Identify And Manage 5 Common Chestnut Tree Diseases

Table of Contents

Chestnut trees are lovely trees that provide shade, multi-season appeal, tasty nuts, and high-quality wood. They often grow to astonishing heights and can be fruitful for decades.

Unfortunately, they are prone to a variety of illnesses, much like most plants. It’s also worth noting that some species may be more vulnerable than others.

As a home gardener, you should be aware of the signs and symptoms, as well as what you can do to safeguard your trees, eliminate illness, and prevent further spread. We’ll go over everything and more.

Related Topics:

Chestnut Tree Diseases

Chestnut trees suffer from a lot of diseases but we have discussed 5 important of those diseases below;

1. Anthracnose

Anthracnose is a disease that affects oak trees and other deciduous hardwoods, although it can also impact chestnuts.

Dry, brown, uneven patches on leaves, curled foliage, and defoliation are all signs of infection. Twig dieback and buds dying early in the season, with symptoms resembling frost damage, are also possible.

If you use a magnifying glass, you may be able to see small pimple-like fungal formations on the undersides of damaged foliage.

The spores are disseminated by the wind and splashing water in the spring, infecting new growth, and are caused by Apiognomonia quercina fungi. On the lower and innermost branches, infections are frequently the most serious.

How to manage:

New leaves may appear later in the season, but severely afflicted trees may not recover, especially if the infection occurs in the spring and is followed by a period of drought or other stressors.

This fungus can survive the winter in-branch cankers and fallen leaves. To avoid further spread, clean up the garden thoroughly to remove all infected plant matter that has fallen, and cut away and burn or otherwise dispose of any dead branches and twigs.

Fungicides can be used at bud break, however, this isn’t usually advised for home gardeners.

2. Sudden Oak Death

Sudden oak death is another destructive Phytophthora water mould disease that kills oaks and their relatives, as well as several other trees and understory plants like rhododendrons and camellias.

ramorum illness is another name for this condition. P. ramorum thrives in wet environments. Temperatures above 80 degrees Fahrenheit or below 59 degrees Fahrenheit inhibit its growth, but springtime temperatures in the upper 60s are normally right in the sweet spot for this fungus-like organism.

Infected tree cankers drip a black or crimson liquid, leaves spot, and twigs die back. Contact your local agricultural extension professional if you feel your trees are diseased.

This sickness is frequently mistaken for illnesses caused by other pathogens.

How To Manage:

Replanting sensitive trees or shrubs in areas where another plant has succumbed to the disease is not recommended.
place chestnuts under quarantine to prevent the spread of the pathogen
To avoid potential spread, make sure to follow any quarantine restrictions in effect in your area.

3.Chestnut Blight

Cryphonectria parasitica (Murrill) Barr, an invasive fungus, causes chestnut blight, often known as chestnut bark disease.

The fungus enters wounds, develops within and beneath the bark, and kills the cambium around the twig, branch, or trunk.

Sprouts emerge from the ‘root collar,’ a burl-like tissue at the tree’s base that houses latent embryos. The process repeats itself as the sprouts expand, become damaged and infected, and die.

Unfortunately, there is no cure for chestnut blight, which is caused by the fungus Cryphonectria parasitica.

It infects trees by wounds caused by insects, and the infection spreads beneath the bark.

Cankers appear on infected trees, which might be mistaken for sunscald symptoms.

Infected branches get girdled with cankers and die swiftly, which is also known as chestnut bark disease.

How to Control:

To avoid further spread, affected limbs should be cut off and destroyed.

For home crops, selecting blight-resistant cultivars is suggested. Chinese chestnuts (C. mollissima) and Chinese-American hybrids, as well as Japanese kinds (C. crenata), are resistant.

Make sure you buy trees from reliable producers that are disease-free certified.

4. Nut rot

Nut rot infections are most common in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, and are thought to be caused by a variety of fungi including Sclerotinia pseudo tuberose, Phomopsis Castanea, Gnomoniopsis smithogilvyi, and Diaporthe castanets.

Rot is a disease that affects harvested nuts rather than trees, and it can result in considerable crop losses.

While the unshelled nuts may appear to be in good health, the kernels inside are discoloured, spotted, or speckled, as well as mushy, mouldy, or rotten.

Shells may also show symptoms of mould and rot if the infection is severe.

How to prevent

To avoid the onset of nut rot, regular harvesting is necessary, and cool storage of harvested nuts can assist to prevent or delay the onset.

To avoid future spread, unharvested nuts and discarded burrs should be removed from the orchard or garden.

Burrs infested with fungi should be thrown away or burned if this is legal in your area. Plant matter containing disease pathogens should not be composted.

Phytophthora Root Rot

Root rot, often known as ink sickness, is caused by Phytophthora water moulds.

The disease pathogens can be carried on plants acquired from nurseries and are most common in trees planted in poorly draining soil, beginning often in early spring.

In chestnuts across the United States, P. cinnamomi can cause rot diseases.

Infected chestnuts will show signs of wilt and branches will die back, even though the infection is concentrated at the roots and base of trees. Trees succumb rapidly and frequently die.

How to control:

To prevent root rot, greater rates of mefenoxam and metalaxyl must be used.

If possible, avoid planting early in the season when soil temperatures are below 60 degrees Fahrenheit, and improve water drainage in the field.

Choosing types with a high disease tolerance as well as a resistance gene present in the plant. There are several resistance genes available, so keep track of them to see if they’re working in your field. Change the resistance gene utilized if there appears to be a high occurrence of phytophthora in the field.

Why Are My Chestnut Leaves Turning Brown?

Horse-chestnut leaf turning brown is a fungus-caused leaf disease. It causes horse-chestnut and buckeye leaves to darken and curl.

The illness begins in early June and continues to spread throughout the summer as a result of the rainy weather. The illness does not pose a severe threat to trees’ health.

Except when challenged by drought, root loss, or other circumstances, it has little effect on the health and growth of older trees.

Conclusion

Although horticulturists are working to maintain this great tree, new hybrids and cultivars that produce good harvests while resisting disease are being developed.

It’s critical to stay on top of proper care procedures and be on the lookout for indicators of a problem in your orchard to avoid disease.

Make sure they’re planted in well-draining soil and prune them to increase airflow and let light enter the canopy.

Do you have any questions you’d like to share? We look forward to hearing from you! Please leave your words and pictures in the comments section below.

Subscribe to Updates

What's Hot

Identify and Manage 5 Common Chestnut Tree Diseases