Brad McBride from Davey's West Cleveland office shares some input on what this "new" disease is, where it started, how to spot it and what can be done about it.
In this episode we cover:
To find your local Davey office, check out our find a local office page to search by zip code.
To learn more about beech leaf disease, read our blog, Is Beech Leaf Disease Impacting Your Trees?
To read news articles and watch interviews from our Davey arborists on how beech leaf disease is affecting the Eastern U.S., head to our Newsroom link here to read and watch the interviews.
Connect with Davey Tree on social media:
Twitter: @DaveyTree
Facebook: @DaveyTree
Instagram: @daveytree
YouTube: The Davey Tree Expert Company
LinkedIn: The Davey Tree Expert Company
Connect with Doug Oster at www.dougoster.com.
Have topics you'd like us to cover on the podcast? Email us at podcasts@davey.com. We want to hear from you!
Brad McBride from Davey's West Cleveland office shares some input on what this "new" disease is, where it started, how to spot it and what can be done about it.
In this episode we cover:
To find your local Davey office, check out our find a local office page to search by zip code.
To learn more about beech leaf disease, read our blog, Is Beech Leaf Disease Impacting Your Trees?
To read news articles and watch interviews from our Davey arborists on how beech leaf disease is affecting the Eastern U.S., head to our Newsroom link here to read and watch the interviews.
Connect with Davey Tree on social media:
Twitter: @DaveyTree
Facebook: @DaveyTree
Instagram: @daveytree
YouTube: The Davey Tree Expert Company
LinkedIn: The Davey Tree Expert Company
Connect with Doug Oster at www.dougoster.com.
Have topics you'd like us to cover on the podcast? Email us at podcasts@davey.com. We want to hear from you!
Doug Oster: Welcome to the Davey Tree Expert Company's podcast, Talking Trees. I'm your host, Doug Oster. Each week, our expert arborists share advice on seasonal tree care, how to make your trees thrive, arborists' favorite trees, and much more. Tune in every Thursday to learn more because here at the Talking Trees podcast, we know trees are the answer.
I'm joined again this week by Brad McBride. He's an assistant district manager for the Davey Tree Expert Company in West Cleveland, specifically North Royalton. Today we're talking about something called beech leaf disease. Brad, how are you doing?
Brad McBride: Great, Doug. How are you?
Doug: I'm doing great. I don't know anything about beech leaf disease except I've just heard it mentioned. What is it and how bad is it?
Brad: Thankfully, its name somewhat describes what it does and it attacks beech trees. Most commonly, the American beech, but in the landscape, you'll also find several varieties of European beech. Some that can have purple leaves like a copper beech. Tricolor beech is another one. There's a few other weeping varieties.
This first popped up in the forests and the American beech is a pretty important tree in the Northeast Ohio forests. That's where it was first noticed. I do think that's where it causes most of its damages in the native American beech trees.
Doug: When did this come about? Has it been around for a long time or is it something we just discovered?
Brad: It seems like just yesterday, but as you know, time flies, especially when you're having fun. Look back in Lake County, Ohio in 2012. A little over 10 years ago, surprisingly.
Doug: How far is it spreading now from Ohio? Has it spread over our way towards Pittsburgh or not yet?
Brad: As far as exactly Pittsburgh, I'm not certain, but it's listed in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Maine, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. It doesn't spread as rapidly as some of the other tree major problems we've had like Dutch elm disease, emerald ash borer, oak wilt. I guess oak wilt is somewhat of a regional thing as well.
Doug: With that list of states, it's definitely in Pittsburgh. We've got it. Now, how do we know if we have it? If we have a beautiful-- first thing, when I first heard this, I thought of tricolor beech. You put that money into a fancy tree like a tricolor beech. What am I going to see if I do have this disease?
