Ash Dieback Disease (Chalara fraxinea) in Ireland

timfromtang

With regard to replanting i understand that we may replant with the species of our choice as approved by forester and forest service, and must leave the land unplanted for 12 months prior to re-establishing a crop.

tim

timfromtang

Electronic versions of the Ash Dieback Disease Sanitation Action Plan document, i.e. the current working template are available from forestprotection@agriculture.gov.ie
tel 01 607 2651

tim

Oldtree

timfromtang wrote: »

It would appear that they would like us to clear within 8 weeks, to quote the letter..

"It is important that existing ash trees and leaf litter are removed and destroyed as soon as possible, and before 8 weeks from the date of this letter.

followed by a boxed IMPORTANT NOTICE

In order to avoid spreading the disease you should not remove or destroy any material until a Sanitation Action Plan agreed with the department is in place.


from the sanitation action plan working template vers 18 feb16 we have
again bold and underlined as in the document

Based on the life cycle of Ash Dieback Disease, SAP works should be urgently prioritised before the summer sporulation period on infected leaf rachises in the litter, and again in the late Summer / early Autumn period before the fall of infected leaves.

tim

The SAP form seems to be at odds with itself. You have to do the works within 8 weeks, forcing you to do works during the sexual reproductive stage of the fungus, (June to October),

Based on the life cycle of Ash Dieback Disease, SAP works should be urgently prioritised before the summer sporulation period on infected leaf rachises in the litter, and again in the late Summer / early Autumn period before the fall of infected leaves

This statement has to be to prevent air/ground disturbance in an infected plantation, augmenting the spore distribution, so it must have been quantified somewhere along the way. This implies to me that SAP works should not be carried out June to October. I'm not sure that an infected plantation is going to infect a wider area than it already has, but helping the spores up into the air may. Dam protocols.

timfromtang

Oldtree wrote: »

The SAP form seems to be at odds with itself. You have to do the works within 8 weeks, forcing you to do works during the sexual reproductive stage of the fungus, (June to October),

Well, its all about grammar really, the phrase "it is important that" is not an imperative like "you must" or indeed "you shall" I am hopeful that the forest service disease section will facilitate works at the LEAST risky earliest opportunity so to speak.

This statement has to be to prevent air/ground disturbance in an infected plantation, augmenting the spore distribution, so it must have been quantified somewhere along the way. This implies to me that SAP works should not be carried out June to October. I'm not sure that an infected plantation is going to infect a wider area than it already has, but helping the spores up into the air may. Dam protocols.

I am at the moment planning the treatment, we are going to thin the whole forest area to remove any errant ash and its litter and provide a yield that may alleviate costs over and above the grant provision.

At this stage i believe that we should all adopt a non confrontational and co-operative attitude, those discussing the disease and those dealing with it on the ground.

tim

Oldtree

timfromtang wrote: »

"It is important that existing ash trees and leaf litter are removed and destroyed as soon as possible, and before 8 weeks from the date of this letter.

"and before 8 weeks from the date of this letter" seems to be catagoric tim, but I wait to hear what happens.

I have a semi natural/ancient ash woodland that cannot be replanted or replaced, does not provide an income, no grant aid and takes a lot of work on my behalf to preserve it. I think it is worth being somewhat confrontational about.

I have seen very little proactive work from the dept and in my eyes this seems to continue if they allow the SAP from an infected plantation to take place during the spore season, thus my frustration with the protocols. Why did it take so long to identify the risk with this disease, surely someone in the department spotted it comming. If not why not? Its their job.

I appreciate very much what has happened to you and it may very well be in my future too sooner rather than later. I would prefer later and for all possible precautions to still be taken until then. It is not your fault you are in this situation tim nor would I blame you in any way for following dept protocols.

timfromtang

Oldtree wrote: »

"and before 8 weeks from the date of this letter" seems to be catagoric tim, but I wait to hear what happens.

I have a semi natural/ancient ash woodland that cannot be replanted or replaced, does not provide an income, no grant aid and takes a lot of work on my behalf to preserve it. I think it is worth being somewhat confrontational about.

I have seen very little proactive work from the dept and in my eyes this seems to continue if they allow the SAP from an infected plantation to take place during the spore season, thus my frustration with the protocols. Why did it take so long to identify the risk with this disease, surely someone in the department spotted it comming. If not why not? Its their job.

