What is killing horse chestnut trees?

Asked by: Karla Wilson

Horse chestnut leaf miner (Cameraria ohridella) The larvae of the horse chestnut leaf miner bores within horse chestnut leaves, eventually causing them to drop and harming the tree and leaving it vulnerable. The adult is a very small and difficult to identify moth.

What is happening to horse chestnut trees?

Iconic horse chestnut trees are under attack by a highly invasive leaf-mining moth, which has spread across much of the UK in the last 18 years.

Is there a cure for chestnut blight?

There is no effective method of treating chestnut blight. Once a tree contracts the disease (as they all eventually do), there is nothing we can do but watch it decline and die.

Are horse chestnut trees in danger?

Ravaged by moths and disease, the horse chestnut is now classified as vulnerable to extinction. The tree is among more than 400 native European tree species assessed for their risk of extinction by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). About half face disappearing from the natural landscape.

How do you stop the spread of chestnut blight?

Chestnut trees with blight cankers can be cured with mud packs applied to each canker, or protected with a biological control based on a virus that keeps the blight fungus from killing trees.

What does chestnut tree blight look like?

Symptoms include reddish brown bark patches that develop into sunken or swollen and cracked cankers that kill twigs and limbs. Leaves on such branches turn brown and wither but remain attached for months. Gradually the entire tree dies.

Why is my chestnut tree dying?

Root rot. Is caused by various species of the fungal-like, water mold pathogen Phytophthora has been observed on dead and dying chestnuts in Michigan. Ironically, the trees that have been most susceptible are Chinese trees that are generally thought of as resistant to root rot disease.

How did chestnut blight start?

The chestnut blight was accidentally introduced to North America around 1904 when Cryphonectria parasitica was introduced into the United States from East Asia from the introduction of the cultivation of Japanese chestnut trees into the United States for commercial purposes.

What causes chestnut blight?

Chestnut blight is caused by the fungus Cryphonectria parasitica and infects American chestnut trees (Castanea dentata) throughout the United States and Canada. Once a major tree species, American chestnut trees filled Eastern and Midwestern forests.

What is the most promising biocontrol for chestnut blight?

hypovirulence

parasitica is virus-infected are often large and swollen, but allow the tree to fight infection. This method of biocontrol, called “hypovirulence,” has been shown to be most effective at keeping American chestnut trees alive and healthy when individual cankers are treated consistently for several years.

Is horse chestnut tree good firewood?

Horse chestnut is very poor quality firewood, producing very low BTU for hardwood, only 13.8 million BTUs per cord. Its wood density is low, making it burn up quickly while creating an unpleasant smell.

Are there blight resistant American chestnut trees?

It’s taken 26 years of research involving a team of more than 100 university scientists and students here at the not-for-profit American Chestnut Research and Restoration Project, but we’ve finally developed a nonpatented, blight-resistant American chestnut tree.