Chalara fraxinea - Generic thread

[Crazy Cutter]

Forgive me for not having read the entire thread to see if this has been mentioned previously, just wondering if anyone has either accessed any research papers or considered a field trip East to have a look at how things have panned out in the areas that had the disease 15-20 years ago? It could be a cracking long weekend or short week field trip if well organised and a bloody good shin dig - and tax efficient!

 

Kevin I would love to and is something I have thought about alas I'm not going to have the time. I have tried and failed to find information from the continent. A learned friend has foresters in Sweden who have ash recovering but details are sketchy. I took the time to read Ash by Rackham at the weekend and his information on the disease is now well out of date. It's rampant here with many dead trees including veterans. I do wonder if we have a different strain or climate maybe. 2014 has brought widespread reinfection with many woodland trees 75% dead. The Latvians suggest felling at 50% so many trees are past that. On a safety note I do not see how trees that are 50 to 75% dead can recover enough to be left up? Rackham states that in Estonia he saw few dead trees which is at odds with what's happening in Norfolk.

[Daniël Bos]

I got sent the following. I suppose a fair few of you are aware of this already but spreading the word more won't hurt.

 

 

 

 

“Forest Research is working in close collaboration with DEFRA under a new contract called ‘Living Ash Project’ to find ash trees that may be tolerant to Chalara ash die-back.

 

 

 

Along with colleagues at Earth Trust near Oxford, seed has been collected from ash trees which were previously part of the ash improvement programme before Chalara ash die-back came along. We now want to find ash trees that are tolerant to the Chalara fungus, but also have better than average growth rate and stem straightness. That really would be a win:win.

 

 

 

Trees are currently being raised in the Forest Research Chalara-free tree nursery in Scotland, but by spring 2016 we want to plant 3 sites in Britain. Each site will have to be 2 hectares (5 acres) of uniform land thought to grow good ash trees. The site will be protected with a 2 metre high rabbit/stock/and deer fence. Forest Research will pay for all the establishment costs including the fence and planting of the trees. We shall require regular access to the site for maintenance and assessment reasons; this means we shall require a 5-year ‘Access Agreement’ with the site owner. We shall also retain the exclusive rights to the IP of any trees selected on the site. After the 5-year period we hand the site back to the owner who may want to take advantage of planting the fenced area with another species.

 

 

 

If we are lucky enough to find some larger sites we have do an additional experiment of just 0.5 hectare (approx. 1 acre) where we want to test out a range of different ash species collected form arboreta across the UK.

 

 

 

If you think you have a suitable site of 2 to 2.5 hectares (5 to 6 acres), want to help, and are located in an area where Chalara ash die-back is already present, we would like to hear from you. Send me an email and I’ll arrange for one of our research foresters to visit you and inspect the site. We’ll then decide if your site meets all our requirements and take it from there. Thanks for reading this.

 

 

 

 

 

Steve Lee

 

Programme leader for Tree Breeding

 

Forest Research

 

[email protected] “

[Tilio-acerion]

Kevin I would love to and is something I have thought about alas I'm not going to have the time. I have tried and failed to find information from the continent. A learned friend has foresters in Sweden who have ash recovering but details are sketchy. I took the time to read Ash by Rackham at the weekend and his information on the disease is now well out of date. It's rampant here with many dead trees including veterans. I do wonder if we have a different strain or climate maybe. 2014 has brought widespread reinfection with many woodland trees 75% dead. The Latvians suggest felling at 50% so many trees are past that. On a safety note I do not see how trees that are 50 to 75% dead can recover enough to be left up? Rackham states that in Estonia he saw few dead trees which is at odds with what's happening in Norfolk.

 

Hope this is of use - http://www.wcmt.org.uk/sites/default/files/report-documents/Joe%20Also%20report_0.pdf

[Peasgood]

Is this Die-back?

I'm hoping it is something else.

The young tree near this one had something strange wrong with it. It dies off at the top, the bark peeled off and the top fell off completely. It then grew back seemingly healthy from half way up. It's about 20' tall now.

These pics are a nearby tree that is much bigger.

[sloth]

Doesn't look good Mr Peas...

[Stubby]

I have looked at as many ash trees as I can in and arround my village in West Sussex and have found only one young compleyely dead tree standing in a small spinny of about 20 others . I think it has failed for some other reason . Every thing else seems to be completely free . Some old vets that are on the way out naturally with lots of dead wood in them but all normal stuff .

[Pinkfoot]

I reckon we have had it in Norfolk for many years , but it always affected the yellow variety , Jaspida .

[Peasgood]

Doesn't look good Mr Peas...

 

No it doesn't but I'm still not sure if it is dieback or not. Having looked into it a bit more the tree should show diamond shaped lesions, well I didn't notice them. I will have another look.

 

Is there a dieback expert on here or someone I can ask to look at the pics for me?

Or is it just so endemic now that there's nothing much notable about it?

[john k]

It dies off at the top, the bark peeled off and the top fell off completely. It then grew back seemingly healthy from half way up. It's about 20' tall now.

These pics are a nearby tree that is much bigger.

 

That sounds and looks very typical of ash dieback. Probably the most obvious symptom is young trees (especially saplings or coppice regrowth) with dead tops and normal looking growth below. It's very easy to spot when you get your eye in.

[john k]

I have looked at as many ash trees as I can in and arround my village in West Sussex and have found only one young compleyely dead tree standing in a small spinny of about 20 others . I think it has failed for some other reason . Every thing else seems to be completely free .

 

I was on the downs around Arundel today and saw masses of dieback all over the place. Mostly on saplings, but also some mature trees showing symptoms. It doesn't look very dramatic and doesn't kill mature trees quickly but there's loads of it around.