In SE CT, I’ve been seeing some beech trees with dark green, shriveled, brittle leaves. I googled and think it was referred to ask beech leave disease. Is anyone else seeing this around them? Sorry I don’t have a pic.
Does it look like this? Connecticut is rife with beech leaf disease according to the map from the Maine Forest Service. Beech Leaf Disease : Forest Health & Monitoring: Bureau of Forestry: Maine DACF
Yep, beech leaf disease. buZZsaw BRAD said he encountered it where he lives in southwest CT too. I haven't seen it yet either in Bristol where I live, or Middletown where I work. I'm sure it's only a matter of time though.
It’s bad and spreading fast in NJ and NY where I am at. Its pretty much everywhere. Around town and in the parks/forests. Stands that I didn’t see any evidence of it in last fall now show it pretty bad. The ones that were showing it last year look really bad. The leaves look like they have zebra stripes from beneath when you look up.
Thanks for the replies. I love been walking the dogs in the same stretch of woods for a few years and I know that I wasn’t seeing this prior to this year.
I have not seen leaves turning red. What I have observed is the the leaves shrivel/turn brown. Then a lot more light comes through. What was once a dense shady grove becomes sunlit and open. The familiar shady forest looks a lot different. The trees might try and sprout new smaller leaves that tend to be light green. I first noticed it last summer. It seems to start low on the sprouts/saplings and takes a season to fully infect the canopy. Photos that I took last August in a grove that had been hit hard. It was a thick canopy.
Same thing here in North Haven Steve. Just snapped these of the beech at the edge of the driveway. Seems to affect all sizes of beech in my woods from saplings to full size mature trees. A few unaffected. Noticed it a couple months ago and mentioned it to Eric.
