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Can Wych Elm be affected by Ash Dieback?

ellen.cookeellen.cooke Posts: 5
in Plants
We have a beautiful Wych Elm that we planted in our garden over 20 years ago.  It was stunningly attractive and had just reached a size to provide lovely shade and the kids could climb in it.  It came into leaf as usual this year but then we thought it had maybe been struggling with a series of cold winds and then the prolonged dry spell as boughs lost their leaves and now pretty much all the leaves have dried up and fallen.  No sign of leaf disease, just dry to a crisp and drop.  Many trees around us, ash mainly, have also dropped their leaves.  Are the two linked and is there anything I can do to keep it going?  It still has a scattering of drying leaves hanging on.
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  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Elm isn’t affected by Ash Dieback but it is of course affected by Dutch Elm disease https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=154
    It only affects elms once they reach a certain size. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • ellen.cookeellen.cooke Posts: 5
    Thank you.  Sounds like it might be.  I’ll peel some bark off and look for signs.  I’m a bit gutted.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    It’s sad ... I love elms ... so much part of the landscape as I grew up in rural Suffolk ... haven’t seen a decent sized one for years and years 😢 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Ladybird4Ladybird4 Posts: 37,906
    Hello Ellen. I suspect that it could be the hot weather we have had during the last few years that is causing the leaf drop. I have a 25ft tall Katsura tree in my back garden and in the drought we had 2 years (?) back it lost all of its leaves. They went crinkly just as you described and then dropped. I was very upset as this tree was planted for my Dad. I needn't have worried as once the drought ended the leaves returned as normal the next Spring. With this last spell of hot weather the leaves were beginning to look as if a similar thing was going to happen but the arrival of the torrential rain has possibly halted it. The trees will drop their leaves to conserve water. This could be what has happened to your Wych Elm so I wouldn't give up on it just yet.
    Cacoethes: An irresistible urge to do something inadvisable
  • ellen.cookeellen.cooke Posts: 5
    That was what I was kind of hoping.  I really don’t want to lose it.  We did put a hose on it for half an hour or so a few times but maybe we were just a bit to slow to start.  Will it releaf this season do you reckon, if this is the case?
  • Silver surferSilver surfer Posts: 4,719
    Sadly I fear Dutch elm disease is more likely the problem than drought.
    We lost all our Elms in Wales many years ago.
    The large trees died.
    But gradually young ones sprang from the base ...they grew quickly until quite tall.
    Then they too would be struck down.
    Perthshire. SCOTLAND .
  • Ladybird4Ladybird4 Posts: 37,906
    This quote from Forest Research may give you a sliver of hope:

    "We have also found that the beetles that spread Dutch elm disease fungus have distinct feeding preferences for certain species of elm. Their favourite in the UK is English elm, and their least preferred is Wych elm. If a Wych elm is infected it actually succumbs more readily than English elm, but Wych elms often avoid infection because the beetles feed on them less, and so they are considered to have ‘field resistance’. Therefore even susceptible elms can sometimes escape the disease if they are unattractive to the beetles and there are more-attractive species nearby."

    Cacoethes: An irresistible urge to do something inadvisable
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited June 2020
    It appears that opinions differ 

    https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/british-trees/a-z-of-british-trees/wych-elm/

    The Wooodland Trust says the Wych Elm is ‘highly susceptible to Dutch Elm disease’.   We certainly lost all on our farm in the 60s/70s and our neighbours list all theirs too. 

    The way the fungus works is to to block the transmission of water from the roots to the branches, so the  effects look very like those brought about by drought. 

    ☹️ 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • ellen.cookeellen.cooke Posts: 5
    Hmmmm, thank you everybody.  We’ve had a look under some bark on the worst effected bough but no signs of beetle.  We’re very exposed and I haven’t seem any other elm of any sort for quite some distance around us.  My gut says that it’s probably disease but my heart is really hoping we can save it.  Time will tell.  Many thanks for your input.
  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    There was an elm in our hedgeline. It succumbed to Dutch elm disease, and the stump was here when I moved in 30 years ago. The hedge is now full of elm suckers around that point, but if they get above 12 feet or so, they die.
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