Brad: That's a good one to bring up because part of what makes that an interesting tree is the multiple colors you'll see in the leaf. I guess you might see a variation between the veins. It might be harder to tell on a tree like a tricolor beech, but if you can identify a beech tree and you look at one, and it's got a various amount of green striping, like if you hold the leaf up to the sun, you might be able to tell even better. You might just catch that if you're walking through the woods and you look up and that the leaves have somewhat of a different color, different thickness, but it's mainly the symptoms are between the leaf veins.
If you look at it, you'll say, "Well, some of the veins or between the veins is a little darker green, a little thicker. Some is a little bit lighter." The leaf itself looks a little bit [unintelligible 00:03:28] in color, but it also starts to shrivel a little bit. You get various color banding and somewhat shriveling would be one of your first clues. But there are other pests or disease that can mimic or maybe not mimic, but you might confuse it with beech leaf disease.
Some of those would be a woolly beech aphid, which if you see the pest itself, you can't miss it. The woolly beech aphid is also known as the boogie woogie aphid. It looks like a little tiny white ball of cotton that actually moves and dances around. Now, if they weren't present, you might look at a leaf and see symptoms that are similar to what I'm talking about with beech leaf disease.
There's also gall. Not super important to know what gall is, but it also displays symptoms on the leaf that are similar to beech leaf disease. Then beech anthracnose. Anthracnose is a fungus, and it also causes a variation in the leaf color, a little bit of curling, maybe a little bit of shrinking or thickening of the leaf. Basically, those three different common problems for a beech can mimic beech leaf disease, just due to the fact of how it changes the leaf and gives it a variety of color, maybe a little bit of curling and maybe of various thickness or thinning of the leaf.
Doug: Sounds like we need an expert like you to come look at our beech trees if we're confused and see something different.
Brad: Yes, as an arborist, we feel like detectives. we're usually looking at so many different things and trying to look for clues combined with other aspects of the site itself and trying to come up with the best recommendation we can.
Doug: From what you said, I'm assuming then that it is more difficult for a homeowner to diagnose this disease on something like a tricolor beech or another beech with a different, colored leaf, not as easy to see as it would in the forest beech. Is that right?
Brad: Yes, that's true. Like I said, mainly because of the ornamental qualities of the tree itself. If you go into the woods and you start to look around and you start to observe symptoms, and then they start to become a little more apparent to you, you might notice that the smaller saplings are more heavily affected. That's what Davey Institute of Tree Sciences lab has been telling us too, is that the younger trees are oftentimes hit harder.
If you have a standalone tree in your landscape, that is a concern itself, but the main concern is losing large portions of our forest. What they're seeing with their research is that the young trees are more heavily affected and lower branches of mature trees are also affected. What that says to me is that typically you're going to notice it more because the symptoms are closer to your eye. The larger, more mature trees, way up in the canopy, it's usually slower to show symptoms.
The Davey Institute is basically telling us that young trees, their mortality rate is pretty high within the first five years, 90% or so. They say we'll go if they're young saplings. Mature trees, it can be up to six to 10 years. It's a slower process than other severe tree problems like emerald ash borer, Dutch elm disease, oak wilt, things like that that would kill a tree rapidly.
This does take longer, but it's hit and miss. It's not something that you're seeing everywhere. Not everyone has beech trees, so we don't have a chance to work with it and see it evolve as rapidly as some of these other tree problems that we've dealt with before.
Doug: Is it always fatal to a tree once they get that disease as far as we know?
Brad: Not necessarily. Some of the research that our institute is doing is on beech leaf disease treatment. It's a pilot program. In 2016, Davey collaborated with the Cleveland Metro Parks and started doing a treatment with phosphonates. Phosphonate is a treatment that is known to be-- it's a dual threat type of treatment. It is a fertilizer, but it also acts as a systemic fungicide.
This product, which you can't really put your finger on quite what it does, but it improves the overall plant health and defense mechanisms. It will thicken the cell walls. It will somehow trigger the plant to recognize and defend against problems that they might encounter in the landscape. That could be an insect, disease, drought, things like that just overall increase the tree's resilience.
