| Disease |
Symptoms |
Pathogen/Cause |
Management |
| Bark Disease |
Circular to horizontal elliptic cankers form
on the bark. Cracks form in the cankered bark. As large areas
of bark are affected, the tree is girdled and killed. White
wooly specks observed on the bark in August are wooly beech
scales. The fungus that invades after scale feeding forms red,
pimple-like fruiting structures in the cankers. |
Cryptococcus
(Wooly beech scale) attacks the tree and opens wounds invaded
by the fungus Nectria. |
Control the wooly beech scale. There is no control
of the fungus. |
| Laetiporus Root Rot |
The bark is slightly depressed and cracked in
areas on trees with dying limbs. Infected trees are very prone
to wind breakage. Massive clusters of bright, sulfur-yellow
to salmon to bright-orange shelf-like fruiting structures that
turn white with age initially form in the summer or autumn on
the wood of the tree but fall off during the winter. The underside
of the fruiting structure has tiny pores in which the spores
are formed. New shelves form on the wood the following summer
and autumn. Fruiting occurs long after most of the damage has
been done. |
Laetiporus sulfureus
(formerly Polyporus sulfureus) |
Remove the tree at the first sign of infection
since it poses a very serious threat to life and property. |
| Phytophthora Bleeding Canker |
Large cankers form on the major roots and trunk
and may extend several feet up the trunk. The fungus enters
wounds and succulent roots. Well-defined cankers have reddish-brown
margins just under the bark. Reddish-brown liquid may ooze from
active cankers. As the disease spreads, new leaves tend to be
small and yellow. Branches begin to die. |
Phytophthora cactorum
or P. citricila |
It may take several years for the tree to be
killed. Effective treatmetns are not known. Once a tree is removed,
the soil should be fumigated and aerated to eliminate the pathogen. |
