Writing this, I am experiencing a real dilemma and would welcome any comments or suggestions as to what I need to do.
Part way down my rolling backyard sits a huge, old elm tree. It has provided shade for many years and in the last dozen or more years has been the focal point for a fern garden with a brick walk guiding you through it.
Now, I greatly admire trees. They have played a monumental role in our history; providing housing, warmth in winter and markers along the way west. In fact, I have hung on to a straggly row of arborvitae for way too long, trying to prune them into something they’re not and claiming they serve as a wonderful hedge.
But, this particular elm tree is starting to show the sad signs of aging and the even sadder signs of weather, and I am beginning to wonder if it will survive. This spring, it looks even more dry and scaly than usual and with very little foliage appearing. It just doesn’t look healthy.
At Muskingum County’s recent ag breakfast, I learned my tree is among many in the area showing signs from our weather patterns of the past few years, especially from 2024 and 2025 when we experienced high levels of drought. Even though we have had significant rainfall this spring, the effects of the drought patterns in those two years appear to have had a permanent effect on the old elm tree.
Many other trees in our area are suffering the consequences of these drought years. The yellow poplars, with their high demand for moisture, were dropping their leaves in late July and August instead of later in the fall.
The speaker at our ag breakfast, a service forester from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, explained that a 50 to 60-foot yellow poplar, according to long term studies, can use more than 200 gallons of water a day. Other trees showing stress were the red maple, sugar maple, white oak and shagbark hickory.
Lack of adequate moisture does not just affect trees in the dry years. It also results in the trees having less energy and fewer resources to defend themselves in the following years from things like the poplar weevil and Dutch elm disease. Damaged trees tend to partially leaf out or go completely leafless and actually die later in the year. Unfortunately, the lumber from such trees has usually been stained through the drought conditions and cannot be salvaged. Thus, I’m told, the tree has lost all economic value.
As you travel the back roads of the county this spring and summer, you will likely see a number of those unfortunate trees that just couldn’t stand the stress of the last two summers. As for our old elm tree, I think it is coming down due to the many signs of the drought, disease and just old age.
Chuck Bell is a former 4-H educator for Muskingum County.
This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: An old elm’s decline mirrors a larger problem for Ohio trees
Reporting by Chuck Bell, Special to the Times Recorder, Zanesville Times Recorder / Zanesville Times Recorder
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