I have 30 acres of property in middle georgia.I have noticed recently that a few large american beech trees are dying or already dead.Is this from old age or what.Any help will be appreciated.My email is barrentine@bellsouth.net.
Thanks,
David
dynodave,
Where in middle GA are you? We have not had a big problem with disease in beech around here to my knowledge.
My property is halfway between Cochran & Hawkinsville just inside Pulaski county
Sounds like you don't live too far from WDH. Hard to diagnose a problem based on the information you've given. Trees can die from a lot of different things.
Up here they are mostly dying from beech scale. I did find one stand of beech in an island of hardwood that was old and smooth, 20-26 inches if I remember. It was surrounded by 300 acres or so of potato field. Big hardwood in forest condition are old up here.
Later it got rolled into field after a management plan was done. That's when they were virtually free. Now that there is a fee almost none done. You can see what our plans are used for, their cruises for liquidation. That's another discussion. ::)
Can you describe the trees. Any sign of bugs, how did the leaves look last growing season? Black mold on anything? Any other trees affected?
I've seen some beech trees die of hypoxylon canker, but it's more common on oak trees. It's characterized by large areas of gray fungi where the bark has slaked off.
I didn't pay that much attention to the bark ,the trees are just breaking down limbs.These trees are in the middle of a bunch of white oak,water oak ect.But the oaks look to be doing fine.Do I need to cut these beech trees and burn them to keep whatever it is from spreading?Thanks for the replies.
David
Dave, are the tree branches blistered with lesions. White powder on the trunks?
Dave,
I am 11 miles North of Hawkinsville off of Hwy 341. If you would like, I can come over and take a look at them with you.
The beech bark disease is killing American beech here.
With beech bark disease (scale inoculates the tree) the crown thins out , often the tree hangs on for years, the tree also puts out a lot of seed in what remaining crown it has, the foliage is usually pale green. We get a pile of beech regen that thrives in shade, but as the canopy opens up that beech really take hold. Refer to that photo in Quebecnewf's thread on birch and see how darn thick that stuff grows in shade when the beech trees are taken out of the stand leaving sugar maple to shade the floor with 60-80 % crown closure. :-X
After the tree has been infected with beech bark disease long enough, the trees get brittle and limbs start snapping out of them, then usually the tops snap out and the tree dies.
Poor beech trees, they are/were so nice looking.