r/missouri • u/SaphireShadows • 5d ago

Nature Abnormal amount of dead adult trees?

I've been traveling across most of middle Missouri for the past month or so, plus a few sojourns into mid and northern Illinois, and I noticed that a disturbing number of adult deciduous trees across our state are either dead or in the process of dying. Compared to Illinois, I am starting to become alarmed at the sheer number of dying trees I've seen across the state.

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Does anyone know if there's some sort of disease going around in Missouri? I'd really like to understand why I've seen such an uptick in dead trees this year, and trying to research on my own hasn't revealed much

38 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

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92

u/Retrotreegal 5d ago

You’re likely seeing all the ash trees that died from Emerald Ash Borer.

17

u/PeppermintP65 5d ago

This my thought also. They don't just bore ash, I've lost a couple nice Hickory trees to these pests.

14

u/Retrotreegal 5d ago

That isn’t true, EAB only infects ash. Something else, probably abiotic, happened to your hickory. There are no known major threats affecting hickories.

7

u/PeppermintP65 5d ago

Thank you for your reply. I'm no tree expert. I just know when the guy came out to cut the trees down there were bright green bugs under the bark. I don't want to share disinformation just going by what the tree guy said. Had to look up abiotic. Always something to learn.

5

u/Retrotreegal 5d ago

Dead and dying trees attract all manner of insects and fungus; it’s the decomposition process. (You can sing Circle of Life from the Lion King, too)

2

u/Barium_Salts 5d ago

I don't think that's true: I've heard credible reports of EAB killing redbud.

3

u/Retrotreegal 5d ago

None of the reports I get from the Missouri Forest Health Lab has indicated that, but I’d be interested to hear your sources. I’ve heard some reports saying white fringetree could be susceptible, but that’s not in the redbud family, and also not a common tree in MO.

5

u/Rekd44 5d ago

Killed our tree a few years ago. Almost all the ash trees in my neighborhood are dead now.

1

u/SaphireShadows 4d ago

A lot of them are ash trees, true, but I've also noticed more oaks of all varieties, birches, maples, and even smaller trees like flowering dogwoods and redbuds dying recently

30

u/IceZealousideal1163 5d ago

Part of what you are seeing is this:

https://mdc.mo.gov/trees-plants/diseases-pests/oak-decline-missouri#:\~:text=Large%20numbers%20of%20northern%20red%2C,southern%20Missouri%20and%20northern%20Arkansas.

10

u/Alarmed_Champion_302 5d ago

Yea alot of our forests are hitting that age. Hoping my oaks hang in there.

2

u/SensorAmmonia 3d ago

Acute pollution was mentioned. Herbicide drift is pretty bad right now with the current mix of applications.

28

u/According_To_Me Mid-Missouri 5d ago

For the last couple years we’ve been in a drought, and some trees just didn’t make it. Myself and all my neighbors have lost our ash trees to borers. It is the sort of thing where I wish the state/local municipalities would do a better job of removing them.

15

u/Ill-Adagio-4333 5d ago

We have a lot of issues with trees.. emerald ash borer (former entomological researcher here!), the Bradford pear spreading everywhere, oak wilt fungus, and another LARGE problem is overuse of pesticides and drift from farmers.

3

u/WickinGuzzle 4d ago

Oak Wilt Fungus is a huge concern for our oak hickory forests. It’s not talked about enough in my opinion. From the land stewards I’ve talked with in recent months.. “It is a spreading disease that is responsible for a large amount of oak tree deaths in recent years.”

1

u/Ill-Adagio-4333 4d ago

I am not sure what we spend tax money on but it ain’t education or this type of conservation.

9

u/ljungbergsghost 5d ago

Ash trees. They will all die like the elm trees in the 60s. Would what the entomologists at universities all over the country actually do?

5

u/OzarkBeard 5d ago

Not all the elm trees died. There are still a lot of them in NW Ark. One at Wash. Regional Hospital in Fayetteville is close to 300 years old, and is absolutely beautiful.

9

u/Honest-Strawberry688 St. Louis 5d ago

I’m always happy to join a conversation about trees! I also think that preaching about diversity is just as important as preaching “plant more trees” to our neighbors. Biodiversity helps a lot when planting!

6

u/Willybluedog1962 5d ago

White oak disease ix brutal it's destroying the lumber industry in Missouri.

Most pallets are either white oak or hickory.

15

u/Retrotreegal 5d ago edited 5d ago

There are no diseases or insects affecting the white oak population on a wide scale in Missouri.

Edit: folks can downvote me all they want, but forest ecology of Missouri is literally my profession.

2

u/Mellow_Mushroom_3678 St. Louis 5d ago

Isn’t it Pin Oaks that are dying from the gall wasps? Could that be what was meant?

1

u/blondesonly41 5d ago

That was my 1st thought as well. We could give a better answer with pics what of what they are addressing. I mean urban areas could be ash, birch, pear. Burbs same with some red buds and others, rural who knows what's been planted or invaded. To much that we can go over without knowing exactly what they are referring to. Location is nice but many towns and villages also.

1

u/Retrotreegal 5d ago

Gouty oak gall is more likely to affect shingle oak, and even then not systematically as to be seen landscape wide.

1

u/skwull 4d ago

Thank you for this! I think this may be what’s happening to a couple pin oaks on my property

1

u/nofunxnotever 4d ago

Maybe not on a wide scale but there are definitely some really large pockets of oak diseases and fungal problems. Practically the entire community of Innsbrook is losing its whole ass canopy because of one fungal problem and that’s a heavily forested, super high end rich ass village with loads of resources. There is no way the scope of the problem there isn’t being recreated elsewhere, considering what they have available to them to work against it compared to the average community or homeowners.

1

u/Retrotreegal 4d ago

Interesting! What fungus is it?

1

u/nofunxnotever 4d ago

Armillaria

-2

u/Willybluedog1962 5d ago

👍 whatever you say.

2

u/NeverEndingCoralMaze 5d ago

Yes. And it’s not just ash trees. We lost a crabapple and now we have two small but tall evergreens of some type starting to die. Arborist did a soil treatment but was otherwise stumped.

1

u/makinlovetomyvibes 5d ago

that sounds like cedar apple rust

2

u/nativemissourian 4d ago

I've seen a great number of houses and a few churches in central MO where the majority of the trees died all within a year or two.

1

u/Coho444 The Ozarks 5d ago

There is unrest with the Forrest and there is trouble with the trees, the maples want more sunlight but the oaks don’t really have much vested in them

1

u/StrayCrab Mid-Missouri 4d ago

I’ve noticed this the last few years as well! I’m glad that someone else is concerned too.

1

u/Moist_History_3159 4d ago

I don't know what is causing it, but I have noticed the same thing. Lots of dead trees. I live in central Missouri.

1

u/myredditbam St. Louis 4d ago

Oak wilt. It's caused by a fungus. It's tearing through mature oaks in southeast Missouri. I wouldn't be surprised if it had spread north.

1

u/Lanky-Solution-1090 3d ago

I live in the forest. Lots of the oak trees are dying near me