Ash Dieback Disease (Chalara fraxinea) in Ireland

timfromtang

Greetings all,
Thank you for all the useful information on Chalara that is already available on this thread, I have uploaded a new video on what we may do to protect particular Ash trees we may cherish, and on what we can do ( if it is the case that Chalara is present in our local wider environment ) to help our population of Ash weather this storm.
I welcome further information from any source, if you think I am wrong about something please tell me.

You tube failed here for some reason, see post below for video.

in hope
tim

timfromtang

99nsr125

timfromtang wrote: »

Greetings all,
Thank you for all the useful information on Chalara that is already available on this thread, I have uploaded a new video on what we may do to protect particular Ash trees we may cherish, and on what we can do ( if it is the case that Chalara is present in our local wider environment ) to help our population of Ash weather this storm.
I welcome further information from any source, if you think I am wrong about something please tell me.

You tube failed here for some reason, see post below for video.

in hope
tim

There is.hope ☺
Defra have done trials and modern systematic fungicides do work
But it was on a 14 day spray regime.

Not economic for widespread use but specimen trees look like they're going to make it


http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:BwvhN0SzUBEJ:randd.defra.gov.uk/Document.aspx%3FDocument%3D12430_Shortreportonresultsfromfungicideefficacytestingforchalarav2.pdf+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ie

Actual pdf won't download for me

Oldtree

99nsr125 wrote: »

There is.hope ☺
Defra have done trials and modern systematic fungicides do work
But it was on a 14 day spray regime.

Not economic for widespread use but specimen trees look like they're going to make it

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:BwvhN0SzUBEJ:randd.defra.gov.uk/Document.aspx%3FDocument%3D12430_Shortreportonresultsfromfungicideefficacytestingforchalarav2.pdf+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ie

Actual pdf won't download for me

pdf comes from this defra project:

Mitigation of impacts of on ash dieback in the UK – an investigation of the epidemiology and pathogenicity of Hymenoscyphus pseudoalbidus (anamorph: Chalara fraxinea) and development of methods for detection and containment of disease spread - TH0119

http://randd.defra.gov.uk/Default.aspx?Menu=Menu&Module=More&Location=None&ProjectID=18683&FromSearch=Y&Publisher=1&SearchText=Chalara%20fraxinea&SortString=ProjectCode&SortOrder=Asc&Paging=10#Description

short report on results pdf

http://randd.defra.gov.uk/Document.aspx?Document=12430_Shortreportonresultsfromfungicideefficacytestingforchalarav2.pdf

the report says:

Control strategies for ash dieback involving foliar applications of fungicides are likely to require multiple spray applications and will only be appropriate for protection of young saplings, eradication of very early disease outbreaks or short term protection of high value specimens

That would seem to indicate that continuous foliar applications of fungicides, until AD is no longer present in the wider environment, could protect high value specimens.

Second defra project about AD:

BBSRC and Defra Co-funded Research Projects on Chalara Ash Dieback: (1) Molecular understanding of ash dieback disease (Nornex); (2) Epidemiological modelling for the spread and control of Chalara fraxinea - TH0135

http://randd.defra.gov.uk/Default.aspx?Menu=Menu&Module=More&Location=None&ProjectID=18784&FromSearch=Y&Publisher=1&SearchText=Chalara%20fraxinea&SortString=ProjectCode&SortOrder=Asc&Paging=10#Description

pdf of final report

http://randd.defra.gov.uk/Document.aspx?Document=13744_Nornex_Final_ReportApril_2016.pdf

Oldtree

It strikes me that our best chance now of finding native "immune" trees is in the wider environment/native woods stock and outside plantations, plantations of imported stock and plantations from specific Irish seed stands. Perhaps a scorched earth SAP policy around infected plantations that includes surrounding hedgerows could possibly be now considered counter productive, especially plantations that have imported infected plants as part of their makeup.

From what I remember, DED was prevented initially by topograpy from getting at Brighton's elms. The beetle flight path is at about 1.5m and it finds the elms by smell, so Brighton was lucky with its locatio. Also the council actively manage and control the disease and have done so for many years.

https://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/content/leisure-and-libraries/parks-and-green-spaces/elm-disease

timfromtang

Oldtree wrote: »

It strikes me that our best chance now of finding native "immune" trees is in the wider environment/native woods stock and outside plantations, plantations of imported stock and plantations from specific Irish seed stands. Perhaps a scorched earth SAP policy around infected plantations that includes surrounding hedgerows could possibly be now considered counter productive, especially plantations that have imported infected plants as part of their makeup.

