Detecting Dutch Elm Disease
Dutch Elm Disease is one of the most serious tree diseases in the world. It has killed over 60 million British elms in two epidemics and continues to spread today.
Proarb recently undertook a project to remove a line of dead Elm trees which had succumbed to Dutch Elm disease in the Rhyl area on behalf of Denbighshire County council. If left undetected and standing, these trees would most certainly have impacted the surrounding area.
With limited access to the trees due to the proximity to residential houses and the area locally referred to as The Cut, this project required precision work utilising a Mobile Elevated Work Platform in order to safely dismantle the trees in small sections. Dutch Elm Disease makes the trees dangerous to climb and so the success of the project relied upon specialist machinery to gain access to the canopies of the trees.
Six Tell Tale Signs of Dutch Elm Disease
- Symptoms first appear in early summer
- Clusters of leaves turn yellow and wilt
- Leaves then turn brown and fall
4. Affected shoots die back from the tip
5. Twigs sometimes turn down to form ‘shepherd’s crooks’
6. Twigs have dark streaks in the outer wood beneath the bark, or spots or rings in cross section