dying gum trees

Leanne

We've lived in Park Ridge Brisbane for 5 years. Over the last month 3 of our gum trees have died. The leaves start going brown and within about 4 days they are all brown. The biggest one (which died first) has got cracks up the trunk and the trunk is now turning black. We have had a lot of rain over Christmas but the yard is now quite good and not waterlogged. None of the neighbours trees are dying, it's just ours. We do have biocycle septics which would have pipes underground near the roots of 2 of the trees but not near the third one.

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James Taylor

For such a sudden death i would suspect poisoning, are there any small drill holes around the bases of the trees. would any one living nearby have a reason to kill them?

Leanne

There is no access to the trees (fully fenced block with electric gate and 2 large dogs). We live in a semi rural area, with blocks at least 1 acre and all have large gum trees on them but ours are the only ones dying. We haven't sprayed anything in our yard and haven't used any chemicals so are very confused.

Eric Frei

There's more than one sub species of euc in the pic, are the ones that died all the same species (ironbark, bloodwood, stringybark etc)?

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derwoodii

Suspect 1 by your description is Armillaria root rot

Armillaria Root Rot - Botanic Gardens Trust - Sydney, Australia

Symptoms begin as yellowing, wilting and shedding of foliage and may lead to the eventual death of the tree. The base of diseased tree can exhibit cracking of the bark with exudation of gum. In rubber, splitting of the bark of the roots causes exudation of latex ahead of the infection. The collar of the tree may turn black and the outer root tissues soften and thicken. When the bark is removed, creamy white fans of fungal mycelium are present on the surface of the wood.

Is that at a down ward run for surface and ground water from left to right of photo? linking these trees.. Stress of the last years of drought and now heavy wet soils may have allowed a spike in the disease as the the host tree is low in resistance.

I hope I am wrong.

Does the earth/soil beside the trees smell dank or water logged.

treedied

I'm in Bristol TN and planted 3 black gum trees last year. Today, 7/17/11, I noticed that one of them has leaves that have turned brown completely. Two days ago, it was healthy and showed no signs of any distress or disease. The other two are still healthy, or at least appear to be so. We have had an unusual amount of rain, about 4" above normal but otherwise nothing has happened that would cause damage to the trees. Is there any protection against this type of infection? G'day and thanks!

treedied

Well, I pulled my head out'a somewhere and read the thread associated with my question which informed me that there was no way to control this disease. So I can chalk this experience up to "learnin' something today"! Now I can get back to watching my country disintegrate thanks to a congress filled with incompetents.

Eric Frei

What disease? Any pics?

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skyvalley

My experience with gums dying here recently (apart from the flamin lightning) is the few that died after all the wet. They were in a low lying area, slowly turned brown and died. It's been horribly wet for almost a year now, and our gums just dont like it. :: skyvalley.