American Beech (Fagus grandifolia)

Fagus grandifolia is a large deciduous tree commonly known as american beech. It can be found naturally in ravines, slopes, and valleys of eastern areas of North America. Due to its favorable qualities, the wood of the american beech is often used for making furniture and as firewood.

Common name	American Beech, Beech, Beechnut Tree, Red Beech, Ridge Beech, White Beech
Botanical name	Fagus grandifolia
Family	Fagaceae
Species	grandifolia
Origin	Eastern Canada to Central Mexico
Life cycle	Woody
Plant type	Edible
Hardiness zone	3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Sunlight	Dappled Sunlight
Maintenance	Low
Soil condition	Clay
Soil ph	Acid
Drainage	Well-Drained
Growth rate	Slow
Spacing	6 – ft. – 12 ft.
Harvest time	Fall
Flowering period	Spring
Height	6- 80 ft.
Width	6- 80 ft.
Flower color	Green
Leaf color	Brown, Copper
Fruit color	Brown, Copper
Stem color	Gray, Silver
Fruit type	Capsule
Fruit benefit	Showy
Leaf benefit	Showy
Garden style	Garden for the Blind
Uses	Naturalized Area

I. Appearance and Characteristics

Fagus grandifolia, the American beech or North American beech, is the only species of beech native to North America. Its current range comprises the eastern United States, isolated pockets of Mexico and southeastern Canada. Prior to the glacial maximum of the Pleistocene epoch, the tree flourished over most of North America, reaching California.

Fagus grandifolia is a large deciduous tree growing to 16–35 meters (52–115 feet) tall, with smooth, silver-gray bark. The leaves are dark green, simple and sparsely-toothed with small teeth that terminate each vein, 6–12 centimeters (2+1⁄4–4+3⁄4 inches) long (rarely 15 cm or 6 in), with a short petiole. The winter twigs are distinctive among North American trees, being long and slender (15–20 millimeters or 5⁄8–3⁄4 inch by 2–3 mm or 3⁄32–1⁄8 in) with two rows of overlapping scales on the buds. Beech buds are distinctly thin and long, resembling cigars; this characteristic makes beech trees relatively easy to identify.

The tree is monoecious, with flowers of both sexes on the same tree. The fruit is a small, sharply-angled nut, borne in pairs in a soft-spined, four-lobed husk. It has two means of reproduction: one is through the usual dispersal of seedlings, and the other is through root sprouts, which grow into new trees.

The American beech is a shade-tolerant species, commonly found in forests in the final stage of succession. Few trees in its natural range other than sugar maple match it for shade tolerance. Ecological succession is essentially the process of forests changing their composition through time; it is a pattern of events often observed on disturbed sites. Although sometimes found in pure stands, it is more often associated with sugar maple (forming the beech–maple climax community), yellow birch, and eastern hemlock, typically on moist, well-drained slopes and rich bottomlands.

Near its southern limit, it often shares canopy dominance with southern magnolia. Although it has a reputation for slow growth (sometimes only 13 feet in 20 years), rich soil and ample moisture will greatly speed the process up. American beech favors a well-watered, but also well-drained spot and is intolerant of urban pollution, salt, and soil compaction. It also casts heavy shade and is an extremely thirsty tree with high moisture requirements compared to oaks, so it has a dense, shallow root system.

II. How to Grow and Care

Sunlight

The ideal sunlight condition for American beech is full sun, meaning that it should receive six hours of direct, unfiltered sunlight each day. However, young and established trees alike are shade tolerant where sun is unavailable. In fact, young trees should not be left exposed to full sunlight for prolonged periods of time – this can lead to wilting. For young plants, extra shade or screening may be needed during intense summer sunshine.

Watering

This plant has average water needs. Make sure it gets about 1 inch of water per week through rainfall and/or irrigation. Do not allow water to puddle around the tree, as this can cause root rot. Fully mature American beech trees will tolerate short dry spells, but this is not a tree well suited for a long drought.

Soil

Soil for American beech should be good quality and rich. Soil pH is not an important factor, and both European and American american beech will tolerate a pH as high as 7.5. Given a preference, the tree will grow best in slightly alkaline conditions. Ideally, soil should be loose, moist, and well-drained. American beech thrives in light or medium soils and will do well in chalky soils. However, it won’t adapt to heavy or wet soils.

Fertilizing

American beech is best fed annually with a balanced fertilizer. In early spring, apply 1 pound of fertilizer per 100 square feet. Spread it over the ground directly under the tree’s canopy and water it in.

Planting Instructions

American beech can live for 200-300 years, and the dense crown can reach 13 to 20m across at full maturity. The positioning of your american beech is therefore very important – it needs enough room for the root system to grow as extensively as that of the canopy and crown.

The width of your planting hole should be dug twice the size of the root ball, so that the soil around the planting area becomes loosened. This will encourage the roots to grow into the surrounding soil rather than staying in the hole. In poor quality soils, a few shovels of compost should be added to the soil used to refill the hole. No other amendments should be used at planting.

Pruning

These trees will readily sucker from the shallow roots. Keep these suckers cut away as they appear. Damaged or diseased limbs can be removed as you notice them. With diseased branches, it is fine to cut them back to a point a foot or so below the diseased area.

American beech tends to develop a low canopy, so if you prefer a more towering tree, cut away low branches. Because large forks tend to be weak, it is best to remove one of the two branches as these forks appear. This will be easiest to do as the tree is young and still developing; mature trees will probably need an arborist to do the trimming.

Late winter or early spring, before the tree has begun active new growth, is the best time to perform major trimming for shape.