From what I remember, DED was prevented initially by topograpy from getting at Brighton's elms. The beetle flight path is at about 1.5m and it finds the elms by smell, so Brighton was lucky with its locatio. Also the council actively manage and control the disease and have done so for many years.

https://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/content/leisure-and-libraries/parks-and-green-spaces/elm-disease

Many thanks for your clarification of the elms, I could not recall,
tim

timfromtang

One thing that strikes me concerning this disease and irish climate? is it the case that irish climatic conditions are more favourable to the spread of fungal infections like this one than our european neighbours?
tim

Oldtree

tabby aspreme wrote: »

When you read the piece on page 4 it says it all . The people on the BIHIP committee, now known as Future Forests , are the great and the good of Irish and UK forestry.

This might interest you - Forestry and Wood Update November 2007 page 8

Recently a group from the British and Irish Hardwoods Improvement Programme visited Denmark to see Danish hardwood improvement programmes. Serious dieback was observed in some ash stands. Dieback in ash has been observed in Denmark since 2003 and it has also been observed in other European countries including Sweden, Austria and Poland. Ash is a major broadleaved species in Irish plantations, and the outbreak of such a dieback here could prove catastrophic for Irish broadleaved forestry.

http://www.coford.ie/media/coford/content/publications/newsletter/vol72007/November2007.docx

Oldtree

Timing of spore release during the day



from here
http://www.treecouncil.org.uk/Portals/0/PDFs/Forest%20Research.pdf

Oldtree

Very good presentation and pictures from 2013

Spread in Sweden across 900 km took only 4 years

http://invasivespeciesireland.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Alistair-McCracken.pdf

Oldtree

What we are up against.

Ash tree dieback disease Chalara fraxinea spore release - Hymenoscyphus pseudoalbidus. This video was filmed under the scientific supervision of the Institute of Forest Entomology, Forest Pathology and Forest Protection (IFFF) in Vienna, Austria.

Oldtree

timfromtang wrote: »

One thing that strikes me concerning this disease and irish climate? is it the case that irish climatic conditions are more favourable to the spread of fungal infections like this one than our european neighbours?
tim

Good question but very complex one. This document well worth a complete read.

https://www.aphis.usda.gov/import_export/plants/manuals/emergency/downloads/nprg-ash_dieback.pdf

Kowalsi and Bartnik (2010) classified C. fraxinea as a mesophilic fungus because isolates can grow in vitro at temperatures ranging between 5o and 30oC, with optimum temperatures for colony growth between at 20o and 25oC.
Conidial sporulation is favoured by lower temperatures between 5o and 15oC (Kowalsi and Bartnik, 2010).
According to Ogris (2010) the minimum temperature for apothecia development is 1.1oC with an optimum growth temperature of 22oC.
High air humidity and adequate sunlight are also essential for the growth and maturation of apothecia (Ogris, 2010).

Rachises as key to ash decline due to Chalara fraxinea N. Ogris (SI) 2010 (flick through slide presentation) see slide 8,
http://archives.eppo.int/MEETINGS/2010_conferences/chalara/13_Ogris/index.html

Needs light for development of apothecia
High relative air humidity is enough for apothecia to mature, time needed is same as in moist chamber
Optimal temp about 22oC

Morphologial variation in colonies of Chalara fraxinea isolated from ash (Fraxinus excelsior L.) stems with symptoms of dieback and effects of temperature on colony growth and structure Kowalsi and Bartnik (2010 https://pbsociety.org.pl/journals/index.php/aa/article/download/aa.2010.012/1188

If the optimum temperature for growth of C. fraxinea is usually 20-25oC (only sporadically 15oC), the most favourable conditions for growth in vivo occur in summer in the temperate climate of Poland.

timfromtang

hi all, ask a simple question...

it would appear that quote "The spread of the disease almost at the same time from central-east Europe where it was first detected to almost every part
of continental Europe including Finland in the north, Belgium in the west, and Italy in the south is an indication of the wide climatic adaptation of H.pseudoalbidus".

the beginning of an answer and the foundation of deeper knowledge concerning the biology of this beastie.

thanks oldtree
tim

timfromtang

Hi all,
I'd suggest that perhaps we need to actively educate and encourage the hurling community to help us in tackling this disease all over the island.
Anyone here with links?
tim

Oldtree

This bit from from the above USDA document worried me the most, if I am reading it correctly, high built in adaptability.

Studies based on Random amplified microsatellites (RAMS) markers have shown isolates of H. pseudoalbidus from Finland and Estonia (Rytkönen et al., 2011) as well as Poland (Kraj et al., 2012) to have considerable genetic variability.
This high genetic variation is not expected for a pathogen which has been introduced only recently into Europe (Queloz et al. 2010).
According to Kraj et al. (2012) the genetic variability of C. fraxinea isolates is not connected to the geographic distance or regions of their occurrence but rather related to the need to adapt to climatic conditions. There is, therefore, the possibility that this high genetic variability within populations which possibly evolved in response to climatic conditions can contribute to differences in virulence (Kraj et al.,2012).
Isolates of C. fraxinea have shown significant temperature dependent variation in colony characteristics and growth rate in vitro (Kowalski and Bartnik 2010). These differences were not only present in isolates from distant origins, but also among isolates deriving from the same forest

timfromtang

bad news perhaps that the organism is very adaptable. balanced in part by the young breeding age and high adaptability and range of Fraxinus excelcsior.
time will tell as they say
alike with elms it is i suppose unlikely that Ash will be completely wiped out.

