Information on Loughborough

Oak Tree Decline

Posted on 07/03/2008
P. Klein

oak leaves

SCIENTISTS from the Forestry Commission will visit two Charnwood Borough Council-owned woods next week in a bid to get to the root of a mystery condition that’s killing oak trees.

The experts will visit Booth Wood and the Outwoods on Tuesday, March 11th to take samples in an attempt to confirm what is causing the premature deaths of the trees.

A number of Oaks in Booth Wood have died as a result of the condition, while trees in the Outwoods have shown the first signs of the symptoms - a deterioration of health and bleeding cankers.

The deteriorating health of the trees is a condition known as Oak Decline, which can be caused by a wide-range of factors, especially when the trees are under stress from more than one factor.

These can include drought, flooding, pests, such as harmful insects, and pathogens - organisms that cause disease.

Back in the 1920s the die back of Oak Trees in England caused concern and was thought to have been caused by the oak mildew Microsphaera alphitoides. Oak Decline now is widespread throughout the UK although individual pockets can be localised and intense. In some cases the decline is connected with infection by other Phytophthoras, but these are chiefly root infecting species. Oak decline also involves repeated episodes of drought, other root infecting fungi, recurring insect defoliation and also scale insect attack.

Pathologists from the Forestry Commission’s Forest Research Agency hope that the extensive tests they are carrying out will help to confirm exactly what causes the decline in Charnwood’s Oak trees and what has caused it to spread.

Sections of both woods will be closed to the public while the Forestry Commission researchers use an air spade which will blow away the soil and expose some of the roots.

They will then take away samples for analysis but it could be several months before the findings are announced.

A spokesperson for the Forestry Commission’s Forest Research Agency said: “We will be cutting out symptomatic parts of diseased trees so that we can analyse them in the laboratory.

“We will also be taking samples of roots from some of the diseased oak trees, and taking soil from around them for analysis, to establish whether the deteriorating health of the trees can be linked to any soil-borne or root-rotting organisms.

“Some of the research processes involved can take some time, so we don’t expect to be able to make any announcements about the results for some months.”

Mark Graham, Charnwood Borough Council’s Wildlife Officer, welcomed the latest move by the Forestry Commission to discover what’s causing the condition to spread.

He said: “This condition is a cause for concern but it’s good news that the Forestry Commission are taking this seriously and carrying out these extensive tests.

“Oaks are the most valuable trees we have from an ecological and, for many people, an aesthetic point of view. A mature oak tree can support 500 different insects, animals and other plants.

“Hopefully, this work will help find out what is causing these trees to die and what can be done to minimise its impact in the future.”

Cllr Peter Lewis (Conservative councillor for Loughborough Nanpantan), Charnwood Borough Council’s Cabinet member for Leisure, added: “We apologise to the regular users of Booth Wood and the Outwoods who may be inconvenienced while this work is carried out.

“But it’s important that the areas are safely cordoned off so experts from the Forestry Commission are able to take samples from both sites without putting anyone at risk from the high-tech equipment they will be using.”