Davey developed a pilot program, started doing research. In 2016, through that research with the Cleveland Metro Parks, they found that the younger trees responded favorably to phosphonate treatments. The treatment program is two phosphonate treatments per year. Since they got the good results, at least encouraging enough to look into it further, they, in 2021 started a second research trial to see if phosphonate soil injections or soil treatments would benefit larger trees.
Doug: Well, I have oak wilt on my property, Brad, and I have two beech trees. I'm going to have to take a close look at that beech tree with my luck. Now I'm going to have beech leaf disease. What are we thinking for the future here as far as beech leaf disease is concerned? Do we have any prognosis or are we just hoping for the best with the trials that we're doing? What is your gut feeling?
Brad: As of right now, they're linking it to a nematode, a nematode that's found on the leaf. Now they haven't proven that that's the causal agent or the vector, because they're not quite sure if it is symptoms from whatever the nematode has itself, or if it's a secondary virus or bacteria or fungus or something like that that is transmitted from the nematode into the tree. As far as what exactly is happening, they're not certain, but they have linked it to this nematode.
What I would say is, what everyone should be doing is looking at all the other aspects of what makes a healthy tree. That same thing could be said about other trees with other problems, like oak wilt or emerald ash borer, that yes, certainly you could dial in and focus on that one specific problem, but you might be ignoring or passing up other things, other basic tree care measures that are very important to healthy trees.
Doug: Let's talk a little bit about that since we're going there. What is the number one thing for you when you're thinking about, and I know it's case by case, but when you're thinking of homeowners in general, what's the number one thing they can do to improve tree health?
Brad: One thing, it's a phrase, have you ever heard of the phrase, the right tree for the right place?
Doug: Oh yes. Doing this podcast, come on, Brad. I hear that every show, I probably say it every show.
Brad: That's starters, and nature does it best. If you're in a forest setting, chances are you didn't plant that tree, or no one that you know did, but if you're installing a beech tree on your property, you may want to look at some of the things that we know beech trees prefer. You're looking at the proper soil, the right type of drainage, sun exposure, exposure to prevailing winds, beech are thin barked trees, so the sun exposure on young trunks with frost cracking, all that sort of stuff. That's one thing we can do.
As far as, let's say you move into a house that has a beech tree and you want to know how to care for it, like I said, certainly you can dial into the specific treatment and try to specifically target a pest or disease, but certain things like the soil health itself. Soil health is part of a plant health care program. We look at the soil itself. Is it compacted? Is it heavy? Does it drain well? Can we improve it? Has the tree been cared for properly with mulch over time? Has it been mulched properly? Is there a need for root crown excavation or a soil invigoration?
That's one thing to start with, is just whether or not the soil is in good shape, whether or not there's mulch there. Then we start talking about the two-step soil care program that we're really heavily invested in, and it just so happens that this is part of the key to treating beech leaf disease is the phosphonates.
Part of our two-step soil care program is we recommend a bio-stimulant called Adams Earth, which feeds the soil, improves microbial activity, decompacts, a whole bunch of good stuff. That feeds the soil and makes the soil better. Then it's combined with phosphonate, which helps the plant improve its defense mechanisms. It acts as a fertilizer. It acts as a systemic fungicide, so it helps trees recognize and defend against all the common problems that you'll have in the landscape.
Then finally, just making sure it's pruned properly and that it's fertilized, it's irrigated when it needs to be irrigated. If we do all those things and we take care of our trees the best we can, there's a good chance you're less susceptible to beech leaf disease and other problems that can because your tree to decline.
Doug: I misunderstood, even now I could get that treatment before I see signs of the disease, I can get that, what was it called, phosphonate, is that correct?
