Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Dying tree

nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: david.maxwell@dal.ca
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Dying tree
  • Date: Sat, 23 Jul 2011 15:14:23 -0300

Update: I dug up the poor tree, on the principle that it was gone anyway,
and I might be able
to identify the cause of its demise by examining the roots. Interestingly,
my original thought
of cutting off the trunk just above the root suckers might have been a better
idea. The roots
in fact look healthy and intact, (although I doubt that they would survive if
I were to try to
replant them now). Paring away slices of the bark of the trunk, (above
ground level, but
below the graft union) revealed complete loss of any apparent cambium layer
under the bark
of the lower trunk, and a medium brown discolouration of the wood beneath. A
few cm
above this point there is still a visible cambium layer, but the wood beneath
has areas of
brown discolouration ranging from a few mm to pinpoint, presumably
representative of what
ever fungal (?) disease is plugging the vascular channels and causing the
discolouration of
the wood. All these findings are confined to the Ottawa-3 rootstock; the
Gideon cultivar
above the graft union seems completely intact, with healthy-looking bark,
nice bright green
cambium, and bright white wood. But I still have no idea what the cause of
all this is; none of
my books of plant diseases have anything which looks like this. And, so far
it is confined to
this one single tree, with the trees on either side being unaffected.

(I did also consider that the brown discolouration of the wood might
represent a secondary
invasion of some rot fungus into the wood which was killed by something else.
Turners seek
out wood which is beginning to rot in order to get the marbled appearance of
what is called
"spalting", caused by the growth of rot fungi which invade the wood after the
tree has died.)

Any ideas gratefully received.




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page