ACUTE OAK DECLINE

Acute oak decline affects mature English and sessile oak trees (Quercus robur and Q.petraea) of at least 50 years old but has been spotted in younger trees. Acute oak decline is a disease that infects oak trees in the UK. It mainly affects mature oak trees of over 50 years old of both Britain's native oak species: the pedunculate oak and the sessile oak. The disease is characterised by the trees bleeding or oozing a dark fluid from small lesions or splits in their bark.

 

Symptoms include: Cause is thought to be a bacterial infection in association with a bark beetle. The individual trees may have a predisposition to decline from an earlier abiotic event, weakening the tree and enabling biotic agents to establish.