Pruning Elms

Bermy

'Kay...new to temperate trees...

Someone tell me for sure, is there Dutch Elm disease in Australia or not?

I have two big elms, one has to be cut back from hitting a roof and chimney, it's got to be done now, it's causing damage. Now, additionaly this tree has a bunch of distorted undersized leaves, some branches so bad they are dying off, on some branches the last leaves set are of normal size, which says to me that whatever caused the distortion has moved on...overall about 2/3 of the tree has this problem, the other 1/3 looks much better, darker bigger leaves.
It looks like there is some elm leaf beetle, a few leaves have skeletonizing and shot holes, but not many. There are a bunch of little 2mm green bugs under the leaves, they move fairly quick when you poke 'em. Trees with the green bugs show stippling on the leaf surface, are they an aphid?

So, what might have caused the dwarfing and distortion of the early leaves, and what are the green buggies?

Second, another elm, big, overgrown, loads of looong branches drooping down and some nasty regrowth and deadwood from some previous lopping. Can I do some end weight reduction and about a 15% canopy thin at this time of year?

Third, there are some other elms that have been BADLY topped probably 10yrs ago, I want to reduce the leaders by about 1/3 to suitable laterals, from probably 60' to about 40 or 50', I know its going to look like shit, (but they already look like shit) but they are on a boundary, near a neighbour's house, leaning that way...and providing a screen and shade for the HO, any negative implications for doing it now?

Last, I thinned and pruned a big old pear (napoleon) like 40' tall about three weeks ago, can I expect any more growth this summer? It has a pretty bad case of plum slug too...

Ta

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derwoodii

No DED is not here in OZ yet, we got the Elm beetle vector about 20+ years back so many say just a matter of time before some fool brings in contaminated wood.
New Zealand got the beetle too and some years back a case of DED was found so they nuked the site and with hope have controlled it.

Send pic of your trees we maybe able to help a bit but you seem to have it well sorted. er ?? what season are you in or is warm all year round.

Bermy

I'm in Tassie at the moment, so my questions are relevant to elm trees in Oz!

Sorry, no pics, think crinkled small elm leaves, part of the tree with sparse, pale leaves, and twig dieback, part of the tree with normal (although stippled from some kind of aphid, what IS that little green buggie?) size and colour.

Also, what about thinning and pruning now?

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Keep smiling, people will wonder what you are up to! (especially if you're gunning a chainsaw!)

Darrell Mcleod

In Tasmania be a bit patient and wait until leaf fall if you can - autumn towards winter is better - in winter itself best

Read up about pruning, maybe buy a book, look on the net and post some piccies here - essential really

Elm leaf beatle - find out in your area when they run up the trunk - double sided tape - two lots apart to catch the little buggers

I have a mate who is the best horticulturist I know apart from me of course - if you time it right he says it really helps but do not leave the tape on the trunk too

He has a maintenance gardening business with four staff in Melbourne's best suburbs - knows what he is doing

Post back - others here no doubt will help also

Perhaps get a pruning lesson from a local - funny thing is in a broad sense how you prune a rose is similar to a tree

Whoops - may get clobbered for that over generalisation

Darrell Mcleod

Just a bit of extra info here

When pruning deciduous trees, roses what ever it is best to wait as long as possible - just before bud swell

Reason is if you hack away too early the wood you cut is just sitting there dorment in winter really not doing much apart from being cold and wet

What you want after pruning is the wounds to compartmentalise or heal - grow over with new bark; so if you do it too early you have a chance of fungus, little buggies entering etc and all of that

Within reason as late as possible means the healing and compartmentalisation (what a word) or wound healing is happening more quickly

Make sense?

Bermy

Yes, thanks!

I am an arb, just translocated from the sub tropics on the other side of the planet, so I'm on a learning curve for the temperate tree species and timings.
Look, if I do some elms now, if I keep the cuts small and the overall thinning to a low %age is it a terrible thing?
I'm used to being able to prune at almost any time of year, but I realize with proper seasons and deciduous trees there are differences, hence the questions.
I have Tony Kirkham's book, How to prune Tree's Shrubs and Conifers, and Trees of the World, been burning up the net..., suggestions for any more books, any specific to Oz?

One of the trees is causing damage now to a roof and chimney, it HAS to be done, and another is badly overhanging the neighbour's roof with significant decay pockets at old topping cuts...risk vs tree, risk trumps I think.

And I gotta get used to back to front seasons too!
Thanks for the input gents

__________________
Keep smiling, people will wonder what you are up to! (especially if you're gunning a chainsaw!)

derwoodii

Ok now I understand Bermy, I was thinkin you were lost prunin elms in the Caribbean triangle. Ok so you an OZ come home, or Yank come over.
You canna go too wrong down there with Elms they been touched up wrong n hard in many OZ citys and they bounce back fast.

