Golden Elm, Dying?

My 15 year old Golden Elm looks in a terrible state, several branches look dead with brown leaves while others seem o.k. It is on an exposed bank but previous conditions have been worse than this year. I bought it from the Dutch company "Bakker" and it is Dutch Elm disease resistant. I'm bl...y angry,I raised it from a twig!! What do you reckon,over exposed or over the hill(the tree,not me)!

 

Over exposed, and perhaps suffering with the lack or rain perhaps over winter and this spring. Additionally if its on a bank, what nutrients may be exhausted or leaching away. Can you move it to a less exposed site?. Shame to lose it - tis a beautiful tree. But I am no expert in trees

As it sounds precious to you, as it would be to me have a word with the either the company that sold it to you, or Kew or Wisley and see if they can help. Send them a picture along with a bit of the tree from healthy area and dead area. 15 years should not be thrown away lightly.

 

A bloke who works at Hidcote Gardens looked at it this morning and it seems you could be right about the prolonged weather taking it's toll. Looks like it's a goner.It's actually 19 years since I planted it.
Obviously now I need a tree that needs no water,no feeding,loves the wind and sun and will thrive come what may!

 

What's the problem with the Graemlins?? That's twice now! :confused: Or could it be three.....

 

Here is the victim

 

Its just a thought, dont know anything about golen elm at all, BUT is it long lived?
A lot of these quirky varigated/ coloured leaf type varieties of common trees and shrubs are much less able to survive, and if it relatively new ie. only been around 20-30 years its not really been tested.
my gremlins work :D

[ 23. July 2005, 04:06 PM: Message edited by: pete2255 ]

 

Please don't give up on it - give it a good soak every couple of weeks and see if it picks up. The bark looks good, and there are healthy leaves.

If it gets deep enough, it will survive, if water is the problem - and from you picture, it may well be.

Hidcote - one of my favourites - that and Kiftsgate, and Waterperrie

 

O.K. Fran, The hose is on full bore!Trouble is the tree is right at the top of the garden and can't water that far up. Borrowed a mates hose and now can reach. Focus tomorrow!!
Rain... please!!!!

Hidcote has a brilliant Maize maze.

 

Let me know how it does pretty please. If its water, then after a day or so, there should be no further die back, though perhaps you may lose some bits that won't recover. A bit of a feed wouldn't come amiss either.

Whatever, I would like to hear the outcome good or bad.

A maize maze eh - I didn't see that last year, when I visited, maybe I was not paying enough attention or its new this year.

I wonder if photobucket will accept slide shows - cos I got a couple of notable gardens that people might enjoy. I'll have to try, but methinks it won't :(

 

Have you checked the branches and stems of your Elm?
See if you can see any tiny pellet holes like an air rifle shot. If so this may be infected with Dutch Elm Disease. I know the Golden Elms are supposed to be resistant,but after 15 years the tree may be infected.
Watch the leaves to see if they shrivel right up.
This time of the month in July is when to expect Dutch Elm disease and to see the effects.
I have an English Elm in my garden and luckily is not affected each year ( planted 15 years ago )as I am fairly high up with a prevailing Westerly wind which seems to blow any beetle attack away + there are no other Elms within miles of mine.
Hope this helps.

 

Hi coed.
Thanks for your post. I have just had a good look and there are no bore holes on the trunk or branches. The die back seems to be confined to about a third of the branches and the rest even have new budding tips. I will keep swamping it with water and hope for the best. By the way,the bank it's on is the spoil from the old mill race,so who knows what's under the top soil :confused:

 

Hello,
Thanks for your reply. It does get stranger. The next thing to try is to manually take a knife and skin the bark of the browned area of stem. If you find rhizome marks( like little tracks running ) under the sap line , you may discover the beetle.
If the stem is completely dried out ( as it shows by the browning leaf, then the sap supply is definitely being attacked.There may well be a beetle using the tracks and drying up the sap supply .
The only remedy is then is to prune out the affected stems and burn them.
Let me know how you get on.

 

went on a talk about diseases on elm, most elms they say are resistant soon lose out to disease it is when they get to a certain height they get struck that is why we will never get tall elm trees back, at the age of yours i think it got to the desired height sounds bizarre but its true no one knows why it is height, but one theory is that the insect that spreads the disease flies at a certain height, but also i do hope it is lack of water