Oh No! Disease is Attacking Chestnut Trees in France
Okay, I just read an article in the Connection that I’m not so happy about. It appears that there is a disease attacking our Chestnut trees here in France.
Fall is normally the time when the leaves on trees start turning brown – well, at least the grape vines do. (A lot of our trees here on the French Riviera stay green all year long!) But in many parts of France, a disease is hitting Chestnut trees and turning their leaves brown all year long.
The disease is called “Chancre du chataignier” (chestnut canker) has been spreading through France for several years. It’s also hitting trees in Italy, Germany and Switzerland, the French Minister of Agriculture says. It’s caused by a teeny tiny fungus, and sadly, there’s no cure. It really attacks the trunk of the trees, but it turns the leaves brown and gives them a dried up, almost dead look when it reaches the top of the tree.
One bit of good news is that the trees are supposed to be building a kind of resistance to the fungus, which means they’re not only surviving longer, but in some cases they’re actually recovering.
I’ll update this post as soon as I can with a picture of some of the chestnut trees in one of our local forests.
Tags:Chestnut Canker,Disease hits chestnut trees in France,Italy Germany and Switzerland have chestnut canker too
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