Help me save a 200+ year old specimen beech.

Often trees can be injured by intervention, ment to do good.....but fail. I call these people problems.

Study up on your Beech, and it's likes, Dislikes and where it likes to call home....ie it's range....annual rainfall, ect. Get to know and understand your sick patient some more.

Provided is a link: https://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/misc/ag_654/volume_2/fagus/grandifolia.htm

You have gotten some sound advice from other members of this forum in the past, and you should find the right person in your area to help. The old Beech is in decline, and for quite some time now.

IF that was my tree at this point, I would not allow ANY regular foot traffic or other kind of traffic over the Critical Root Zone (CRZ). I would not even mulch at this point.

We have been in TOO WET of summers during the last years ( NJ and MD similar). I cannot imagine needing to water that Beech in such wet summers.

I would NOT make any soil applications to that tree at this time. (If it were mine)

I WOULD Let it Leaf out, and in June, send 20-30 newest leaves from different branches out for Tissue testing and post results here.

Thereafter consider a PRESCRIPTIVE Plan regarding soil applied anything, including Compost tea to boost biology.

Your soil tests do show some obvious ratio mis-matches, ect, BUT see what the leaves tell FIRST, before just throwing more guesses at that old Beech.

The next 3 months likely will not do more people harm, and by waiting to do some good Lab and Dectective work first, perhaps the only way for some more seasons for the tree to cast some Shade.
 
The Green One said:
Often trees can be injured by intervention, ment to do good.....but fail. I call these people problems.

Study up on your Beech, and it's likes, Dislikes and where it likes to call home....ie it's range....annual rainfall, ect. Get to know and understand your sick patient some more.

Provided is a link: https://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/misc/ag_654/volume_2/fagus/grandifolia.htm

You have gotten some sound advice from other members of this forum in the past, and you should find the right person in your area to help. The old Beech is in decline, and for quite some time now.

IF that was my tree at this point, I would not allow ANY regular foot traffic or other kind of traffic over the Critical Root Zone (CRZ). I would not even mulch at this point.

We have been in TOO WET of summers during the last years ( NJ and MD similar). I cannot imagine needing to water that Beech in such wet summers.

I would NOT make any soil applications to that tree at this time. (If it were mine)

I WOULD Let it Leaf out, and in June, send 20-30 newest leaves from different branches out for Tissue testing and post results here.

Thereafter consider a PRESCRIPTIVE Plan regarding soil applied anything, including Compost tea to boost biology.

Your soil tests do show some obvious ratio mis-matches, ect, BUT see what the leaves tell FIRST, before just throwing more guesses at that old Beech.

The next 3 months likely will not do more people harm, and by waiting to do some good Lab and Dectective work first, perhaps the only way for some more seasons for the tree to cast some Shade.
Click to expand...
This i can do. noone has done a foliar who ive had out.

My goto lab is waypoint analytical and it seems they can do this testing: https://www.waypointanalytical.com/PlantTissues

I have not been doing any supplementary watering, at all. The soil has good retention and is cool and appropriately damp (not wet) throughout the season.

No foot or heavier traffic has been occurring, so thats good.
 
jbrukardt said:
This i can do. noone has done a foliar who ive had out.

My goto lab is waypoint analytical and it seems they can do this testing: https://www.waypointanalytical.com/PlantTissues

I have not been doing any supplementary watering, at all. The soil has good retention and is cool and appropriately damp (not wet) throughout the season.

No foot or heavier traffic has been occurring, so thats good.
Click to expand...
we also use Waypoint
 
6 inches of mulch seems very excessive, and may shed water away from some of the trees soil volume. If the mulch is all hardwood, I would be a little leery of increasing the manganese levels too high over time. It would be worth doing a mix of soft and hardwood chips, and preferably aged fine ground wood chips. The mulch should be inoculated with Wine cap mushroom (Stropharia rugosoannulata), this will not infect the tree but will rapidly decompose the mulch which can be air tilled in.

Forget the mycorrhizae because the native population will thrive once the soil conditions are back to a more forest floor like state.

Forget any salt-based fertilizer, as we are going to want the salt index anything we applied to be very low.

Be careful with the decompaction, most people don’t realize that the air coming out of the tip of an airspade is about 200°. You can literally desiccate and kill fine absorbing roots attempting to help them. I would pick times when the soil temperature is around 50 to 70° at a depth of 10 inches. Make sure the soil is very moist, but obviously not satires or field capacity, As you can and producing new and harder pads because of foot traffic during the operating.

I would have the CEC and organic matter % of the soil tested and evaluated, as well as the true bulk density. Burst CO2 Soil respiration tests can be very helpful as well and can be done on the cheap using Solvita tests.

Set up a TPZ zone, I suggest a 4 foot black chain-link fence, and 1 double gate access with padlocks. A small signs on all four sides of the fence that the denotes that the tree should not be encroached on, and then a small excerpt on the significance of the tree and why it’s being protected.

