Date: Fri 02-Oct-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

Victor-Lumper-Maple-trees

Full Text:

Local Man Chronicles Maples In Decline

(with photo)

BY STEVE BIGHAM

Victor Lumper walked around the Hattertown Historic District last week

pointing to this tree and that. All of those he pointed to were sugar maples

-- most of them were dying.

Unlike the average person, who takes just a casual interest in trees, usually

during the spring and fall when the leaves are changing, Mr Lumper has let his

interest grow into a passion. In a way, the Hattertown Road resident has been

forced to. Although he is not a trained arborist, he does recognize a problem

when he sees one. Since he moved to Newtown in 1990, Mr Lumper has seen

numerous maples die a slow death before his eyes. The devastation in and

around his home at 214 Hattertown Road is impressive.

"See that one over there. That's dying. It'll be dead in a year or two. You

can tell by the bright leaves," he explained. "You see that one over there.

That's dead."

For several years now, sugar maples have been falling victim to the plant

disease known as verticillium wilt. The disease is caused by fungus that lives

in the soil and usually invades susceptible trees through the roots, according

to the plant pathology department at the University of Ohio. Once inside the

tree, the fungus grows in and plugs the water transport system, cutting off

the flow of water to the branches. Slowly, the trees begin to die. There is no

cure. Trees weakened by drought are usually the first to be hit.

Mr Lumper has dozens of photos of infected maple trees in Fairfield County.

Each shows unusually brightly colored leaves on one half of the tree. This is

not a normal change in color, he said. It is a sign that verticillium wilt has

taken hold of the tree.

Diagnosis of the fungus can also be noted by a discoloration of the inner wood

of a twig. In maples, it shows up as an olive green stripe.

Percy Ferris of Total Landscaping & Tree Service of Newtown likened the wilt

to cancer.

"Once you have it, it's tough to get rid of," he said.

As if the onslaught of verticillium wilt wasn't enough, maple trees are now

facing even more disease. The late frost of this past spring and the

mid-summer drought has opened the door for more destruction.

"It's been one problem after another with the maples," noted Sharon Douglas, a

plant pathologist from the state's Agricultural Experiment Station in New

Haven.

Mr Ferris said tiny insects called pearthrips have also added to the problem.

Not seen in the past five years, the pearthrips are back, ingesting and

damaging buds just as they begin to swell up on their way toward becoming

leaves. As the leaves finally unfold, the damage is done.

Many of the maples have already lost their leaves and their bark is covered

with tar spots. Those leaves still managing to stay on the tree are curled,

stunted and blackened and are often tattered and torn.

Experts fear the maple tree may be headed toward the same fate as the American

chestnut tree, which once accounted for 40 percent of New England's hardwood

forests. Today, the chestnut tree is hard to find, having fallen victim to a

blight fungus that created lethal, sunken cankers.