| Wpg Treeman |
| | July 16, 2010 | Reply with quote | #1 |
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I was doing some research on Butternuts -- a great tree for Winnipeg and possibly other parts of the prairies -- but I came across a number of recent disturbing media reports about a disease that is threatening the species with extinction: butternut canker.
According to The Ottawa Citizen, March 13, 2010:
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/technology/Searching+butternut+cure/2677658/story.html
“It’s lethal. … It infiltrates the tree wherever it can and there is no way of stopping it. There’s no cure. There’s nothing you can spray the tree with. So finding resistant trees is the best way to go,” says Fleguel, the field manager of the butternut recovery program for the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority."
(...)
"Survival is truly what’s at stake, since the fungus has infected butternuts throughout their range, from Louisiana to New Brunswick, and contributed to a decline so severe that in some American states, 80 per cent of butternuts have died off. In Canada, the butternut is listed as endangered under both federal and Ontario provincial law." This is very discouraging. The tree is very hardy and I wondered if the tree should be planted more widely as a replacement for elm and ash. Now, a disease is threatening this species too. This is such a shame. I hope that the butternuts being sold on the prairies aren't infected with this fungus. Hopefully, our geographic isolation from the native range of the tree will leave our small number or trees unaffected.
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| treeboy |
| | July 19, 2010 | Reply with quote | #2 |
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Just one of many trees in trouble... Makes you wonder just what the hell we are doing to this planet.
Butternut: 80% gone throughout it's range.
American Elm: Decimated by Dutch Elm Disease
Ash: Experts are saying there is a good possibility for extinction of all Ash in N. America within 100 years due to Emerald Ash borer.
Flowering Dogwood: Being wiped out by Anthracnose.
Beech: Another canker disease threatens this genus.
American Chestnut: All but extinct.
Eastern Hemlock: Being wiped out.
Sadly, there is nothing that kills Manitoba Maple, Manchurian Elm or Poplar...
"And the weed trees shall inherit the earth..."
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| Keith |
| | Aug 15, 2010 | Reply with quote | #3 |
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Greenland has about 5 fully mature Butternuts that were planted about 6 years ago. If you wanted to buy one, you would have to have them spaded. Magnificent looking plants that do deserve more attention.If Greenland wasn't such an expensive place to work, I'd buy one for myself  |
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