Sick elm trees?

[Bushmans]

Anybody have a clue what's up with my elm trees? They are all I have on my back property line. They give me some shade. This happened in the last 6-9 months.

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[spidermonkey17]

Are they in a line on your back property line? And what did they look like last year when they had leaves in the canopy? My guess without seeing the canopy and if the top of the canopy had some flagging and some other things I would say you have Dutch elm disease. It is treatable but sounds like you are past that point and being so close to one another and spreads through the roots you might be cutting them all down.

 

[Bushmans]

Are they in a line on your back property line? And what did they look like last year when they had leaves in the canopy? My guess without seeing the canopy and if the top of the canopy had some flagging and some other things I would say you have Dutch elm disease. It is treatable but sounds like you are past that point and being so close to one another and spreads through the roots you might be cutting them all down.

Yes they are all in a line. It was a thck nasty tangled "fence row" that I am in the process of thinning out. I kept all the decent size elms and a few small maple. All of the briars, poison ivy and junk is now gone. Then I put 12" boulders around the remaining trees in groups of 2-4 trees and put in some wood chips. In between them I now have the beginings of turf. Now the trees are dying and I will have nothing left.
Here is a pic of what I did. Before you couldnt even see through them.
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[Whitespider]

Dutch Elm Disease and they're toast... leave 'em stand until the bark starts fallin' off in sheets (and most of the small crap falls off) and turn 'em into firewood.

 

[taylor6400]

Look for morel mushrooms under them!

 

[nparch726]

sorry to say it but they're goners, I've lost a dozen or so nice elms over the past few years, they are dying like crazy!

let em dry standing up, the firewood will be dry n ready to burn when you bring em down

 

[Dan_IN_MN]

sorry to say it but they're goners, I've lost a dozen or so nice elms over the past few years, they are dying like crazy!

let em dry standing up, the firewood will be dry n ready to burn when you bring em down

A lot of Elms around here are that way. Burn(ed) a lot of it.

 

[Whitespider]

Bushmans,
DED, although always present, tends to come in cycles… a few years will pass where you won’t see a lot, and then it comes back with a wave off destruction, hitting trees that survived the previous onslaught and attacking younger trees like yours. The trees in your pictures look to be in the 6-12 inch range, which is about as big as most ever get anymore before the beetle finds them.

I hate to say it… but chances are you invited the disease into your fence row. I’m betting you did a bit of pruning on some of those trees when you cleaned up the fence row… and fresh pruning wounds attract the beetle (that carries the fungus) like children are attracted to puppies. To avoid that, elm trees should only be pruned during mid-winter when the beetle is dormant.

Once the bug moves into a stand (or row) of young trees like that… well, they pretty much just hop from one tree to the next.

 

[Dale]

Look for morel mushrooms under them!

Yep. When dealt Lemons, make Lemonade.

 

[Bushmans]

Bushmans,
DED, although always present, tends to come in cycles… a few years will pass where you won’t see a lot, and then it comes back with a wave off destruction, hitting trees that survived the previous onslaught and attacking younger trees like yours. The trees in your pictures look to be in the 6-12 inch range, which is about as big as most ever get anymore before the beetle finds them.

I hate to say it… but chances are you invited the disease into your fence row. I’m betting you did a bit of pruning on some of those trees when you cleaned up the fence row… and fresh pruning wounds attract the beetle (that carries the fungus) like children are attracted to puppies. To avoid that, elm trees should only be pruned during mid-winter when the beetle is dormant.

Once the bug moves into a stand (or row) of young trees like that… well, they pretty much just hop from one tree to the next.

Thanks for the info Spidey. I was wondering how it was transmitted and hadn't really done any research on it yet. Yes I did a lot of pruning on those guys. Probably 15-20 cuts on the larger ones. Lifting the canopy up so I could see through.
My original intent was to clean them up and then plant different trees amongst them and then gradually whittle the elms down as the other desirable trees grew larger.
I was looking at Honey locust because I like the fall color and the small leaves make a great light shade environment that the lawn can still grow healthy under.
Looks like I'll be planting sooner than later.