Sorensen Neighborhood

Dutch Elm Disease Continues March Through Sorensen (Archive)

Feb 22, 2005

?“This is our worst season for Dutch elm disease (DED) losses since the late 1970s,?” says Jim Vaughan, SLP Environmental Coordinator. ?“We have currently marked over 1300 trees for removal due to DED this year. Of those 1300 trees, approximately 500 trees reside on the boulevards. The average size tree lost on the boulevard is 20-inch in diameter, which costs about $600 to remove (stump included). The City shares equal costs of boulevard tree removals with the adjacent property owner (50 percent each).?”
Jim strongly recommends the elm injection program. The average cost is $265, with the City subsidizing 40 percent of that amount. Contact the Forestry office at 952-924-2565 to get an injection proposal. The injections can be performed only during the growing season, and this year it looks like the season may be done by mid-September.

Here?’s what you can do:
- Prune elms only in winter, when they are dormant. If you must prune now to remove damaged wood, cover the wound with a tar-based paint.
- Call the City if you have or know of a large pile of firewood. A tree inspector will check for infested elm logs.
- Report dead American elms.
- Report elms with symptoms of the disease. Look for leaves turning yellow or brown, or curling near the top of the tree where the beetles feed. Call ASAP, since if the infection is caught early enough, it?’s possible to save the tree by removing only the diseased portion.
- Have healthy elms injected with a fungicide to protect them.
- Remove diseased trees.