What Is Dutch Elm Disease?
Most people assume that Dutch elm disease comes from the Netherlands, the land of the Dutch. However, in fact, this disease takes its name from the nationality of the scientists who discovered it, not the nation where it originated. Dutch scientists discovered this disease in Asia, where it probably originated.
Of course, for most people, there are many more practical things they need to know about Dutch elm disease. Protecting your trees from this disease is becoming more and more important as the disease spreads between more trees.
Read on to learn everything you need to know about Dutch elm disease!
The Symptoms of Dutch Elm Disease
In general, you can see the first signs of Dutch elm disease in the early summer. Around this time, infected trees will begin to display yellow branches. The same branches will also wilt, and so will the leaves on the branches.
Over time, Dutch elm disease progresses throughout the system of a tree. You will notice infected trees end up with more and more brown leaves.
Underneath the bark of infected trees, you can find dark streaks. These streaks show where Dutch elm disease has blocked the vessels within tree trunks.
How Dutch Elm Disease Spreads
Dutch elm disease is caused by a particular fungus. It may surprise some people to realize how different trees are from each other. This particular fungus specifically targets elm trees, not oak or maple or other species.
But how does a specific tree begin to develop this fungus? The Dutch elm disease fungus is spread through beetles. They carry spores of the fungus on their bodies and then move between trees, spreading infection.
If an infected tree is close enough to neighboring trees, then it can infect them even without the help of a beetle. Infected roots can brush up against the roots of other trees and pass the fungus on this way.
How to Protect Your Trees
Sometimes, you need the help of a professional tree care arborist to manage Dutch elm disease. Quality tree arborist services are also the fastest way to find the tree pruning services that you may need to treat Dutch elm disease.
In general, you will need to use local tree trimming to fight against Dutch elm disease. The most important part of treating Dutch Elm is to keep it from spreading. In most cases, you can use professional tree care services to simply remove infected elms.
You can also use fungicide injections to help infected elms to recover, but it does not always work. If you want to plant disease-resistant elm trees, that is another option.
Know Everything You Need to Know About Dutch Elm Disease
We hope that you were able to learn something helpful from this brief article on Dutch elm disease. While it is bad enough to lose a single tree, the worst thing about Dutch elm disease is that it spreads between many trees. The better you can stop Dutch elm disease, the better!
To learn more about general tree care or how to fight Dutch elm disease, you can get in touch with us here!