At our July meeting, Master Gardener and past President Renee Marsh spoke to us about the Beech Leaf Disease that is affecting the Beech trees in Connecticut.

Beech leaf disease (BLD) is a novel disease which is affecting the American beech (Fagus grandifolia) in North America.  BLD symptoms have been shown to be associated with a newly recognized subspecies of the anguinid nematode Litylenchus crenatae mccannii.

The symptoms on beech foliage, best observed from below looking up into the canopy, are characterized by dark striping between leaf veins. Symptoms have also been found to include: aborted leaf enlargement; cupping, browning, and yellowing of foliage; branch and tip dieback; and in some cases, premature leaf dropping.

Leaves with severe symptoms are heavily banded, shrunken, and crinkled with a thickened, leathery texture.

Little is known about the biology of the pathogen and epidemiology of the disease, effective control or eradication measures are still the subject of ongoing research.

For more information about Beech Leaf Disease visit the website of CAES (Connecticut Agriculture Experiment Station.)

Information in this article was taken from the CAES article “Beech Leaf Disease – Updates 2021” by Drs. Yonghao Li and Robert E. Marra.