hoping you'd be willing to give me some insight here. I have a large arbutus beside my house (solo - no other trees around) that has been firmly in place for probably 30-40 years at least. There hasn't been anything unusual going on in the last 2 years that I can recall, but out of the blue, we noticed part of it quickly dying off. It all looks healthy except for several branches further up the tree that have died right off without a single leaf. I have tried to search online and see many references to parasites, moulds etc, but they seem to be more related to the shape and color of leaves. I provided a close up of the 'healthy' leaves and then a few others. While a section of it has died off on one side of the tree, the side closest to the house is thriving. Is there anything obvious that sticks out from the attached pictures? I would like to know if there is anything that can be done, or if its on its way to total death and a risk to property. Perhaps it will be obvious from the pictures. Also, are you able to cut back the dead branches? I have read different opinions on this one. Any insight would be greatly appreciated!
I am certainly no expert, but I have a couple of observations about the arbutus. Our last couple of summers here in Victoria have been very dry in terms of rainfall and although they are amazingly drought resistant, this may have been hard on them. As well, the winter before last, we had some nice warm weather followed by a cold snap that killed a lot of shrubs and I saw lots of Arbutus with black leaves. Those trees appear to be making a come back this spring. There is no problem cutting off the dead wood and if fact, we have two trees that were hacked off radically and have grown back to approx 30' although I would not recommend this!
When you say nothing unusual has happened in the last two years, just to confirm, does that mean that there was definitely no grade change to any yards in the area, or anything else done that would affect the water table? Also, definitely not physical damage to the trunk (ie: from a lawnmower)? Could you also post a photo of the base of the tree? Yes , the dead branches should be removed as much as possible. Very clean, properly placed cuts are important here. The dead material should be taken away and disposed of properly, not stored nearby or left on the ground.
Here's a brief overview called Decline of the Pacific Madrona by Mollie Johnson. http://www.island.wsu.edu/mastergardener/documents/Madrone Decline.pdf
Definitely no grade change in the area and no change to the water table. I think we had a shallow irrigation trench run close by about 8-10 months ago and we had nearby blasting of rock (4-5m away) last summer for our watermain, but this definitely started 2 years ago well before those possible disruptions. I had also hammered in 1/2 dozen fence staples no more than a cm into the trunk for xmas lights 2 december's ago, but once again, branches were dieing off before that. There was a complete irrigation system run all around the garden in the vicinity for sake of history information, but that was a good 8 years ago and of course is very shallow. Pictures as requested (the daisy shown was just placed there after transporting from our garden a couple years ago - it has taken root, but I couldn't see that causing the death of the giant!) In the meantime, I'll look through that PDF as well - thx
Paper linked to above contains more than one statement that probably pertains directly to your situation.
also wondering in the branches that are alive at the start, branch off with 2 live branches, then the main extension after is dead, should it be cut back where live meets dead, or should it be cut right back to the main part of the tree? tia
