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Dying elm trees.


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Cracking timber, and great firewood. Coppice the lot.

 

It's actually quite a poor firewood green and fairly difficult to split. It's fresh moisture content is comparable with poplar and spruce but once dry it is as good as most of the better firewoods. In the early 70s we burned a lot green and it needed a lot of encouragement to get a fire hot enough to burn fresh chogs. By the end of the decade we were felling hedgelines of dead 30 year old trees standing dry and dead and just lighting at one end.

 

BTW I don't advocate burning green firewood for heating.

 

AJH

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I've burnt a lot of it over the years as trees in our wood have died. Usually I have allowed them to stand (maybe a big mistake) until well dead and dry and then they make the best firewood I have ever used. Pig to split in this state though, almost impossible without a power splitter of some kind.

 

I think from now on I am going to try and remove all the dead elm from the wood as soon as possible and in this particular area, try to get some coppice going. May take a rotation or 2 to fill up the blank bits but better than seeing it decimated. I've got another pic of our old pheasant pen which is all dead standing and has been destroyed by this disease. I don't want the same to happen to this lot.

 

My plan is to fell it all and stack indoors in billets, well away from any live elm. The dead stuff we will burn next year and the live stuff we'll burn most of and maybe see if there is anything to mill.

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Interesting. Further reading turned up this on Wikipedia

 

DED is caused by a fungus. It is primarily spread in three ways:

 

By beetle vectors which carry the fungus from tree to tree — the beetle does not kill the tree, the fungus it carries does.

Through connection of an infected tree's roots with a neighboring healthy tree.

By pruning of a healthy tree with saws which have been used to take down diseased trees. This third method of spread is common and not recognized by many tree pruning and removal services. Arborists at Kansas State University claim that cleaning blades with a 10% solution of a household bleach will prevent this type of spread. Owners of healthy trees should be vigilant about the companies they hire to prune healthy trees. Blades need to be disinfected between use to remove dead trees and use to prune healthy trees.

 

 

So I guess that means a disinfectant dip after felling each tree in case it is infected? Anyone else heard of this? Would be pretty simple to put into practice.

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The disease can spread through the roots if they contact each other and not just beetle attack. All infected trees should be felled and burnt on site if poss but as close as practical. Any timber felled and not burnt can be debarked. Bark must be burnt or chipped. The beetles breed below the bark and larvae create galleries below bark as they eat their way along. Timber itself is fine to use as long as bark is fully removed. Mary Parker at East Sussex County Council is a good contact for advice.

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The disease can spread through the roots if they contact each other and not just beetle attack. All infected trees should be felled and burnt on site if poss but as close as practical. Any timber felled and not burnt can be debarked. Bark must be burnt or chipped. The beetles breed below the bark and larvae create galleries below bark as they eat their way along. Timber itself is fine to use as long as bark is fully removed. Mary Parker at East Sussex County Council is a good contact for advice.

 

How on earth does "chipping the bark" in any way reduce spread????:confused1:

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How on earth does "chipping the bark" in any way reduce spread????:confused1:

 

I guess its to chop up the beetles but i cant see how that will be effective, seeing they aint that big and could pass through a chipper unharmed although maybe a bit shaken but well spread:sneaky2:

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So if I understand the burn argument. It's to leave the rootstock in place and remove everything on top totally so that the roots may regenerate? What's the science behind that? Is it that the suckers will at least be around for 20 more years before they also fall victim? Is it the theory that if we can keep the species alive they will eventually develop resistance to this disease?

 

Not being a $%^6, just want to know what's best to do.

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