Does anyone know what’s wrong with my horse-chestnut tree

Does anyone know what’s wrong with my horse-chestnut tree, seems to be the lower half mainly.

 

@Love my chicken Possibly Horse Chestnut Leaf Miner see here Horse Chestnut Leaf Miner (C. ohridella) - Woodland Trust
Or Chestnut leaf blotch Horse chestnut leaf blotch / RHS Gardening
I'm inclined to the leaf miner.

 

It seems to attack all horse chestnut around here these days.

 

Thank you for that information. Sad reading! I love my fantastic old trees. The blue tits seemed to be interested in the bugs. Seems like they may be its only hope at the moment!

 

Hi

agree with Pete and Nigel , hang bird feeder's on over the winter birds will really help ..

if possible collect all the leaves once fallen in the Autumn and burn if you can or take down to the local rubbish tip anything to reduce of over wintering bugs etc...

I have a horsechesnut at the bottom of the garden which I grew from a conker 15 years ago and it doesn't show any sign this year of the leaf miner but it has had in previous years ... I did give the area underneath once all the leaves had a fallen and removed a mulch from all the old compost pots etc all around the base of the tree ... I also used a grease band that people use on apple trees but as I said its only young to the trunk is not huge so was easy to do ..

Spruce

 

I'm just looking a bit closer at mine and I think it's the leaf miner rather than the fungus.
I have noticed that some of the few young trees that were not religiously hacked down by the local council because of the bleeding canker seem to have recovered and the lesions on the trunks appear to have healed.

 

Aesculus californica.


And a leaf from Aesculus hippocastanum, both in my garden
The Californian one never gets touched.

 

@pete For many years now I've watched the 100s of Horse Chestnut trees being defoliated every year here.

Where I live many 100s were planted on the housing estate here. Many still survive but it fills me with sadness to see how they become infected year after year, though these leaf miners don't actually kill the trees outright, they do become weaker year after year, the trees grow less & less & the "conkers" get smaller & fewer as well. I've seen a few trees die after several years of infestation but generally they survive. It's a shame to see the ground beneath the trees covered in a thick carpet of dry brown leaves in July! I remember as a boy in London walking through our local parks scuffing through the leaves in November.

 

Not that this will be a consolation, but look at our chestnut tree (photographed just now), the dramatic difference between it and, right next to it, the poplar, hawthorn, and laurel, all in good condition. Like you, we have watched ours deteriorate year on year as the leaves turn brown earlier and earlier each season.

It has been like you see it now for more than a month; twenty odd years ago, it would not be like this until late October! Of course, the drought doesn't help.

We were told a few years ago (for what it’s worth [?]) that it was due to an invasion of a certain type of moth, and given some hope when bluetits started eating these moths and, indeed, the tree seemed to start recovering but, this year, there are very few bluetits ... and very few leaves.

 

Some pictures I took this afternoon of Horse Chestnut trees & their foliage dry & burned to a crisp on the ground under the trees.
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Seeing these magnificent trees slowly dying year on year fills me with great sadness!
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This is what this scene looked like back at the beginning of May:
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The first & last views are of the same trees - difficult to believe they are the same trees with just 4 months of difference between them!
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So so sad!

 

I don't think the chestnuts are dying but have gone into 'shut down' because of the lack of water. They are shedding their leaves to self preserve. I have a large Sycamore (unfortunately) in my garden that does the same and has been shedding for the last couple of weeks.

 

Hopefully that’s the case, but there is evidence of some invasion, probably the leaf miner like NigelJ said.

 

Your welcome optimism, together with what has been one of the worst droughts down here, have been followed by gargantuan downpours and thunderclaps worthy of Zeus himself!

Mrs Lab has rushed to find umbrellas to protect some of her plants, the hygrometer has shot up to 90%+, and the water butt is full to the brim!

Powers-that-be, bring on the hosepipe ban, refill you reservoirs, and plug up those leaks!

 

We've had the drought here too but obviously not the high temperatures. There's been very little sun this summer. Humidity has been between 90 and 100% for a few weeks and is currently 94%. In fact this area of the Highlands has seen very little rain for the last two years. My sandy loam soil is dust.