From what i have read thus Far, our most effective treatment is likely to be removal of leaf litter as this will prevent next years spore release (from the leaf litter) breaking the diseases life cycle. Whilst probably impractical on a forest scale, in a field, on a roadside, or garden of city tree this is entirely practical
Of course such an action would only be effective if LOTS of folk were removing ALL (or nearlyall) the leaf litter, from LOTS of the Ash trees.

tim

SILVAMAN

I've symptoms like those in a former post and I was told it was canker....guess I'll have to watch for the fruiting bodies.

timfromtang

SILVAMAN wrote: »

I've symptoms like those in a former post and I was told it was canker....guess I'll have to watch for the fruiting bodies.

I've a heavy infection in areas, I've not observed the fruiting bodies on the rachises yet, I have been looking.
If your infection is in a few trees, I'd suggest felling a smaller infected tree to examine it carefully.
tim
I can see ash trees with severe dieback in their crowns in hedges and ditches at roadside everytime i go anywhere nowadays (say a 20 mile radius around tang)
tim

timfromtang

I've been reading heavily and thinking hard, I plan to incorporate "prophylactic" treatment for my veteran trees in our SAP (sanitation plan)
Thus far i have found good evidence that biochar incorporated into the soil around uninfected trees has a beneficial effect. I would also plan to learn how to treat trees (by injection probably) that have already had an infection with a suitable medicine, say garlic extract for example.

Suggestions anyone,
what would you do?
I have 25 acres of plantation ASh all infected to varying degrees
many veteran ASH trees?
SAP suggestions?
tim

timfromtang

Hi All,
I'd like to share my current provisional sanitation action plan here for comment and criticism.

Fell all severely infected young (sub 15 yrs) ash stands.
All leaf material and smaller branches to be collected and buried in covered pits as per current policy.
Using a pit burning method convert the remaining stem biomass into char within the stand, minimising material movement and potential transmission vectors.
Use the resultant char to treat the soil around the veteran Ash trees on the farm and on the older pure Ash stands.
(see research from Dr Glynn Percival University of Reading)
All infected and uninfected veteran Ash on the farm (perhaps 50-80 trees) will be treated with an alllicin (from Garlic) fungicide by injection using the recommended dosage from available experts in the field in addition to the biochar soil treatment.

I welcome criticism and comment, are there other measures i could take that folk think would be effective?

tim

blue5000

timfromtang wrote: »

Hi All,
I'd like to share my current provisional sanitation action plan here for comment and criticism.

Fell all severely infected young (sub 15 yrs) ash stands.
All leaf material and smaller branches to be collected and buried in covered pits as per current policy.
Using a pit burning method convert the remaining stem biomass into char within the stand, minimising material movement and potential transmission vectors.
Use the resultant char to treat the soil around the veteran Ash trees on the farm and on the older pure Ash stands.
(see research from Dr Glynn Percival University of Reading)
All infected and uninfected veteran Ash on the farm (perhaps 50-80 trees) will be treated with an alllicin (from Garlic) fungicide by injection using the recommended dosage from available experts in the field in addition to the biochar soil treatment.

I welcome criticism and comment, are there other measures i could take that folk think would be effective?

tim

Not a criticism, but from what I've seen (on countryfile bbc tv) putting char around younger trees seems to prevent infections, might be an option instead of destroying young trees. I think bio char works from a similar species by providing the basic building blocks for plant hormones.

Perhaps the trees are able to fight off the infection by not having to build the hormones needed for growth from soil chemistry? Maybe by not having to use energy to make these hormones the trees have more energy to fight off the infection. Hope this makes sense, I know I haven't put this very well, sorry.

timfromtang

thank you Blue5000, I agree in principle that treating the whole 25 acres with biochar would perhaps produce a better long term outcome, but would require an enormous amount of biochar. My solution to this is to use the younger planted stands to produce the char to treat the soil in the remaining older stands and around the veteran trees.

I would love to save the roadside planting of younger trees, but there are 7.43 Ha in a monoculture, I fear that treatment would be prohibitively expensive.

The bulk of the biochar we will produce and use for our older trees will come from 1.29 Ha of Ash planted in 2004 which is severely infected. I hope this crop will yield something in the region of 70m³ of biomass, giving 23m³ of biochar, enough to treat our 50-70 veteran Ash trees.(I must take a walk and count and map them) .