I appreciate very much what has happened to you and it may very well be in my future too sooner rather than later. I would prefer later and for all possible precautions to still be taken until then. It is not your fault you are in this situation tim nor would I blame you in any way for following dept protocols.

Given your situation I can empathise with your confrontational feelings. However i have noticed that such tends to lead to a dogmatic response from the supposed Authority, Furthermore the Authority have men in blue hats with sticks and other instruments Statutory or otherwise to enforce their will. Allbeit more powerful and effective on grant aided plantations than in your situation.
I have had success in the past with careful questions and suggestions, at this stage there is no "body" to "blame" for the situation that we and our Ash population find ourselves in. We'll get on best I'd suggest with a mutually supportive approach to the complex issues involved. There is after all unlikely to be a "one size fits all plan" that will meet our needs, and any flexibility in approach to meet changing threats and conditions is to be welcomed, as are any alternative approaches that can recover some of the very serious financial losses involved for those of us who try to make our living from growing trees.
I'd suggest that the sharing of information is also very important' as is the ability to accept constructive criticism gracefully and gratefully and to correct and alter our actions accordingly.

I will raise the issue of the "best and safest" time to intervene and perform the sanitation work with the forest service and my forester.

I am very unlikely to go along with any "enforced" measures that I or others whom i trust deem to be unsafe from a biological/transmission perspective.

I must thank you again for your clarification of the bark transmission vector.

much respect
tim

99nsr125

timfromtang wrote: »

Must be a run on notifications, 16.85 Ha in our case, got the letter today,,,,, "We regret to inform you..............." sigh, on reading the "sanitation action plan" it looks a total loss some planted 1996, more 2001, 2003, 2012. (guess where the infection started anyone??) :-( Apparently we are not even allowed to sell the timber for firewood nor share it with relatives who live further than 3km from home. Forester coming on monday. Will post here on the actions taken by the various parties.


tis 41% of our forest,
stuff of nightmares,
been watching those ladies reaching for the skies for 20 years. I met my wife in the bottoms field, planting alongside me and my father in 1996 (she working for the forestry company and my dad and i helping out with the planting).

tim

Oh my god that's terrible.
Every Ash tree or sapling has been granted immunity around our farm even the one growing out of an apple tree.

Can you take pictures/video so everyone gets to see the glory of them before they have to be cleared.

Oldtree

I decided to go back to the beginning of this thread and have a look round, but had to stop after a few pages.

2 things jumped out at me, well a lot more did in insightful posts, but these are poignant and worth noting at this juncture:

DAFM press release 26 October 2012:

has today announced the introduction of legal measures to prohibit the importation into Ireland of plant material from ash dieback infected areas.

Active surveillance, in place since 2008, is continuing by Department Forestry Inspectorate staff across ash plantations.

http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/press/pressreleases/2012/october/title,67308,en.html

and this sequence of posts (as I cannot find an online link for the Ear to the Ground Season 21 programme 3 - 15 November 2012, where it can be viewed)

Rovi wrote: »

There's going to be an item about this in tonight's episode of Ear To The Ground, RTE1, at 8:30.

Oldtree wrote: »

just watched it and I'm gobsmacked:
the minister says (in an agressive manner)
its not here now as we've destroyed it! :eek:

two wheels good wrote: »

He seemed misguided and unconvincing.
His other bons mots: "I'm not a fool" and "I'm from a farming background".

The_Conductor wrote: »

Someone really needs to rebalance that interview with an interview with an Irish plant pathology Prof- Kevin Clancy sounds like a good candidate. How can you make a statement like that?

Oldtree

99nsr125 wrote: »

Can you take pictures/video so everyone gets to see the glory of them

In this spirit.... 2 of my noteworthy diminutive Ash trees

est 100-115 years old:


est 130-170 years old:

tabby aspreme

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.

timfromtang

99nsr125 wrote: »

Oh my god that's terrible.
Every Ash tree or sapling has been granted immunity around our farm even the one growing out of an apple tree.

Can you take pictures/video so everyone gets to see the glory of them before they have to be cleared.

