Dead Willows and Poplar tree,

[Trevor Gillbanks 6645]

My wife and I have taken a bit of time out and have travelled to Napier and then on to Gisborne and then to Tolaga Bay. (let's have no Covid discussion here).

 

We noticed from just outside Napier and all the way to Tolaga Bay there are many patches of dead willow and poplar trees.  These have not been sprayed as there are other trees in these dead zones that are still alive.

I noticed that many of the dead trees have black mould on the trees, however, not all the dead trees have the black mould.

I was wondering if this could be as a result of Giant Willow Aphids (GWA).

We have GWA in Manawatu also, but not so many dead trees.

 

I would appreciate any one who has some knowledge of this, as it will effect bees build up in spring time.

[tristan 4199]

sounds similar to what they look like up here. 

some get absolutely hammered and others not so much.

[nab 84]

its almost winter. there leaves drop off. ours have. 

willows and poplar are like politicians once established very hard to remove.   

[Jas 437]

I wonder if it could be a combination of sap suckers and drought together pushing trees over the edge . We must be over close to a metre of rainfall in deficit now , over the last 18 months or so. i can drive across swampy gullies that have never dried out before , so the water table will be way down There have been a lot of poplar poles fail up here due to the dry , so will be a replant for them  a bit later . 

[Trevor Gillbanks 6645]

2 hours ago, nab said:

its almost winter. there leaves drop off. ours have. 

willows and poplar are like politicians once established very hard to remove.   

These are not trees in deciduous mode.  Branches are rotting off and many of them are starting to fall overs.  It is more than winter shedding mode.

 

These trees appear to be 2 or 3 years dead.  There are some live ones amoungst them.  

[nab 84]

they could have been poisoned.

we kill some of the big old ones that are making a mess 

[Sailabee 1038]

There were whole lines of poplars that died of some lergy around here, used to drive past them most days, and watched from start to dropping to the ground over several years, and the same has happened to pines and macrocarpas - each with a different disease killing them.