Sudden Oak Death

[minskey]

I have just noticed that the bark on one of my oak trees looks different. Had a closer look and it has what I would call a blister under the bark which when pressed emits a clear liquid, so I had a bit of a goggle....................

Unfortunately what is coming up looking very similar is sudden oak death. the only difference I can see is the liquid from my oak is watery and the symptoms on the net say resinous.............

Its a young oak, under 10 years. I can't see any treatments so it looks like I will have to chop it down

Do I have to get the root out too, what do I do with the wood, can I store it for logs.

[Nicos]

Have a look at this site first.

I wonder if they would come and ID the problem/disease for you?
They could certainly advise you.
...it'd be in their interest to know exactly what is going on in your area.
You never know- it may be something else!

New Tree Alert Report

[Hazel at the Hill]

Woodland Trust are really good too.

[FB.]

S.O.D is apparently caused by a Phytophthora fungus (Phytophthora ramorum) - I have fought and lost many battles against Phytophthora sp on my fruit trees.
Nine times out of ten Phytophthora wins - and often has spread to other nearby trees before you notice the first one dying, so you can end up chasing your own tail until half the trees have died.
Sometimes trees bring dormant Phytopthora with them from poor nursery practices and the fungus later comes out of dormancy and kills the tree.
There are some early warning telltale signs which might help detect any other nearby trees affected. Phytophthora rarely satisfies itself with the taking of just one tree: usually several others nearby will succumb over the following several years because the soil all around will be infested with the fungus which can remain dormant for several years.

Can you post some pictures?

Have your trees been flooded or subject to surface water?
Or wounded near ground level by strimmers?
Or had root disturbance which might have damaged roots?
Or been irrigated near the trunk?
Or suffered drought stress?

The fact that you have a young tree might point to a tree which brought it from a nursery (if you bought the tree from a nursery).

But normally any oozing from Phytopthora is dark yellowish brown. Often the wood under the "canker" is stained rusty-brown and is very soft like cork (try to push your thumbnail into it: oak should be very hard wood).

[FB.]

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Here are a couple of pictures of Phytopthora sp which killed some apple trees.

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[minskey]

Hi Peeps, me again.

Right, I think I have managed to attaché some pics I took this morning. bearing in mnd its raining and the trunk is wet, but I think I looks darker. It has dark brown marks. had a poke about and the bark is hard as is the wood underneath. The liquid which came out of the blister is definitely clear and water like.

The tree is situated in a paddock, trees around it. neither too wet or dry. So its s bit of a puzzle really.

[minskey]

I have emailed the forestry Commission some pics; I'll keep you posted. I really hope its not SOD, I love my trees.....................

[FB.]

Difficult to tell in the wet. I would not panic just yet but see if you can get some pictures after the trunk has dried out so any colour differences are more easily seen.

If the tree has not been flooded or suffered other severe stress yet turns out to have Phytopthora, then I would say it's most likely to have been infected in its young years in the nursery and brought latent disease with it which has now broken out.
The most common time to lose a fruit tree to Phytopthora is when it is several years old, which is the age of your tree.

Phyto = plant
pthora = killer
Phytopthora = plant killer

Once infected with phytophtora, most plants will die. Various types of Phytopthora attack a wide range of fruit plants, including rhubarb and strawberries ("crown rot").

[FB.]

The tree is situated in a paddock, trees around it. neither too wet or dry. So its s bit of a puzzle really.

Out of interest, has the tree been watered in recent years using water from a water butt?

I did some experiments in the last couple of years which showed Phytopthora can reach epidemic proportions in water butts and pouring that water on or near plants which are susceptible to Phytopthora can result in severe infection which can be fatal in just several months.

[Nicos]

...cor blimey FB...thanks for sharing that with us- I would never have even thought of that!

[FB.]

Something crazy but true is that in my experiments, apple trees growing with grass all the way to the trunk were much more resistant to Phytopthora infection than the same variety/rootstock growing in open ground.

[FB.]

Another crazy finding was that if I drought-stressed a young apple tree to the point where its leaves wilted, then poured Phytopthora-infested water on the tree from above, the tree suffered numerous severe Phytopthora cankers on its twigs and branches which very rapidly spread through the whole tree, even though the infected water would have dried within an hour of the tree's leaves, twigs and branches being soaked with the water.

So although listed as a pathogen of waterlogged plants, I think it is better described as a water-borne pathogen of plants which are under stress.
To some extent flooding and drought have the same effect: the roots are stressed and shut down (through lack of oxygen when flooded or through lack of water when drought) so my description of Phytopthora as a pathogen of stressed plants seems reasonable.

[minskey]

Well, after a week of hearing nothing from the forestry commission I dropped them another email. I received one back basically saying that my week old email had been forwarded on to him, minus the pics & can I go to their website instead.......................!

Well I have posted pics on the tree alert site {should have listened to you straight away Nicos}

I'll let you all know if anything comes of it.

[Nicos]

....fingers crossed it's something 'treatable' minsk!