Elm identification and weird growths.

ironliver316

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I bought a couple of these little guys for a group planting. The grower wasn't sure what kind of elm, but I'm assuming Chinese. Any thoughts? And they all have this chalky grey/green growth (fungus?). What is it and how do I get rid of it? And last question, what is the black growth on the nodes, (is it related to the gray/green stuff?) and how do I treat that? I'd like to go back and get a couple more, but not if this is a major problem that's going to kill these trees.
 

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Shibui

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Even with so few leaves I'd be confident that you have Chinese elms. Hard to tell from the leaves at this stage but the long, straight growth habit looks very much like the variety called Seiju.
The lumpy nodes are a regular feature of many Chinese elms. The good news is that Seiju develops corky bark which should cover up any of these that are left on the trunk after pruning.
Hard pruning is my preferred method to get trees with better bends and taper in the trunk so I expect that most of what you see now will be chopped off at some stage.
 

ironliver316

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Even with so few leaves I'd be confident that you have Chinese elms. Hard to tell from the leaves at this stage but the long, straight growth habit looks very much like the variety called Seiju.
The lumpy nodes are a regular feature of many Chinese elms. The good news is that Seiju develops corky bark which should cover up any of these that are left on the trunk after pruning.
Hard pruning is my preferred method to get trees with better bends and taper in the trunk so I expect that most of what you see now will be chopped off at some stage.
Thanks for the response. I'm very meticulous about documenting all my trees, down to the variety, so that helps a lot. But no ideas on what the gray/green stuff is? I need to know if I need to quarantine these from my other trees.
 

Shibui

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Oh. Now I see the lichen on the trunks. I missed that when I looked first.
Lichen does not actually hurt the trees but if you don't like the look the vinegar will certainly kill it. I usually use vinegar diluted with equal parts water and it is still plenty strong enough to kill mosses and lichens.
It may take some scrubbing to get it all off but even the stubborn bits will disappear with some time after vinegar treatment.
 

0soyoung

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Personally, I love lichen. It adds an interesting look of age, IMHO, especially when the bark is otherwise uninteresting.
 

ironliver316

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Personally, I love lichen. It adds an interesting look of age, IMHO, especially when the bark is otherwise uninteresting.
Now that I know it's harmless, I really wouldn't mind it. But it's just so thick in some areas that it's giving an inverse taper look in places.
 

AJL

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If you live in a clean air zone the lichen will probably survive but it cannot tolerate air pollution of modern cities and industrial areas.
 

rockm

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Could be alot of things causing those lumps (which aren't lichen--the lichen is growing on them) could be regular kind of node swelling that cultivars such as seiju get, or could some kind of bark infection...Would be helpful to know where these came from and what variety they are...Lichen and hereditary features are harmless, gall infections aren't.
 
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