Brad: It's phosphonate. We call it our two-step soil care program because we're using a combination of humates, which is a lot of organic matter, other things that improve soil microbial activity, and then phosphonate which acts as a fertilizer and a systemic fungicide. We feel like that's best applied in the springtime because it improves the soil health, it improves the plant health, so that in the fall, when we do our Arbor Green Pro deep root soil fertilizer injection, then the plant is in better shape, the soil's in better shape, and those two treatments complement each other.
When it comes to diagnosing a specific disease or a specific pest, the great thing about working with Davey Tree Arborists is that we have access to the Davey Institute of Tree Sciences Diagnostic Laboratory, and we can send in samples, whether it's soil samples to take a look at the composition of the soil, the nutrients that are in the soil, and make recommendations on how to improve that.
Or we're looking at plant tissue samples, whether we can investigate the symptoms or damage under a microscope, or that we suspect it's a disease and need to culture it in the lab. There's so many great things that come out of the Davey Institute of Tree Sciences and the laboratory that gives Davey an advantage in the green industry on diagnosing and treating specialty things.
Like I said, I think it's very important to not ignore the basics. Obviously you could be waiting for the cure for a disease, any type of disease, you can name it, or you can learn how to prevent it, and do the best you can to lower your odds that this type of disease or problem will affect you.
Doug: You know something's going to come down the pipe at some point, it always does. That's sage advice, definitely, when talking about your trees.
Tell me a little bit-- I ask arborists all the time about the good part of their job, about telling people that, "Hey, we can do this, we can do that, we can save it." Tell me about the hard part of going to a property and have to tell them something like that, like, "You've got oak wilt, or you've got beech leaf disease, and time's up for this tree." Is that hard?
Brad: The hard part is convincing people to fully commit. A lot of times, the people you're working with, or even yourself, you're just hoping that the one suggestion you think is the right one is going to solve the problems. That's the hard part, is convincing people that we need to be comprehensive, that we need to go from the ground up, no pun intended.
If we skip something, okay, that might help us diagnose down the road. As long as the expectations are set, and there's no expectation that one treatment will fix every problem, then I think it makes the relationship better, and you start to build trust, and that's the best you can do, is just be honest, be thorough, and use your resources that you have available to you.
Doug: Before I let you go, just tell me a little bit about what you get out of your job. Because you obviously have a passion for it, and obviously also have an interest in the science part of this, too. Tell me a little bit about that, what you get out of doing this for a living.
Brad: When I was a teenager, I knew I was going to be in the green industry in some way. I loved landscaping, I loved cutting grass. I worked for a bunch of small companies. Then when I came to Davey Tree, I saw how much better of an organization it was, and how much pride I could get out of my career if I fell in line with the company values, used the company resources, and realized that there's no way I can know the answer to everything.
That's why it's great to have a company with such great resources. Feeling confident about the company itself, the research that's being done, the solutions that we sell, and just investing myself in what the company has already done for me is challenging, but it makes it interesting, and every day is a learning opportunity.
When the challenges present themselves, you just dig a little deeper, find solutions that you hadn't thought of before, combine other services that you hadn't thought of before, and then just put it all out there. Don't cut any corners, and I think that's the key to success.
Doug: Brad, if you love cutting grass, the next time the Browns come here to play the Steelers, you come watch. I'm inviting you personally to my property as long as the season is right, and I'll get you hooked up with my mower, okay?
Brad: [chuckles] Sounds like a plan. I would probably enjoy myself.
Doug: All right, Brad. Thanks again. It was great to talk to you again.
Brad: Yes. You too, Doug. Thank you.
Doug: Tune in every Thursday to the Talking Trees Podcast from the Davey Tree Expert Company. I am your host, Doug Oster. Do me a favor, subscribe to the podcast. You'll never miss an episode if you do. Do you have an idea for a show or maybe a comment? Send me an email to podcasts, that's plural, at davy.com, that's P-O-D-C-A-S-T-S@D-A-V-E-Y.com.
As always, we like to remind you on the Talking Trees Podcast, trees are the answer.
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