Contact information for the owner and arborist attending the tree is recommended, and depending on the surrounding population, bilingual verbiage might be recommended
 
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jbrukardt said:
This i can do. noone has done a foliar who ive had out.

My goto lab is waypoint analytical and it seems they can do this testing: https://www.waypointanalytical.com/PlantTissues

I have not been doing any supplementary watering, at all. The soil has good retention and is cool and appropriately damp (not wet) throughout the season.

No foot or heavier traffic has been occurring, so thats good.
Click to expand...
All, chiming in a bit later, but had a foliar analysis done as was recommended and could use some help interpreting

https://imgur.com/XXYvDgD

Per this reference, everything looks really good, in the normal to high ranges.

agsci.psu.edu

Beech, Any (Agricultural Analytical Services Lab)

agsci.psu.edu agsci.psu.edu
 
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jbrukardt said:
All, chiming in a bit later, but had a foliar analysis done as was recommended and could use some help interpreting

https://imgur.com/XXYvDgD

Per this reference, everything looks really good, in the normal to high ranges.

agsci.psu.edu

Beech, Any (Agricultural Analytical Services Lab)

agsci.psu.edu agsci.psu.edu
Click to expand...
Plant Analysis Handbook III, shows that your S and Mn are just a tiny bit low............

An earlier poster here has a product that could help......it is (LAB) Lactic acid bacteria based: https://www.organicapproach.com/p-3694-influence-liquid-soil-and-plant-biostimulant-with-biological-foods.aspx?CatID=73#

I would think a 32oz bottle making 32 Gallons of finished solution, Drenched within the Dripline would be a great start.

Some pics of the Tree in it's currant state, would be nice to see.

The dryer summer we just had in 5+ years sure did not hurt either with surface Oxygen levels.
 
The Green One said:
Plant Analysis Handbook III, shows that your S and Mn are just a tiny bit low............

An earlier poster here has a product that could help......it is (LAB) Lactic acid bacteria based: https://www.organicapproach.com/p-3694-influence-liquid-soil-and-plant-biostimulant-with-biological-foods.aspx?CatID=73#

I would think a 32oz bottle making 32 Gallons of finished solution, Drenched within the Dripline would be a great start.

Some pics of the Tree in it's currant state, would be nice to see.

The dryer summer we just had in 5+ years sure did not hurt either with surface Oxygen levels.
Click to expand...
thats a spam link. If you click it, it links to an ad, cut and pasted it works
 
One of the keys to getting a 200 year old beech tree to become a 300 year old beech tree, is to adjust your expectations of the trees appearance away from that of a 150 year old beech tree.

Veteran trees can continue to consolidate and maintain their diminishing form quite well.

All these posts, and no actual photographs of the tree. It would be great to have at least a photograph of the patient.
 
cerviarborist said:
One of the keys to getting a 200 year old beech tree to become a 300 year old beech tree, is to adjust your expectations of the trees appearance away from that of a 150 year old beech tree.

Veteran trees can continue to consolidate and maintain their diminishing form quite well.

All these posts, and no actual photographs of the tree. It would be great to have at least a photograph of the patient.
Click to expand...

There's photos of the trees at the bottom of the original post. This is a true point though, trees forms can change towards the end of the life but still last many and many years. Called Senescence right?

Arguably changing the environment a tree has been used to for it's whole life (nutrient and mineral imbalances etc) could lead it to its inevitable death faster. Or through the senescence phase faster.

Has been quite a few years since the original post, jbrukardt any updates pictures to post?
 
Parks said:
There's photos of the trees at the bottom of the original post. This is a true point though, trees forms can change towards the end of the life but still last many and many years. Called Senescence right?

Arguably changing the environment a tree has been used to for it's whole life (nutrient and mineral imbalances etc) could lead it to its inevitable death faster. Or through the senescence phase faster.

Has been quite a few years since the original post, jbrukardt any updates pictures to post?
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You might tag @jbrukardt in the post (to do that, put the @ sign in front of the name, and then tap on the name when it appears in a little drop down as you’re typing.)

And yes, a tree can change form and will look different as it ages; there’s an ancient Beech in front of the 1650s farmhouse down the lane from me, it has some major character, and its own beauty, but sure doesn’t look like it did when it was a young specimen.
 
Photo progression:

2010:
https://imgur.com/lkIA6j9
2016:
https://imgur.com/2QB1y3o
2021:
https://imgur.com/77IvW24

Since 2019 or so, its been losing limbs, probably 5ish a year, 4-6 inch diameter.

At this point, I am slowly gaining acceptance that its probably not going to be saved.

Too much root damage occurred in 2012-2015, and the water table fundamentally changed with a housing development and major drainage swale built within 100 feet of the CRZ. The surrounding land used to be wet, and had several nearly swampy areas, all of which went away when that drainage plan for the housing development was implemented.
 
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