GIANT Beeches dropping leaves this spring....

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plymouthgarden SE Mass, MA(Zone 6b) May 10, 2005

Hi all - I'm new here, and have been spending lots of time reading & learning. What a great place!

My question is about my european beeches ... we have four 80-100' beeches that our house was built around (in 1965) - the largest has a trunk circumfrence of about 13'....so YES, they are GIANT! Beautiful trees. We've lived here 7+ years and it seems that every spring all four have a tremendous amount of small twig/leaf drop...infact, the ground is purple underneath them. The canopy is about 30' up, and i can see that the new leaves are opening with small holes in them (this happened last year too). No sign of the dreaded wintermoth that has been eating the trees in this area of Mass. Are my beeches in decline?

Anyone know if this is a regular thing? These trees are mature, we've been told they are quite old too. The bark looks great, no sign of Beech Bark Disease, thankfully.

Any advice would be much appreciated.....

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StarhillForest Illinois, IL(Zone 5b) May 12, 2005

The obvious would include wind or hail, but I presume you've eliminated such things already. Sometimes bored squirrels will clip small twigs, and they also may strip bark from branches. Check for that as well as insects. Also check to see if the growth has slowed over the past few years -- find a couple of branches in full sun and count back to the bud scale scars for each year, seeing if the annual growth increments are comparable. You might want to call a certified arborist to investigate, just in case it's something serious, before your trees go downhill too far to be saved.

Guy S.

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