Horse Chesnut tree

[JFC]

I hear there is a disease in these trees and lots are getting cut down
Will the timber be any good ? What uses does it have ?
I noticed the leaves going brown towards the end of the summer but i didn't think it was going to be so bad .

 

[engineer one]

seem to remember that i saw that tv show about the great british timber
and they were saying it depends on whether it is a disease or a blight.

diseases tend to kill the timber too, but i think i am right in believing that
blights tend to leave the timber ok for working.

i guess the answer is to try to find some and see what happens when you cut it mate.

still you could always use it to keep the spiders away :lol: :twisted:

paul :wink:

 

[Pete W]

There are two afflictions hurting horse chestnuts at the moment. The most widespread across the south of England is the chestnut leaf miner, a moth that lays its eggs on chestnut leaves. When the eggs hatch, the larvae eat through the leaves, which turn brown and die back. According to botanists, this doesn't seriously harm the trees, although it does look grim.

Worse is bleeding canker, a fungus that gets under the bark and will kill the trees. Some experts think it could be worse than Dutch Elm Disease.

Combined with the southern drought earlier in the year, it's been a bad year for chestnuts.

 

[George_N]

Were there spots on the leaves? It could well be a leaf miner moth inferstaion. No direct damage to the timber, as I understand it, but widespread leaf damage must be bad for the tree in the long term.

 

[misterfish]

Hi JFC

We have a few conker trees at the front of our property - but one fewer tha a year ago! Back in August on a quiet Sunday morning before we'd even got up we heard an odd sound - a bit like masses of gravel being poured into a bin. A few minutes later we were dragged into the world of wakefulness by the newpaper deliver man saying that one of the trees had fallen across the road! Fortunately we had access to tractors and heavy lifting machinery and all was cleared by 9:30

The base of the tree seemed spongy and rotten yet the foliage looked fine. We contacted our local tree surgeon who diagnosed an attack of Ustulina deusta - a fungus that attacks the structure of the cellulose and lignin of the wood and transforms it into a brittle structure that fractures like ceramic.

Most of the wood at the base I would describe as lacking a coherant structure and only when pointed out to me could I see the little black fruiting bodies of the fungus surrounded the base of the tree - like little bits of carbon. The thing is that they were at ground level covered by vegetation. Although a potential danger for many trees, this fungus is not easily spread - it makes its way in through wounds in the trunk or roots.

The internal srtucture of the timber shows a number of black and dark lines. Further up the trunk it seems fine - I'm keeping some bits to practice turning, but most will end up as fuel in the wood burning stove.

We were concerned about our other trees and had them checked out. One if them has a bracket fungus Rigidoporus ulmarius about three feet from the ground. However the tree seems sound and we have been advised to monitor it on a yearly basis - mind you we did have the crown reduced as it hung well over the road. Although the name indicates that it lives on Elm, it is not very fussy and any tree (almost) will do.

The tree surgeon was extremely knowlegdable and said he had been called to more failed horse chestnuts than usual and it seemed to be mainly fungal infections caused/spread or exacerbated by bark boring beetles and he had a number of trees that he was monitoring - several of which were showing signs of stress by reduced or wilted foliage.

I'm was hoping to make a few Christmas presents from the fallen timber but that will have to go on hold as I have managed to break my leg and any mobility is extremely curtailed. I can't put any weight on the leg ofr at least another six weeks! When I do manage to get to the workshop I'll have a play and see what the timber looks like after turning.

MisterFish

 

[Losos]

MisterFish,
That's interesting to me since we have a very large Horse Chestnut right next to our barn (Where my workshop is situated!)

I pretty sure we have the Leaf eating moth thingy 'cos the leaves went all brown this summer, but now I think I had better to look out for these black 'carbon like' lines at the base of the trunk.

If this particular tree fell on the barn my 'shop would likely be destroyed

 

[Adam]

Hope the leg gets better soon!

Adam

 

[misterfish]

Thanks Adam - it's 'somewhat' achy at the moment.

The fungal fruiting bodies are really insignificant and I only noticed them when the tree surgeon pointed them out. Just like little black nodules on and in the bark. I've asked SWMBO and she's going to see if she can get a photo.

SWMBOs back

You can sort of make out the bark and a few bits of ivy stem - the ivy on the tree hid everything from view!

The problem with this fungal infection is that there are no signs of distress to the tree - it just fails without warning when the cellulose cell walls and the long fibres of lignin in the woody part are digested leaving very little structural support. (A bit like osteoporosis I suppose - I've got this thing about bones an present!). This is one of the more potentially dangerous fungal infections.

We had three large horse chestnut trees and it was the baby that fell - fortunately the only damage it did was to a fence on the other side of the road, but a car or workshop would have been well and truly crushed. Luckily my workshop is well away from dangerous trees - it has a small Bramley behind it and a small liquidambar near the front. Most of our other treees are around the edge of the property - mainly poplar and willow. SWMBO and I have planted a load of new trees in the front 'garden' to try to develop a new bit of woodland - the dry summer was not too kind to them and about a third have failed. We'll see how they look next year and top up as necessary. (SWMBO has just come in and insisted that I point out that she did all the planting of trees)

Cheers

MisterFish

 

[Losos]

Misterfish,
Please thank your SWBO for posting that pic. I had a good look at our tree today and I can't see anything that looks even remotely like that so hopefully my workshop is safe, at least for the time being.

Would be a good idea to check every year I guess but I'm sure to forget Better put it on my SWBO's 'To Do' list, then (as she constantly tells me), it'll get done

 

[misterfish]

Hi Losos

It really is difficult to see, especially as it is around the ground level where all the other vegetation and ivy was growing.

As part of the check (now to be done yearly) the tree surgeopn stripped back all the ivy from the other trees way up the trunks to where the major forks were - this is the only way to be sure that the tree seems healthy.

As it not a common infection it is unlikely that you will suffer from it. The tree surgeon said that the main thing is to regularly check where the trunks fork as that is the most likely site of infection and could be where major branches are shed.. On a large tree even a branch would be very heavy!

MisterFish