Tree treatment

Several old elm trees in Charlottetown inoculated against Dutch elm disease

Several majestic, old elm trees in Charlottetown are receiving potential life-saving treatment.

The city has been inoculating trees since 2010 but has switched this year to the fungicide Arbotetc 2020-S, which is believed to be more effective than the previous product the municipality had used, says Beth Hoar, Charlottetown’s parkland conservationist.

Morgan Laverty, a Dutch elm disease technician, was treating an American elm tree on Hillsborough Street Thursday morning. The tree, which stands about 85 feet tall and is at least 100 years old, is the eighth tree Laverty has treated this year in Charlottetown.

He is looking to do one or two more this year, notes Hoar.

She says the treatment lasts for three years. The city plans to treat another set of elm trees next year at an average cost of $360 per tree.

“We still have some really magnificent elms left…well worth saving,’’ says Hoar.

“We have had positive feedback from pretty much anyone who has come upon us doing this…a lot of people are really positive about the fact that we are trying to prevent trees from getting Dutch elm disease.’’

Since March 2015, 440 elm trees have been cut down in Charlottetown due to Dutch elm disease.

Roughly 450 elm trees remain in the city.

JIM DAY/THE GUARDIAN Morgan Laverty, a Dutch elm disease technician, treats a tall American elm tree on Hillsborough Street in Charlottetown Thursday in an attempt to help prevent the healthy tree from contracting Dutch elm disease.