Thanks for that suggestion, since there is little information about what to do when your plantation gets infected, nor information about the kinds of actions taken to sanitise infected sites I have decided to document the process here.
I have slapped a few videos up on the you tube
tim

It is my intention to document the whole process from this point on, as we dig up the trees, clear the ground etc

tim

timfromtang

Greetings all,
Does anyone know of other forums who are discussing Ash dieback.
tim

tabby aspreme

Thanks for putting up the videos Tim, your correct in saying that there is very little information about how to deal with infected sites, it can't be an easy thing to do when you are so involved with timber.

Oldtree

tabby aspreme wrote: »

Thanks for putting up the videos Tim, your correct in saying that there is very little information about how to deal with infected sites, it can't be an easy thing to do when you are so involved with timber.

Yes, thank you tim, it was very difficult to watch.

Oldtree

not sure what would make a good understory for Sycamore, ive been trying to remove them here as their leaves open very early in the season, large leaves that spread out quickly to find light, and they block the light for the native flora.

its very noticable in spring even with sycamore seedlings of only a foot or so how they retard the growth of the woodland floor flora. I removed a few older sycamores a few years back and the rise of the ash in the crown vacuum was astounding, like you say... bing.

If the SAP requires all leaf litter, etc, to be removed wont that damage the sycamore in the mix, roots/branches? To circumvent the sycamore in a mix sounds like it would be a hugely intensive operation. Could some ash leaf litter be left in the sycamore branches? Have the dept made a change to their scorched earth policy?

embraer170

Thanks for the videos, very useful and interesting.

timfromtang

Oldtree wrote: »

not sure what would make a good understory for Sycamore, ive been trying to remove them here as their leaves open very early in the season, large leaves that spread out quickly to find light, and they block the light for the native flora.

its very noticable in spring even with sycamore seedlings of only a foot or so how they retard the growth of the woodland floor flora. I removed a few older sycamores a few years back and the rise of the ash in the crown vacuum was astounding, like you say... bing.

If the SAP requires all leaf litter, etc, to be removed wont that damage the sycamore in the mix, roots/branches? To circumvent the sycamore in a mix sounds like it would be a hugely intensive operation. Could some ash leaf litter be left in the sycamore branches? Have the dept made a change to their scorched earth policy?

As I said in the videos the situation is fluid, the Dept is adapting to changing science and situation as are the rest of us There have not been many other infections in stands as old as ours.
It is clear to me that the grant and the kinds of mechanical and manual actions that the grant will pay for will not be enough to even satisfy the "spirit" of the SAP. Ergo I plan to recruit volunteer labour to do much of this work if possible, and if necessary. Perhaps WWOOF'ers. I am hopeful that there are folk who are motivated as I am by a love of Life in general and trees in particular to aid us in trying to prevent the spread and contain this nasty disease.

tim

timfromtang

If indeed it is present in the wider environment locally, this is very bad news indeed. Although we may now be able to make a case for saving both the 20 year old "bottoms field" stand and the intimate mixture in "miss farrells field" and screening the crop for resistant individuals, I would hope for a 5-12% survival rate 15 years on, and since these 2 crops are still quite densly populated 1600 - 1800 stems Ha or thereabouts this would imply that on the lower end the final crop made up of the survivors would exist at 80 stems/Ha in the bottoms pure ash and 40 stems/ha as a component of the sycamore in miss farrells field. these figures assuming a 5% survival to final crop rate??

tim

timfromtang

Greetings all,
I have noticed locally that many ash trees locally are showing signs of dieback in their crowns.
Perhaps others here who are able would consent to having a cycle or drive around their own locality and reporting here on the number of Ash trees that you notice with crown dieback.

There are many useful videos on you tube concerning how to spot the Chalara fraxinea Ash dieback disease.

tim

Oldtree

from the FC UK (sorry about size of photos but felt the detail was important.)


Dead or dying tops of trees, most easily seen throughout summer


Wilting leaves, most visible in spring and early summer


Lesions and cankers on stems/branches/shoot, visible throughout the year


Fruiting bodies on fallen blacked leaf stalks, visible June to October





















Printable pdf Guide http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/FCPH-ADD_photoID.pdf/$FILE/FCPH-ADD_photoID.pdf

http://www.forestry.gov.uk/chalara
http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/INFD-92AHUK
http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/infd-8zlksx

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.