If ya yank, welcome n heres some fast lessons about OZ

WE ARE ONE

We are the people of a free nation of blokes, sheilas and the occasional wanker.
We come from many lands (although a few too many of us come from New Zealand), and although we live in the best country in the world, we reserve the right to moan about it whenever we bloody like.

We are One Nation but divided into many States.

First, there's Victoria, named after a queen who didn't believe in lesbians.
Victoria is the realm of Mossimo turtlenecks, cafe latte, grand final day, and big horse races.
Its capital is Melbourne, whose chief marketing pitch is that "it's liveable". At least that's what they think.
The rest of us think it is too bloody cold and wet.

Next, there's NSW, the realm of pastel shorts, macchiato with sugar, thin books read quickly and millions of dancing queens.
Its capital, Sydney has more queens than any other city in the world and is proud of it.
Its mascots are Bondi lifesavers that pull their Speedos up their cracks to keep the left and right sides of their brains separate.

Down south we have Tasmania, a State based on the notion that the family that bonks together stays together.
In Tassie, everyone gets an extra chromosome at conception.
Maps of the State bring smiles to the sternest faces.
It holds the world record for a single mass shooting, which the Yanks can't seem to beat no matter how often they try.

South Australia is the province of half-decent reds, a festival of foreigners and bizarre axe murders.
SA is the state of innovation.
Where else can you so effectively reuse country bank vaults and barrels as in Snowtown, just out of Adelaide (also named after a queen).
They had the Grand Prix, but lost it when the views of Adelaide sent the Formula One drivers to sleep at the wheel.

Western Australia is too far from anywhere to be relevant.
It's main claim to fame is that it doesn't have daylight saving because if it did, all the men would get erections on the bus on the way to work.
WA was the last state to stop importing convicts and many of them still work there in the government and business.

The Northern Territory is the red heart of our land.
Outback plains, cattle stations the size of Europe, kangaroos, Jackaroos, emus, Uluru, and dusty kids with big smiles.
It also has the highest beer consumption per capita of anywhere on the planet and its creek beds have the highest aluminium content of anywhere too.
Although the Territory is the centrepiece of our national culture, few of us live there and the rest prefer to fly over it on our way to Bali.

And there's Queensland.
While any mention of God seems silly in a document defining a nation of half arsed sceptics, it is worth noting that God probably made Queensland, as it's beautiful one day and perfect the next.
Why he filled it with them people remains a mystery.

Oh yes, and there's Canberra. The less said the better.

We, the citizens of Oz, are united by Highways, whose treacherous twists and turns kill more of us each year than murderers.
We are united in our lust for international recognition, so desperate for praise we leap in joy when a rag tag gaggle of corrupt IOC officials tells us Sydney is better than Beijing.

We are united by a democracy so flawed that a political party [albeit a redneck, gun-toting one] can get a million votes and still not win one seat in Federal Parliament.

Not that we're whingeing.

We want to make "No worries mate" our national phrase, "She'll be right mate" our national attitude and "Waltzing Matilda" our national anthem (so what if it's about a sheep-stealing crim who commits suicide).

We love sport so much our newsreaders can read the death toll from a sailing race and still tell us who's winning.

And we're the best in the world at all the sports that count, like cricket [although not lately], netball, rugby league and union, AFL, roo shooting, two up and horse racing. We also have the biggest rock, the tastiest meat pies, and the worst dressed Olympians in the known universe.

Only in Australia can a pizza delivery get to your house faster than an ambulance.

Only in Australia do we have bank doors wide open, no security guards, or cameras but chain the pens to the desk.

Stand proud Aussies - we shoot, we root, we vote. We are girt by sea and pissed by lunchtime.
Even though we might seem a racist, closed minded, sports obsessed little people, at least we feel better for it.

I am, you are, we are Australian!

P.S We also shoot and eat the two animals that are on our National
Crest!!!! No other country has this distinction

Apocalypsse

Love it. Totally agree with it all especially the part about NSW :P

Bermy

Ha Ha, Brilliant!

I'm a Bermudian, which means British really, 'cause its still an overseas territory, but everyone here thinks we are Canadian, or Irish or... American...eerk!
I take it I can use your discourse to study for the citizenship test in a few years...
I come from a small, teensy island, to a not so small island...doing just fine! Love it here, which is good 'cause its where the Triangle spat us out when we weren't paying attention to the latitude vector...yeah didn't you know the Bermuda Triangle is really the Tardis and we are all Time Lords...

__________________
Keep smiling, people will wonder what you are up to! (especially if you're gunning a chainsaw!)