Ohio’s trees, just like Ohio’s humans, face a variety of threatening diseases. These diseases mutate from year to year, and can spread from plant to plant, sometimes even between species. Some of these just affect one particular type of tree; others can take down a wide range of trees and other plants.
As a tree service company, we always want to stay current on the research surrounding these diseases. When we can, we share the information on these infections with homeowners, so that we can all be on the lookout for these telltale signs, and hopefully take faster action to protect your trees.
Thousand Cankers Disease
As mentioned in Part 1 of this series, The Walnut Twig Beetle is an invasive pest species that has recently spread to parts of Ohio. This pest spreads one particular fungus which can infect black walnut trees. This fungus, which can be found mainly in the western United States, is called Geosmithia morbida, and is more commonly known as Thousand Cankers Disease.
This disease, also called TCD for short, happens when Walnut Twig Beetles bore into the trunks and branches of walnut trees. A fungus spreads as an infection, and eventually kills the tree.
The first case of TCD found in Ohio was in Butler County in 2012, and efforts continue to restrict the spread of these beetles beyond Butler County. If you see numerous tiny cankers on the branches of a walnut tree, or yellowing leaves that quickly progress to a wilted brown, especially at the crown of the tree, your tree may be infected. Branches will die, and circular cankers will spread under the bark.
Beech Leaf Disease
Lake County was the first county in Ohio to experience Beech Leaf Disease, or BLD. Scientists do not yet know what causes this disease. At the moment, most cases in Ohio are in the northeast – Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Portage, and Trumbull Counties. Unlike the other pests and diseases we’ve mentioned, this one seems to have actually originated in Ohio. The signs of this disease are leaves that darkened, shrunken, and crinkled. The buds of affected trees will then not produce any new leaf growth.
As we mentioned in Part 1 Of Our 2 Part Post About Tree Threats in Ohio, if you believe you notice the symptoms of any of these diseases in your trees, please contact your Cincinnati tree service company immediately. Don’t “wait and see”, and don’t second-guess your instinct. It’s important that these diseases are addressed immediately, and we’d rather be pleasantly surprised that nothing serious is wrong than miss an opportunity to deal with a spreading disease before it gets out of hand.
