Indeed ... we’ve lost the magnificent mature trees ... probably never to be part of our landscape again. ☹️
@Dovefromabove - I really hope there are huge cohorts working on it. I can imagine science can find solutions to many plant diseases, and indeed, may have to.
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.
Hi Ellen. I see this was two years ago. We have a very similar problem with our huge beautiful Wych elm. It was a very dry summer and we had someone look at it but he just wasn't sure what was causing the issue. We are in the North West and he said other local Wych elms look the same even though we didn't have the extreme drought they suffered in the South. I just wondered what happened to your tree?
It finally gave in last year, didn’t come into leaf in the spring, and the branches very quickly became brittle and needed to come off. I think it was Dutch elm disease. The bark started coming off and there were channels behind which I assume were the beetles. It was a real shame as we really loved the tree. Don’t see the point in replanting the same species though.
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Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.