On way to farm shop called in at Semer Church. It's down a grass drove, off a back lane, so nowhere near a main road. The above photo is of a large ancient horse chestnut (conker) tree in the churchyard. As you can see the lower third of the tree's leaves are brown and curling. And this is in late August, not in October. We have noticed a great many horse chestnut trees in this condition - and some much worse. These appear to be sick trees. If anyone knows what is causing this problem, and what can be done about it, I'd be grateful for the information.
Thanks, Mike.
1 comment:
Hi Mike, Conker-trees seemk to be going the same way as the elms...
Try following these links for more info. UK horse chestnuts have suffered increased levels of attack from the horse chestnut leaf miner, Cameraria ohridella, and from a fungal pathogen causing stem bleeding, commonly known as bleeding canker. Follow the links below for more information and advice on disease management.
Horse chestnut leaf miner
Causes leaf damage, as the larvae of Cameraria ohridella mine within the horse chestnut leaves. Severely damaged leaves shrivel and turn brown by late summer and fall early, well before normal leaf fall in the autumn.
More information about horse chestnut leaf miner from the Forest Research website.
Horse chestnut bleeding canker
Produces symptoms which include bleeding areas on the stems and sometimes on scaffold branches.
copy and paste these links into your web-browser:-
http://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/fr/INFD-68JJRC
http://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/fr/INFD-6KYBGV
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