Rockville, MD – September 02, 2026 – PRESSADVANTAGE –
Yanez Tree Service Experts is drawing attention to the structural condition of beech trees on Maryland properties following state confirmation that beech leaf disease has worsened across the region. The Maryland Department of Agriculture confirmed the presence of the disease in Maryland in 2023 and reported in June 2025 that symptoms had intensified in counties including Montgomery, Howard, Frederick, Anne Arundel, Carroll, Cecil, Harford and Baltimore, as well as Baltimore City.
Beech leaf disease is caused by Litylenchus crenatae mccannii, a microscopic foliar nematode that overwinters in leaf buds and enters leaves as they develop in spring. According to University of Maryland Extension, the organism is unusual among nematodes because most species of this type feed on roots, while this one lives and feeds inside the buds and leaves of the tree.
Extension describes the early symptoms as dark bands between the veins of the leaves, visible at bud break and most easily seen by looking up at the canopy from below. As the condition progresses, leaves may thicken, curl or become distorted, and infected leaves are often unevenly distributed through the lower canopy. Over time the canopy thins as leaves drop early and leaf buds fail to develop, producing the dieback and decline that mark the later stages.
All beech species are susceptible, including native American beech, recognized by its smooth grey bark, and European beech, widely planted as an ornamental in residential landscapes. The disease was first identified near Cleveland, Ohio in 2012 and has since been confirmed in states including Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts. In Maryland it has now been found in 14 of the state’s 23 counties.
Craig Kuhn, manager of the forest pest program at the Maryland Department of Agriculture, has compared the potential impact of the disease to that of the emerald ash borer, an invasive insect that has killed large numbers of ash trees across the eastern United States over the past two decades.
Monitoring elsewhere in the region indicates how quickly the condition can spread. At Prince William Forest Park in northern Virginia, where the disease was first found in 2021, the National Park Service reported that by 2024 it had been confirmed in nearly a third of the park’s long term monitoring plots containing American beech.
Public discussion of the disease has centered on the appearance of the leaves. Yanez Tree Service Experts is highlighting a separate consideration for property owners, which is what a thinning canopy means for a large tree standing near a house, a driveway or a road.
“A beech that is losing canopy is still a large tree standing in someone’s yard,” said Alejandro Yanez, owner of Yanez Tree Service Experts. “The leaves are what people notice, but the part that matters for the property underneath is the wood. Once branches start dying back, they dry out, and dry branches break instead of bending.”
Extension identifies dieback and decline as consequences of the disease in affected trees. For a property owner, that decline produces dead limbs within the canopy of a tree that may stand sixty feet or more above the ground, which is the condition deadwood removal is intended to address. Where a mature tree has developed a structural weakness such as a split limb or a poor union between two stems, cabling and bracing can provide supplemental support at the weak point rather than removing the tree. Where decline has advanced beyond what either approach can address, removal followed by stump grinding is the remaining option. The appropriate course depends on the individual tree rather than on the presence of symptoms alone.
Extension advises property owners to avoid contact with areas of infected vegetation, and to avoid moving leaves, twigs, soil, branches, seedlings and similar material out of areas where infected trees are present, as a precaution against spreading the nematode to unaffected trees. That guidance applies to how debris is handled during any work performed on or near an affected tree.
“Not every beech showing symptoms is a tree that has to come down,” Yanez said. “The question is what condition the wood is in and what is sitting underneath it. Those are two different assessments and they lead to different answers.”
Suspected cases can be reported to the Maryland Department of Agriculture’s Forest Pest Management unit, which has maintained permanent survey plots across the state since 2019 and continues to test additional counties for the presence of the disease and the nematode. University of Maryland Extension maintains a public resource page describing symptoms, distribution and current research.
Yanez Tree Service Experts is a family operated tree service company providing tree removal, tree trimming and pruning, deadwood removal, stump grinding, land clearing, and cabling and bracing for residential and commercial properties in Montgomery County, Maryland.
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For more information about Yanez Tree Service Experts, contact the company here:
Yanez Tree Service Experts
Alejandro Yanez
(301) 503-9806
alejandroy24@gmail.com
886 College Pkwy, Rockville, MD 20850
