Hello! I think my tree is dying and I don’t know if it can be saved. I am in zone 10. My tree was doing fine until it got really fried by the sun and lost many leaves. Then it kept getting eaten by caterpillars and now it lost all the top leaves and the branches shriveled and the bark is getting greyish and black spots. I tried fertilizer and pesticides and nothing seems to be working. Am I too late? ☹️ Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you!
It brings to my mind herbicide caused damage. Do you spray your lawn with herbicides? What kind? Could your trees be the victim of herbicide damage? - Blog To see if the tree could be saved check how the tissue immediately under the bark looks like, does it look alive?
Thank you for your reply. I don’t spray with herbicide but I am wondering if my lawn maintenance people do. I have noticed many things dying including my lemon grass and many plants and bushes in my yard lately have patch of brown grass around the roots. Is there a way to tell if it is herbicide and can I counteract herbicide if this is the case?
I don't have personal experience to answer your questions entirely from my own point of view. There are however very good articles on the Net related to herbicide damage to trees and possible remediation. I recommend reading them to get familiar with dangers of using herbicides, the symptoms of injury, diagnosis, etc. so if you (or your lawn maintenance people) do it, do it in an informed way. Herbicide Damage to Trees | Nebraska Forest Service From https://pace.oregonstate.edu/courses/sites/default/files/resources/pdf/diagnosing-and-preventing-herbicide-injury-to-trees.pdf : DIAGNOSIS If herbicide injury is suspected, check the weeds in the lawn and other near-by vegetation for similar symptoms. Herbicides usually produce the same symptoms on a wide range of plant species, which is unusual for other causal agents. (As you already did) REMEDIAL TREATMENT OF HERBICIDE INJURED TREES Trees usually recover from light herbicide injury. Irrigating the plant during dry periods will minimize moisture stress, which may hinder recovery. Irrigation also will help leach root-active herbicides from the root zone of the plant. Fertilization should be avoided for a minimum of one growing season following injury, because stimulating excess growth can compound injury from certain herbicides. . . . Trees, which are seriously declining from herbicides generally, do not recover and removal usually is required.
Ok thank you so much! We will have to talk to them and see if we can get them to stop. Always a trouble with HOAs. Smh Thank you again!
Hi I suspect you've got a wilt disease. The root flare looks to be well beneath the turf grass and probably underground. Delonix (Poinciana) are prone to collar rot disease. 1st task is to remove the grass so it's 60cm away from the trunk. Gently dig down beside the trunk with your hands or trowel until you find the flare where the roots start and the trunk ends. The trunk will be probably be damp with very delicate bark. The bark might slide off the tree. If this happens then it's probably collar rot The soil level should meet the root flare. You may have to carefully lift the tree and plant it higher. If the root ball has been covered with garden soil then the plant might be suffering from drought. Regardless, Never let grass grow under trees. It robs the tree of resources, It increases risks of disease. It increases the risk of root girdling. It encourages ring barking from whipper snippers
I agree that planting a tree too deep and/or root bound creates stressful conditions and makes the tree more prone to succumb to additional stress be it fungi, viruses, or uninformed chemical treatment.
