OT - Dutch Elm Disease - There is a Tractor Here

Dutch Elm disease is still prevalent here in upstate NY.
I have many elms on my place and every coupla years I lose one to Dutch Elm disease.
This one was about 14" at the butt.
A testament to the stringy strength of Elm is the small "hinge" which held to the bitter end.
In the background (over the right rear tractor tire) is one of my remaining beautiful elms.
The mother of all of my elms is about 36" in dia. and looks healthy as can be. I attribute it,s good genes to the fairly high percentage of it's offspring still being alive.

You might be on to something with the gene theory.

I grew up in LaCrosse, WI and all the old streets had been lined with mature elms at one time. By the time I left 30 years ago they were totally gone with a few exceptions that were not going to last long. I was under the impression that elms were pretty much extinct in North America, but am by no means knowledgable on the subject. Just something I heard or read along the way.

Kirk

I thought that just about all Dutch Elms died decades ago.

The American Elms on my place have been dying for thirty or fourty years and are just about all gone now.

Dean

I have been cutting my own firewood for the last 40 years. I think the elms that survived the initial disease back in the 50's have developed some resistance to the disease. The elms all eventually seem to get the disease and die, but they are getting bigger and older before they succumb now compared to back in the 70's. Just my opimion, no scientific facts involved. Now if the same thing would happen with our ash trees and the Emerald Ash Borer, but it doesn't look like it will.

I cut the last elm on the farm about 10 years ago, they heated my house for years, none left, they were beautiful trees!!

I am seeing the elms grow back and get to that 12" diameter then die. I let them set a couple of years then harvest the firewood.

We still have 3 Elms out by my husband's shop. I have been told they are probably American Elms. I hope they will last throughout our lifetime on the farm - they are beautiful year round.

we had them all around the farm house when i was a kid.most were 3 foot or more accross the base.disease came through and every one was dead in two years. lately here theyve really been pushing the lacebark elm.its supposed to be resistant to dutch elm disease.trees all over the place of all kinds dying this year,some kind of a fungus that thrives in hot dry weather is really wiping them out.i have a paper on it at home but i cant pronounce the name. i always thought a fungus needed moisture to survive but this stuff grows best when dry conditions exist. technical bunch here says if you have one infected cut it down and burn it right there,dragging it or cutting for firewood just spreads the disease to your other trees. no explanation of what to do in a burn ban like were in now though.

We still have large elm's here in our town but its because they spray for the fungus and cut/burn any afflicted ones immediately after finding them.

All the elms out by our place died in 1982 or so, the last of the dead trunks have fallen down in the last couple of years, one near our house was over 5 ft diameter. We still have all kinds of small ones but they all die by the time they get to be 8-12 inches at the butt.

The town where I grew up in northern NH had an elm lined main street too. There is a place in NH that has developed a Dutch Elm resistant strain they are in Hancock NH. There is also a place in Old Forge NY that advertizes them. I plan to get one for shade here.

The disease went through our area about 30 years ago and pretty much wiped them all out. Since then I would see an elm sapling and would try to protect it, even cut out competing species so it would grow.
We were getting a few nice ones back - some of them up to 12-14" at the butt. Then 2 years ago the disease cam back through and wiped them all out again.
Very disapointing to see them go.
I guess I wont give up on them yet. There are a few saplings left and I'm looking after them and cutting away competing species so they will grow.
I probably wont be around in 30 years to appreciate them but maybe someone else will.

I have cut some elm logs into lumber and it is very nice. We have a lot of standing dead elms around the farm that I have been cutting and it spalts really nicely sometimes.
Zach

Chestnuts are gone (disease) Elms (disease) and now the Ash trees are on the way out (pests) our shores along Green Bay and lake Michigan are covered in an evasive species (phragmites)that or choking off the shore lines and sure making it miserable to live on the bay. What next?

The only thing I will say is - If you care about that large Elm Do Not burn the dead elms any where near it. The smoke can and will carry the disease.
Yes Sweetfeet that is an American Elm
One of the new stains developed is called Zelcova
A cross between a English and a Chinese elm.

wisbaker,
I think Maples are next. For 2-3 years in MN, I've been noticing Maples with dead spots in them or the top portion is dead. They can range from fairly young trees to more mature trees that have probably been planted for 15+ years. I don't know what causes it, but I have seen a fairly large number of them.

About the same story here. I still have a few old ones on my property though - a rock elm at the end of the driveway that's probably a little over 2' diameter, an American elm in one of Dad's fields (part of the field was a yard 50+ years ago) that has a perfect canopy shape, and a big one north of the house that is well over 3' diameter at the base.

Ulmus Americana, has to have one of the best looking canopies around, I've always admired the elm trees, especially the old mature ones with that beautiful shape the canopy takes.

If you want to learn more, look up the elm research institute,(link attached) they have created a strain that is not effected, resistant or immune to DED (Dutch Elm Disease)

These trees make up a lot of the forest around here, and I've patiently waited for the hillside on back of my place, that was once pasture, just a steep section to become forest, and now its a young stand of black cherry, apple and elm, but I am losing most if not all the elms this year, I have 5-6 to cut and split due to DED. This hillside now provides shade, privacy and the deer love to use it as a path, they feed on the apples, use it for cover, I can literally hunt from my yard, and there's 98 acres here. I'm glad its not all elm or it would be a loss, and its taken 30 or so years to grow in, DED sucks to say the least.

I've always noticed the taller ones with say 4 main trunks above the butt, some have a whole bunch of smaller trunks, limbs, get them at the right stage, no splitting needed, I have one big ole "bushed" out one near a field, others grow tall, always wondered about that. Near a big one that died, is another that is starting to look exactly like the one that the seed likely came from, genetics ? Elm does reproduce and grow quickly, even DED won't eradicate elm just ruin your favorite ones and many 15-20 years old it seems.

I had a favorite near one of the old barns, its partially in a picture in the 40's at this place, young then, by the 90's it was 150 feet tall and beautiful, then DED showed up. I did inject it with fungicide, it took like 50 gallons of liquid this tree, but the treatment was too late, once they flag, yellow leaves/branch on top, its a 50/50 chance if you inject it. You're supposed to inject these in the spring, when the sap starts to run up, it is supposed to prevent DED.

I thought I recalled that any trees that do have the fungus, from the beetle, need to be debarked and burned, maybe Jim is right below, have to read up on that web site.

The injection set up is a fiberglass pressure tank, with a gauge, schrader valve and outlet to push the fungicide into a harness that you drill holes in the foot of the tree and insert, air pressure pushes the liquid into the tree, I could not believe how many gallons this big one I tried to save took.
Elm Research Institute