The last of our eight tree ferns died while I was away for surgery. Happily, the smaller Silver Ferns are not affected, but all our big ones have now gone.
A response from the Department of Conservation suggests that the dying-off of Northland’s Mamaku tree ferns may be related to the disease that killed most of Northland’s mature Cabbage Trees about twenty years ago. Some people are researching reports on that event to see what can be learned.
Evidently both species are susceptible to some kind of deadly virus, especially when they are under stress. That’s why the great valleys of Mamaku are surviving but the small groups on the forest fringe and along the roads are dying off at a horrific rate in the current drought. You can see them everywhere.
It would seem that nothing can be done but it’s really sad to see these magnificent specimens reduced to bare trunks. I suppose what’s most interesting to me is that nobody seems to have noticed the wholesale change taking place along the roads we travel day by day.
I wonder if I also fail to see the death and dis-ease in the human presence among which I move daily? Has my own indisposition due to surgery made me more sensitive about the condition of others or has it merely concentrated my attention even more on myself? H’m…
A response from the Department of Conservation suggests that the dying-off of Northland’s Mamaku tree ferns may be related to the disease that killed most of Northland’s mature Cabbage Trees about twenty years ago. Some people are researching reports on that event to see what can be learned.
Evidently both species are susceptible to some kind of deadly virus, especially when they are under stress. That’s why the great valleys of Mamaku are surviving but the small groups on the forest fringe and along the roads are dying off at a horrific rate in the current drought. You can see them everywhere.
It would seem that nothing can be done but it’s really sad to see these magnificent specimens reduced to bare trunks. I suppose what’s most interesting to me is that nobody seems to have noticed the wholesale change taking place along the roads we travel day by day.
I wonder if I also fail to see the death and dis-ease in the human presence among which I move daily? Has my own indisposition due to surgery made me more sensitive about the condition of others or has it merely concentrated my attention even more on myself? H’m…
Posts
How long from sick to die off?
ReplyDeletePlease communicate with me.
From 2006, A similar tree fern disease also occur in Taiwan.
Yao Moan Huang
huangym809@gmail.com
I think that I noticed most of our four or five mamaku dying over two summers.
ReplyDeleteWe noticed pale fronds which began to turn yellow the first summer when it was very dry. The following spring the new fronds looked very weak. And another dry summer after that was too much for most of them. The last died (see pic) at the end of that summer.
There has been no noticeable die-off around Northland since then. Dead trunks from those two years can be found in small clusters in marginal areas all over the far north. But the big "forest" communities seem to be OK.
I guess the main problems for individual tree ferns and small groups on the edges of roads and properties were: their location, the two very dry summers, and probably some virus that weakened them.
I have still never noticed any public comment on the sudden loss of all these small clusters.
I guess all that isn't much help to you.
Dave
Thank for your useful imformation.
DeleteA terrible wilting disease go on affecting 3 Taiwan gain tree ferns (Cyathea lepifera, C. spinulosa, and C. podophylla) since 2006. Recent investigation had recorded more than 40,000 die-off individuals in low land forest. Noticeable symptom just as crown rot as described in other tree ferns. Could you mail your mail adress to my mail box? I would tell more information about Taiwan tree fern disease.
Yao Moan