past this and thought of this thread

 

It would be equally at home in Hama's body language thread as well with those helical ribs!

[RobRainford]

Chestnut seems to be pretty good at showing up the helical ribs.

 

 

There's two next to each other at my local park, really pronounced ribs and both about 80cm DBH. They get battered every year by kids with sticks!

[miercat]

Hopefully its looking better for HC's.I have seen a remarkable improvement in there condition from last year I must admit I was beginning to wonder if they were going the same way as elms in this country!!My theory on it is the exceptionally cold winter although the over wintering Cameraria ohridella have deen recorded to survive up to -24c in eastern europe maybe the u.k ones weren't that hardy? Maybe something good has come out of the ridiculously cold winter we had!!