Normally, winged elm is not associated with standing water except in intermittent pools and shallow sheets of water after heavy rains. This is not because the species is generally more susceptible to pathogens than other native hardwoods. The primary reason is that the species is susceptible to Ceratocystis u1mi, which causes Dutch elm disease, and to the mycoplasmalike organism which causes elm phloem necrosis. Both have been devastating to the elms native to North America and since these diseases are both transmitted by insects, a large amount of research has been done on all insects and diseases of elms in the United States. The Dutch elm disease is most prevalent across the northern portion of the natural range of winged elm.
Elm wood is used principally for furniture, hardwood dimension and flooring, boxes, and crates.
Elm's excellent resistance to splitting has made it a choice wood for the manufacture of high quality hockey sticks. The manufacture of furniture continues to increase the demand for elm for bent parts of chairs such as rockers and arms. Both twigs and leaves are most succulent, nutritious, and digestible during spring and are less useful as food the rest of the year because after abscission, the leaves lose most of their quality and digestibility. Genetics Winged elm has little commercial value. As a consequence, no attempts to hybridize or improve the species have been reported.