Propagation

Stem cuttings

The American beech is a slow-growing tree, which makes DIY propagation rare. That said, it can be done fairly easily, both by seeds and stem cuttings. Here’s how to propagate a new tree from stem cuttings:

• Using sanitized and sharp pruners, take 6- to 10-inch cuttings from the tip of the branch, from new wood no more than a year old. The fall is the best time for this process.
• Remove the bottom leaves and soak the cut end in a bucket of water. While the branch soaks, fill a small pot with a mixture of potting soil and wood-based compost (such as pine bark compost).
• Dip the cut end of the branch in rooting hormone, then plant it in the prepared potting mix.
• Moisten the potting mix and cover the pot with a loose clear plastic bag. Place the pot in a bright location and continue to grow it until roots begin to develop and new leaves begin to sprout.
• Once the cutting is rooted, remove the plastic bag and continue to grow it indoors over the winter (or on a patio, if you live in a warm climate). By the following spring, the cutting can be planted in the landscape to grow into a tree.

Seed

 

Gather some dried, ripe beechnuts from the tree in the fall, and plant each one in a container filled with potting mix. Cover the seeds with 1/2 inch of potting mix and place them in a sunny indoor location. Keep the potting mix moist but not wet until the seed sprouts, then continue growing in a bright location.

At the end of the first year, transplant the seedling into a larger pot and continue growing it until it attains a height of 1 to 3 feet, at which time it is ready to plant in the landscape. You’ll need patience, as this can take several years.

Overwintering

American beech is a very hardy species that requires no special cold protection. When the tree is young, you may want to protect the trunk of the tree with hardware cloth or a metal guard to shield the bark from rabbits and other gnawing animals. After a few years, this kind of winter protection will no longer be necessary.

Pests and Diseases

Beech bark disease has become a major killer of beech trees in the Northeastern United States. This disease occurs when the European beech scale insect, Cryptococcus fagisuga, attacks the bark, creating a wound that is then infected by Neonectria ditissima or Neonectria faginata, two species of fungi. This causes a canker to develop and the tree is eventually killed.

Beech leaf disease is caused by the nematode Litylenchus crenatae mccannii. It was discovered in Ohio in 2012 and identified as far south as Virginia in 2022. Beech leaf disease causes severe damage to the American beech and also to the related European beech.

The beech leaf-mining weevil, a species native to Europe, has been identified in North America as a cause of defoliation of American beech trees. American beech trees have small gaps and crevices at the base of their trunks in which the pest overwinter before eventually making their way to the buds of the trees and finally laying eggs on the underside of the leaves. Once hatched, the larvae mine the leaves, causing destruction to the foliage.

Beech blight aphids colonize branches of the tree, but without serious harm to otherwise healthy trees. Below these colonies, deposits of sooty mold develop caused by the fungus Scorias spongiosa growing saprophytically on the honeydew the insects exude. This is also harmless to the trees.

Despite their high moisture needs, beeches succumb to flooding easily and their thin bark invites damage from animals, fire, and human activities. Late spring frosts can cause complete defoliation of the tree, although they typically recover by using reserve pools of sugar. The trunks of mature beeches often rot and develop cavities that are used by wildlife for habitation.

III. How to Get to Bloom

American beech is a monoecious species, producing both male and female flowers on the same plant. They are not showy, so the only reason to be concerned about flowers is if you want the plant to produce nuts, which are the product of the female flowers. But unless you hang around for decades, it’s possible that you’ll never see a tree you plant produce nuts. That’s because it can take 40 years or more before a beech tree is sufficiently mature to begin flowering and producing nuts.

If you have a mature tree that is already producing flowers and nuts, be aware that it’s common for the yield to vary from year to year. Typically, there’s a heavy flower/nut production every two or three years, with a much sparser yield in other years.

To encourage flower and nut production, simply keep the tree as healthy as possible, especially when it comes to providing adequate water. These trees don’t like extended drought.

IV. Uses and Benefits

• Culinary uses

American beech does not produce significant quantities of nuts until the tree is about 40 years old. Large crops are produced for 60 years. The oldest documented tree is 246 years old. The fruit is a triangle-shaped shell containing 2–3 nuts inside, but many of them do not fill in, especially on solitary trees. Beech nuts are sweet and nutritious, can be eaten raw by wildlife and humans, or can be cooked. They can also be roasted and ground into a coffee substitute.

The leaves are edible when cooked. The inner bark can be dried and pulverized into bread flour as an emergency food.

• Other uses

American beech is an important tree in forestry. The wood is hard and difficult to cut or split, although at 43 pounds per cubic foot (0.69 g/cm3) it is not exceptionally heavy, and it also rots relatively easily. It is used for a wide variety of purposes, most notably bentwood furniture as beech wood easily bends when steamed. It also makes high quality, long-burning firewood.

Like European beech bark, the American beech bark is smooth and uniform, making it an attraction for people to carve names, dates, decorative symbols such as love hearts or gang identifiers, and other material into its surface. One such beech tree in Louisville, Kentucky, in what is now the southern part of Iroquois Park, bore the legend “D. Boone kill a Bar 1803.” The beech finally fell over in 1916 during a storm; its age was estimated at around 325 years. Its trunk is now on display at the Filson Historical Society.

It is sometimes planted as an ornamental tree, but even within its native area, it is planted much less often than the European beech. Although American beech can handle hotter climates, its European cousin is faster-growing and more pollution-tolerant, in addition to being easier to propagate.

Buy Plants

[content-egg-block template=top_listing]