To source material to treat the 20 year old Ash stands which total 1.98 Ha I would intend to char some material produced in thinning stands of other species planted in 2004 which fall due for thin this year in any case.


I have no information yet on suitable application rates of biochar for soil amendment.
Guessing... how would a coverage of 40m²/m³ sound to folks?
I would welcome information from folks on this.

Anyone got a digger for the loan?

tim

tim

greysides

Tim. do you think the Dept will agree to you trying to save your trees? Are they likely to be receptive to new ideas?

Oldtree

Bit of inspired thinking there tim, using the diseased trees against the disease. Might be an idea if you are going to map the veterans to measure them too, maby take a photo or 2. Also could possibly treat some with biochar, some with injections and some with both keeping full records.

Oldtree

The "enriched" biochar referred to seems to be from here, Carbon Gold

http://www.carbongold.com/category/news/

Their news refers to newspaper article about a study done:

A study by the company’s research labs on 2,000 established ash trees over three years in Essex found that while a third of the established trees monitored have become infected with Chalara, none of the 20 trees which had enriched biochar applied to their roots were hit.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/feb/22/natural-soil-treatment-could-help-trees-resist-ash-dieback

Carbon Gold ENRICHED BIOCHAR contains BIOCHAR, MYCORRHIZAL FUNGI, SEAWEED and WORMCASTS

http://www.carbongold.com/about/enriched-biochar-explained/

Dr Glynn Percival, head plant physiologist at the Bartlett Tree Research Laboratory, helped with the development of Carbon Gold:

They have 3 info papers on biochar here:

https://www.bartlett.com/resourceList.cfm

University of reading helped too,

The biochar is produced by pyrolysing wood (ash, beech or oak) at 450 degrees C for 48 hours.

https://www.reading.ac.uk/EMLab/Imageofthemonth/Imageofthemonth2012/Juneimage.aspx

Picture of application around a mature tree in this pdf:

http://www.britishbiocharfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/Newsletter-May-2016.pdf

Bartletts may be interested in a study on a veteran tree site?

I remembered hearing something about the mentioned charcoal soil improvement on a tv program about the Mayan's, called Terra preta

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_preta

Oldtree

came across a previous post about this

Oldtree wrote: »

"resistant" wasn't used, more make the trees more resilient by making the trees healthier, but it does look promising and worth investigating. A PHD project under way over next 6 years.

It seems to be working on the trees dressed with biochar before the infection came along, mature tree protection or infected tree cure still has to be shown.

Oldtree

video here on tree injecting

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-29523609

timfromtang

greysides wrote: »

Tim. do you think the Dept will agree to you trying to save your trees? Are they likely to be receptive to new ideas?

Greetings Greysides,
As I believe I have said before here, thus far in my dealings with all the players involved with the problem of Chalara fraxinea in Ireland, I have found everyone to be co-operative, flexible, and all with a common purpose of protecting our Ash. As far as i can tell, thus far only younger plantations of ash have been sanitised, and the sanitation procedures provided b the department have been updated regularly.
These ideas I speak of are hardly "new"
Please see the recent work from defra on the disease, and the work of Dr Glynn Percival who is associated with Bartlett tree care at Reading university in the UK.
It is my expectation that the folk (at least those with whom I will have contact during our sanitation and ongoing management of the disease) will continue in this vein of co-operation, information sharing, and a flexible approach to dealing with this very serious threat.

As a side note I would like to add that the genus Fraxinus is under threat worldwide from a range of new threats (eg. emerald ash borer to our east in Ukraine, and in the US)

Our largley still healthy population on our little island represents real hope for the Genus Fraxinus worldwide, since we are the beneficiaries of freely shared information from scientists, foresters and arborists worldwide, we have an opportunity here to preserve the genus Fraxinus in some part, we'll need to act swiftly and in a well informed manner, all keeping talking to each other and sharing information throughout if we are to succeed

tim

timfromtang

Enriched Biochar?? enriched with what? how? processed how? application rate?, how do you make an "air spade"?, so many unanswered questions..


tim

anyone prepared to give me a bit of a dig out here on answering some of these?

Thus far i have found a charcoal kiln called the Kon-tiki an "open source" design which would appear suitable, rumour would have it that the quality of the char produced is suited for soil amendment purposes, 2 kilns running in parallel would be adequate to process the volume we require, cheap and can be fabricated locally.

tim

The_Conductor

Further- how on earth do they reckon that 20 trees represents a statistically valid sample from which they can extrapolate the effectiveness of the treatment. If a third of the untreated trees became infected in the same plot (as per the paper)- this infers- two thirds of the established trees, were exposed to the pathogen yet displayed no symptoms. You could just as validly say that the provenance planted showed a 2/3 resistance to the pathogen in the given timeframe- as make any inference whatsoever, when they only treated twenty solitary stems.

Its bad science.