Page 15 - MNLGA Free State Spring 2025_WEB

IT'S TIME FOR SHARING A Jerry Faulring

Managing Beech Leaf Disease

ver the past several years
Beech Leaf Disease (BLD)
Ohas become a topic of
increasing discussion and concern.
BLD affects both Fagus grandiflora,
American beech and Fagus sylvatica,
European beech (in early discussions
European beech where thought
to be more resistant). It was first
thought to be discovered in Ohio in
2012, although some reports indicate
that it may have been found earlier
in Massachusetts. BLD has migrated
through Ohio, Pennsylvania, New
York, and the New England states,
and is migrating south.

My relationship with Fagus
grandiflora goes back to about
1950. My parents bought a 70-acre
property in Western New York (I was
path. My brother and I also planted BLD has been found in Maryland
3 years old), 50 acres wooded, 20
3,000 Christmas trees intended and appears to be moving south.
acres open that was previously a
to pay for college. Our other It is associated with the leaf-
small dairy farm; no electricity or
entrepreneurial activities precluded feeding nematode Litylenchus
running water but with a house and
the need to sell those trees, and they crenatae mccannii. Studies
an outhouse; over time, electricity
are still standing. Fagus grandiflora have been conducted to find a
and running water became a reality.
is still very prevalent on that property management protocol that is
We did not live there full-time; it
we call ‘the farm’. The beech nuts practical in landscapes. Favorable
served as a spot for recreation. As
were a favorite snack when we were results have occurred that should
a teenager, I bought several bare
hunting & trapping, and a source be implemented to preserve the
root trees from a nurseryman friend
of food for turkeys, deer, and other thousands of planted beech trees
of the family, planted them there…
woodland critters. Some of those in the landscape. However, the
unknowingly, it was the start of my
trees were incredibly old with trunk practicality of these treatments has
future career as a nurseryman that
diameters in the range of six to eight limited use in forests and woodlands
took over 25 years to find the right
feet and up to one hundred feet tall.
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